by Scott Creighton
UPDATE: Oh, lookie here… Ryan is the least favorite VP pick since 2000. I wonder how that could have happened…
“Americans’ initial reaction to Paul Ryan is decidedly lukewarm, with more rating his selection as vice president negatively than positively, according to a USA Today/Gallup poll taken after the announcement.
Ryan’s ratings were less positive than those for any other vice presidential pick part of Gallup since 2000, including Sarah Palin, Joe Biden and Dick Cheney.” Huffington Post
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Elections in America aren’t about the will of the people, they’re about maintaining the ongoing agenda of the Washington Consensus while creating a narrative that allows the willfully obtuse to “BELIEVE” that “CHANGE” is coming.
You aren’t going to get change from the voting booth and you are definitely not going to get change in November of 2012.
The selection of Paul Ryan as Romney’s running mate serves two distinct narratives 1. the republican voters also didn’t want austerity and 2. the Romney/Ryan ticket frightened Obama’s critics on the left to come out and vote for him anyway. One is true, one is a lie. But it doesn’t matter; with Diebold electronic voting, all they have to do is come up with a plausible story, they don’t actually have to win an election. That would be democracy and as we all know, this country isn’t about that anymore.
Mitt Romney won the republican primary by teaming up with another neo-liberal, Ron Paul (who never intended to win) in order undermine his pretty substantial opposition and leave him in the lead.
It’s pretty remarkable when you think about it, that a vulture capitalist “won” the republican primary at a time when Wall Street bankers, finance oligarchs, and vulture capitalists are being castigated at every turn from the left and the right. Are we supposed to believe that hard working republicans who have been put out of work and who hate NAFTA and GATT would want a vulture capitalist who loves putting people out of work to be their representative in Washington?
Then consider the fact that Mitt Romney is a Mormon.
I don’t care how many Broadway musicals the South Park boys get paid to make Mormons look “OK”, the fact is, there aren’t a lot of Joe-SixPack republicans from Wisconsin treading the board of the Old White Way and picking up social service messages to pass on to their families at home. To most republican voters, Mormons ain’t Christians and that’s about all it takes sometimes. You can forget about that whole “die and go become a god on another planet” thing.
Toss Paul Ryan in the mix and lo-and-behold, you have a ticket worth staying home for. And that’s the point.
At least, that will be the postmortem explanation when the talking heads and the pundits tell the American voters why they’re stuck with a continuation of a presidency that their own party can’t stand and who the right is steadfast against.
How do I know? It’s already started…
- Rep. Paul Ryan VP Choice Draws Criticism From Some Conservatives
- Paul Ryan’s VP nod elicits cheers of joy across liberal America
- Paul Ryan Unlikely To Play Well With Latino And Black Voters
- Two White Men Who Like to Cut Things: On Romney’s Nomination of Paul Ryan
- Fox News Pundits Wonder If Republicans Can Defend ‘Tax Cuts For The Wealthy’ With Ryan On The Ticket
- Veep Pick Paul Ryan Is No Conservative
And my personal favorite…
(I’m sorry, didn’t Dick Cheney just say that Palin was a horrible choice?)
There are many more articles to chose from, but suffice to say, the right isn’t exactly ecstatic about the choice of Ryan. But they weren’t when Palin was announced either and she diligently went on making a fool out of herself until the sham election and “CHANGE” occurred.
Polls show that most Americans, left and right, do not support the gross austerity package budget plan that Paul Ryan created and rightly so. Isn’t it odd that the republicans would offer up a greedy billionaire vulture capitalist (who makes more flubs than Sarah Palin) and the one guy in the country most closely associated with bring Greek style austerity to our shores to run against the incumbent president?
Do you think that is just a weird “mistake” like Palin and McCain were 4 years ago?
Maybe robosigning is just a “mistake” as well.
On the flip side, they couldn’t have picked a more draconian pair of politicians to run against Obama if they tried. Can you think of two candidates who would better motivate the disenfranchised left to come out and vote against a Romney/Ryan ticket? I can’t.
Ryan is being presented as Satan himself to the left. He’s pro-Iran war, anti-woman, and as pro-austerity as it gets. The big rallying cry on the left is Ryan’s desire to see Medicare and Social Security privatized, but if you’ve been paying attention, that’s the objective of the “centrist” left as well, of which the Clintons and Obama are both proud members.
