Can it be true that Romney will announce Paul Ryan as his VP pick in a couple of hours? Let’s pretend it is, friends, and bust out the spiked eggnog, for though it is 76 degrees outside before sun-up, it is Christmas morning!
Vulture
This is Romney’s Palin moment — a desperate Hail Mary pass from a campaign that must be in deeper shit than even we suspect. Here’s an excerpt from an NBC interview with Romney that positively reeks of flop-sweat:
Romney also said in the interview he would like a pledge (of sorts) with Obama that there be no “personal” attack ads. “[O]ur campaign would be– helped immensely if we had an agreement between both campaigns that we were only going to talk about issues and that attacks based upon– business or family or taxes or things of that nature.”
Did he just ask Obama to help his campaign? Yes, he did. Romney’s entire candidacy is premised on his business experience, but now mentioning it is a personal attack. Oh, and taxes. Thank you, Mr. Reid, for driving Romney into making a desperation move.
Voucher
Yes, the Villagers will swoon over the Very Serious Dreamboat, at least for a week or two, and possibly right on through Election Day. But in sewing up a wingnut base that had nowhere else to go, Romney just pissed away Florida.
Romney’s substance-free campaign just acquired substance…a brown, smelly substance that the American people have roundly rejected. Does Jesus love us this much? We’ll know in a couple of hours.
*H/T: Wonkette commenter CoolHandNuke
[X-posted at Rumproast]
jayboat
This is a great day for America.
Alexandra
Love Betty Cracker’s photoshop pics… is it bad form to admit to having a small girl-crush on her?
JGabriel
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Betty Cracker @ Top:
I’m having trouble believing it.
According to Nate Silver — who has the numbers — Ryan doesn’t significantly help Romney win the electoral vote, or even Ryan’s home state.
Romney was supposedly very data-driven at Bain. You would think his presidential campaign would also be similarly data-driven — and that they would either have done Nate’s analysis themselves, or would at least be aware of it. So it doesn’t really make much sense.
It also seems like a loser move to appeal to the tea party extremists at this late stage in the campaign. How the hell is Romney going to get votes from the center with a VP selection like Ryan?
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Todd
America’s oldster Floridians merely need to be told that those who are 55 and older won’t be starved, and they’ll be right back aboard the crazy train. That crowd of grannies and the nasty old coots that they run around with never really did give a shit about anybody but themselves – statistically, that generation is greedy, nasty, racist and just plain assholish.
Randiego
Is the Great Orange Satan broken? And wtf am I doing up at 4:12 am Pacific time?
lamh35
@JGabriel: seems all the major nets are going with Ryan. I just don’t see the RMoney camp beng capable enough to male this a head-fake. but if it is, then based on location I’d say it gonna be McDonnell if not Ryan. is Thine from either Va or Wi?
JPL
There will be ads where the President praises Ryan for being a deep thinker though. During the health care discussions the President did praise Ryan so beware.
The good news is that the two parties are now defined.
WereBear
If this is so, perhaps it is proof the Goddess loves us and wants us to be happy.
WereBear
Oh, but that’s about something important: money.
Baud
@JPL:
That’s ok. Obama isn’t going to go after Ryan for being stupid. And it’ll be nice to see the GOP be portrayed as the out-of-touch intellectual for a change.
lamh35
well according to TPM Romney app says its Ryan. let the games bein
dmsilev
Apparently it’s official now. NY Times has a breaking news banner that Romney has made the announcement.
Anyone out there with the Romney VP iPhone app? Has it throbbed or flashed or suddenly charged your credit card $10K?
JGabriel
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NBC (via Betty):
Right. Like the Obama campaign is in the business of helping your lyin’ ass campaign, Romney-Hood.
“Our campaign would helped immensely …” That asshole cracks me up.
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WereBear
@JGabriel: Geez, he’s a spoiled git, isn’t he?
lamh35
@JPL: there are already loads of video where Ryan is on camera, opposing the things Romney himself championed
Joseph Nobles
It’s official. Mitt Romney is fully invested in starving Granny.
lamh35
@dmsilev: TPM said the app posted Ryan’s name
dmsilev
@lamh35:
That’s OK. There’s loads of video where Romney is on camera opposing the things Romney himself championed.
amk
A mormon/catholic ticket. Shouldn’t the fundies be having a collective head explosion by now ?
