Paul Ryan

August 25, 2012 — Steven Hayward

The Non-Green Weenie of the Week, and Other Notes

Featured image It’s pretty obvious that this week’s Green Weenie has to go to Michael Mann for his threatened libel suit against National Review, but since I already manhandled (heh) Mann here a couple days ago, there’s no need to high-stick him again (double-heh).  I’m sure Mann will win a shelf full of Green Weenies if this suit proceeds, and in any case he’s a lock for the eventual Power Line Green »
August 19, 2012 — Scott Johnson

Live from The Villages

Featured image Following “Mom, you did build that,” reader Melody McSorley Johnson comments on Paul Ryan’s appearance with his mom at The Villages in Florida yesterday: I was at The Villages today to hear Paul Ryan. While waiting for over 2 hours before he spoke, I was struck by conversations in the crowd. It was not about “Protecting and Strengthening Medicare.” In fact, (probably about 75% of the crowd were retirees) most »
August 18, 2012 — Scott Johnson

Mom, you did build that

Featured image Paul Ryan appeared with his mom at The Villages in Florida today. Deep Fried Manatees has posted a good eyewitness report, while RCP has posted the video here. It is well worth viewing in its entirety. In the excerpt below, Ryan pays a touching if pointed tribute to his mom. »
August 17, 2012 — Scott Johnson

Paul Ryan, live from Glen Allen

Featured image GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan appeared at a rally this morning at Deep Run High School in Glen Allen, Virginia. WTVR reports that an audience of more than 2,000 turned up for the rally. More impressive than the size of the crowd is the fact that supporters started lining up for the event around 2:00 a.m. A reader with Bright Orange Advertising was on the scene. He forwards the »
August 17, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff

Did Obama mastermind the rise of Paul Ryan?

Featured image Ezra Klein of the Washington Post has an interesting, if somewhat delusional, take on the rise of Paul Ryan. According to Klein, Ryan’s rise was orchestrated by President Obama. In Klein’s telling, Ryan was just an obscure committee chairman with a plan Republican insiders had no interest in, until Obama starting gushing about how serious Ryan was. Even then, Ryan’s profile wasn’t rising quickly enough. So in April 2011, Obama »
August 17, 2012 — Scott Johnson

The Ryan effect

Featured image The Romney campaign has released the following data reflecting the impact of the announcement of Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney’s running mate in Norfolk, Virginia, this past Saturday: Online Fundraising Donations: 124,800+ Amount: $10,157,947 Average Donation: $81 % New Donors: 68% Site Traffic Total: 2,000,000 Desktop: 1,560,000 Mobile: 440,000 Mitt Romney Social Facebook: +510,000 — Now 4,360,000 Twitter: +54,000 — Now 861,000 Paul Ryan Social Facebook: +860,000 Twitter: +118,500 Volunteers »
August 17, 2012 — Scott Johnson

Comment here

Featured image On Wednesday a reader noted that the Minneapolis Star Tribune had posted and removed a column by Imara Jones attacking Paul Ryan as bad for black Americans. Jones’s column is a small part of the MSM drill that Steve Hayward noted this past Sunday. The reader also observed that the Star Tribune had not enabled comments on the column and wondered why. Jones describes himself as a “New York-based blogger »
August 14, 2012 — Steven Hayward

Galston Makes a Good Call

Featured image Having smacked around Bill Galston here a few days ago for parroting the MSNBC/DNC line on voter ID and vote fraud, fairness requires that Power Line give him a shoutout for his post on The New Republic blog today where he warns Democrats of the consequences of demonizing Paul Ryan rather than debating fiscal policy seriously: Here’s what I fear will happen instead. The Obama campaign will not take the »
August 14, 2012 — Steven Hayward

Top Democrat: Ryan Budget Is “Sensible, Honest, Serious”

Featured image Here’s Erskine Bowles, former chief of staff to President Clinton and a leading Democratic grandee, calling Paul Ryan “amazing,” and saying his budget proposal is “sensible, serious . . , and honest” (and also admitting that Obama’s budget proposals are neither serious nor honest).  This video is only a little more than one minute long.  The Romney campaign ought to use a clip of the first half of this in »
August 13, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff

Ryan’s favorability rating soars

Featured image As John notes, Mitt Romney’s selection of Paul Ryan appears not to have moved the needle, as yet, in the presidential race. But the selection of Ryan has moved the needle on Ryan, and in his favor. According to a Washington Post-ABC News poll, favorable impressions of Ryan have jumped 15 percentage points among the overall electorate. In Wednesday through Friday interviews, 45 percent of Americans expressed no opinion of »
August 13, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff

Five policy differences between Romney and Ryan

Featured image The Washington Post finds few policy differences between Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, but has identified five. First, Ryan supported the auto industry bailout four years ago, while Romney opposed it. Second, Ryan opposes abortion under all circumstances except when the procedure is necessary to save the mother’s life. Romney favors that exception, plus exceptions in cases of rape and incest. Third, Ryan has advocated eliminating the capital gains tax. »
August 13, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff

Barack Obama on Paul Ryan

Featured image At a fund raising event in Chicago yesterday, President Obama said of Paul Ryan: “I know him. I welcome him into the race. He’s a decent man, a family man, an articulate spokesman for Governor Romney’s vision. . .a vision I fundamentally disagree with.” Sounding the same theme with less elegance, David Axelrod added on CNN that Ryan “is quite extreme — good, good person, you know, genial person — »
August 13, 2012 — Paul Mirengoff

Not a panic pick

Featured image Some leftist pundits have described Mitt Romney’s selection of Paul Ryan as a panic or desperation pick. This gets the pick precisely wrong, in my view. By selecting Ryan, Romney demonstrates a confidence in the conservative course he first charted, or was forced into, during the primary season. The response to Team Obama’s attacks on that course is “damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.” To be sure, the Ryan pick »