DTGslu2K
It’s confirmed, Ryan is the pick. The Romney Campaign’s official iPhone app confirmed it 25 minutes ago.
I think Obama just won Florida. They don’t take too kindly to would be grandma killers down there.
kay
@Todd:
It isn’t Medicare where Ryan’s screwing those older than 55. It’s Medicaid. 40%’ of Medicaid goes to elderly and disabled.
He’s really hitting working class and middle class 55 and older twice, because they’ll lose their own Medicare and they’ll be responsible for what Medicaid used to pick up for their “dual eligible” parents; nursing homes and such.
MattF
So… Romney has caved completely to the WSJ crowd. That falls under ‘coward,’ with a soupçon of ‘soulless.’
amk
@JGabriel: It was prolly a leak-the-fucking-thing type fait accompli by the wall streerters and the weekly standard wingnut welfare boyz given that mittbot is a wishy-washy cretin.
Baud
Ryan will enable Romney to raise even more money, if you can conceive of such a thing. Voucherization of Medicare would be a huge boon for Wall Street.
OT: The Olympic “walk” race is so gay.
WereBear
@amk: I will listen to their screams of betrayal and remind them that, you know, live by the hateful, selfish, money-grubbing, stupid sword… and you might get cut by it.
Todd
@kay:
The real hammer of the Ryan plan is on us poor clods that are 40 to 55 who’ve been paying in on Medicare through a helluvalot of years of shit economies, but will be left in the cold.
Kane
Daring is the new desperate.
lamh35
ok, so the combined FP experience between the 2 is zilch. So an “unscheduled” event means what for the Ryan/RMoney ticket. The RMoney camp is laying it all on the economic lines & ain’t gonna fight on any other turf. can’t wait to see Bidn & Ryan discuss FP
Maude
Bad choice. I can hear it now, Ryan will take away your Medicare.
Waldo
I keep thinking there must be something I’m overlooking in the Ryan calculation that would make it all make sense. Then I remember, oh yeah, it’s the Romney campaign we’re talking about.
JGabriel
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From the file of Future Romney Presidential Remarks:
And so on.
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R-Jud
Android/Randroid 2012!
kay
@Baud:
It’s a huge concession, though. It’s an admission that it’s a “choice” election rather than a “referendum on Obama” election.
Obama won the first round. He wanted a choice election, media and conservatives said it wasn’t going to happen, and he forced Romney to make it one.
The NYT is presenting it as “stark choice” which is how Obama himself frames it.
dmsilev
@Waldo: It does actually make sense if you assume that the Romney campaign is desperately worried about keeping the support of their base.
Has anyone told them that the primaries are over and it’s time for the general election?
AxelFoley
@Alexandra:
No, we encourage girl-girl relationships here at Balloon Juice. ;)
dmsilev
Hah. Check out the banner at the top of this RedState post. Erick of the House of Erick is apparently rooting for Ryan to “accidentally” knock Mitt Romney down a flight of stairs or something.
Todd
@AxelFoley:
I call dibs on running the camera.
Marc
You wish a motherfucker would and sometimes, sometimes, a motherfucker does.
The Thin Black Duke
@kay: Uh. And I’ll guarantee you that the Obama brain trust already has the ads ready to go. As we used to say back in the South Bronx, “The brother ain’t playing.”
Baud
@kay:
In hindsight, Romney could never turn it into a referendum election. To do that, he would have to put forward milquetoast policy positions that offended no one so that he could focus on Obama. The current GOP base would never let him do that, so Romney responded with … nothing at all. You can’t run a campaign on nothing, even if it’s framed as a referendum.
JGabriel
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lamh35:
That probably can’t be helped. There have not been any remotely competent GOP foreign policy politicos since Poppy Bush and his cabinet retired from the scene. The Bush fils administration was a unilateral (in both senses) FP disaster, and the GOP base elects
bomb-throwers, not analystsDOERS, not pansy-ass thinkers!.
kay
@The Thin Black Duke:
I remember when Kaiser polled on Medicaid and the punditry were shocked it polled so well. I think that’s because pundits are under the impression all Medicaid goes to poor children, and everyone hates those little moochers, of course.
But middle class people know who pays the nursing home bill for their elderly parents: Medicaid. That’s why it polls well.
They always say “Medicaid, a program for THE POOR” but 40% of it goes to formerly) working and middle class elderly and disabled.
iriedc
Brilliant post title. I’ll be repeating this everywhere for the rest of the summer.
Betty Cracker
@Marc: Where should we deliver the internets you just won?
Bill E Pilgrim
And now we get to see supposedly neutral news organizations all refer to Romney’s pick as “budget hawk Paul Ryan”. I’ll let Krugman take it from there:
Nonetheless, “budget hawk Paul Ryan” is the meme, and will be used ten gazillion times today alone as the label for this charlatan, your liberal media simply accepting the Republican framing without question.
Too bad it’s not working for the Republicans this time, but it would be nice just once to see the press resist letting Republican political operatives write their words for them.
Jamey
@Alexandra: Only shame is in admitting that it’s just a small one…
kay
@Baud:
I agree, but that’s what he’s been trying ( and failing) to do. This is a 180. It’s an admission the assumption that he and media started with was wrong. That has to scare the shit out of Romney because he’s risk averse. I bet he hates changing halfway through.
The Obama campaign just kept insisting it was “choice” and now it is. They wouldn’t accept the defensive position Romney and media assigned them.
It’s been interesting to watch because they made it happen. They could have just accepted the CW and defended.
Gypsy howell
@Todd:
And think what it’s going to do to YOUR kids, when they have no Medicare or social security to look forward to, AND at the same time they’re trying to put their own kids through college, they’ll be trying to scrape together some money to deal with your geriatric health care issues.
Every age group loses under this plan, and it gets exponentially worse for each successive generation.
Triassic Sands
Deep shit?
I don’t know. In this country, you’re almost never in deep shit until election day, when it is finally too late, because the American electorate is so stupid, so ignorant, so selfish, so fickle, or some combination of the four that almost anything is possible.
Evidence of this can be seen in the fact that the race is still relatively close* when Romney is obviously the most dishonest, unprincipled major party POS nominee ever. With the American voter you just never know.
*The latest Gallup tracking poll has it a tie. Jeebus, WTF is wrong with people?
JGabriel
@Triassic Sands:
Gallup has been leaning to the right almost as much as Rasmussen this year. Maybe they’re using 2010 turnout models?
I don’t know, but I wouldn’t worry about Gallup’s polling. In this instance, it’s the poll, not the people.
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WereBear
This is where President Obama became President. The Democrats had become the “abused spouses” of politics. This new mold to fit into will only benefit our cause.
Joe
Is this an opportunity for the Democrats to pick up Ryan’s seat in WI?
Spike
The Buzzard Anti-Defamation League is not amused by this post title. You can expect to hear from them soon.
jefft452
@Todd: “America’s oldster Floridians merely need to be told that those who are 55 and older won’t be starved, and they’ll be right back aboard the crazy train”
They would have to believe it first. And not just that Romney/Ryan are telling the truth about their plan
I’m 55. Even if I was a self-absorbed asshole (no shortage among us boomers), I would have to believe that a 25 year old would happily pay taxes for the next 40 years to take care of my health in my retirement while the 25 year old gets squat in his golden years
America’s oldster Floridians know that the day after Ryancare passes, every voter 54 and younger would vote to put us on an ice flow and cut taxes in a heartbeat
(and so would I)
Tehanu
@JGabriel:
Brilliant!
Clueless much? Jeez, what a tool Mittens is.
Betty, you have this great way of distilling the essence of things — thanks!
Chris Grrr™
@JGabriel:
Yup. Attempts at bipartianship having been such a feather in the President’s cap thus far, there’s certainly no sensible reason for his people not to “help” Rmoney’s campaign.
Flabbergasting.
This is a really good day.
Heywood J
I threw together a bumper sticker. Cheesy but fun.