- Meet Paul Ryan: Climate Denier, Conspiracy Theorist, Koch Acolyte
- Paul Ryan: “I’m Never Going To Not Vote Pro-Life”
- “Path to Prosperity?” For Many Senior Citizens, VP Pick Ryan’s Plan Would Be Path to the Poorhouse
But in the days of the least of the worst we’re supposed to believe that we have to rush out and campaign for a man who thinks he has the right to kill and detain US citizens without due process in order to protect ourselves from Ryan.
Yes, this choice will further disenfranchise the right from the electoral process but no, the fear of Romney and Ryan will not motivate the angry left to rush out to the polls.
No to matter. The story is just that… a story. That’s all they need. Diebold does the rest.
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It is ridiculous to say Mittens teamed up with Ron Paul and that the rest of the morons running were substantial competition. Ron Paul was the only one with a clue and one of the few politicians who actually seems genuine which is why he wasn’t picked since it is clear the “powers that be” didn’t want an actual legit guy to be running for the bogus job of president since the people actually like Ron so when he’d lose in the fake vote, they’d all wonder how and probably clue in the voting process is nothing but bs to make the herd think they are important.
I look forward to this “election” in November as it is a can’t lose situation- If Obombya gets “voted” in again then I look forward to seeing the media and zealots keep defending his hope and change and seeing Obombya keep blaming Bush for everything and the sheeple eating that up while not stopping to ask what exactly is the point of Obombya if he isn’t responsible for anything.
If Mittens “wins” then I look forward to seeing people still do the left/right bickering while ignoring there won’t be any change between the two of them so we’ll see the liberals trashing Mitt for carrying on the same Obombya policies while the conservatives will praise him for the things they trash Obombya for. My favourite part about modern day elections is seeing people show their nanosecond memories by ignoring that everything is the same for the last 10+ years clearly showing the multiple party crap is just for show.
Basically, I look forward to seeing the sheeple be the idiots they are so I can laugh since that is pretty much all one can do in this messed up shim sham of a world where people are more concerned about wasting their lives on twitter and facebook than watching their freedom and money be taken away from them…oh and of course whenever someone brings up these issues to them they just laugh at the person calling them a conspiracy theorist or a kook. Nothing like trying to get people to see reality and being mocked for it. I say fug ‘em and people/humanity will ultimately deserve what they are going to get.
CORRECTION: Dr. Ron Paul’s election confirmed. Obama has killed too many innocent people to be allowed another day, regardless of the odds.
Ron Paul is about as neoliberal as Barack Obama is an Austrian. True, his campaign became co-opted, but don’t shoot the messenger.
Hello there. I presume from your above remark that you do not believe that Ron Paul ascribes to a neoliberal world view. I am confused by this as, by his very own admissions, Ron Paul is a voracious supporter of such things as the privatization of public institutions and services as well as the (complete?) deregulation of the markets. Now, I do not normally quote from the wiki however, I also do not have all the time in the world so; “Neoliberalism is an ideology based on the advocacy of economic liberalizations, free trade, and open markets.[1] Neoliberalism supports privatization of state-owned enterprises, deregulation of markets, and promotion of the private sector’s role in society.[1].” It would seem that the good doctor is, in fact, neoliberal.
This is beyond the point of the article, however. The point of this article seems to be that the Republican party seems bound and determined to lose this “fight”. Badly.
I disagree with Mr. Creighton on one point: I have heard too many of my “liberal” friends bleating about how scary the SCOTUS would be if Mitt wins to think that they will not be doubly motivated by this VP pick to rush out and vote for everyone’s favorite presidential brand. This happens every time I mention a third party candidate: “Aren’t you scared the Republicans will win?” He’s like some sort of right wing bogie man come to haunt the vaunted halls of liberal do-gooding. Now that he’s picked up Ryan as a VP, the bleating has taken on the edge of hysteria and the Obama worshiping has doubled. I think that this selection not only serves to rile up the “left” but also to push the moderates over to the “Anybody but those guys” side.
One question for the Mr. Creighton: what are your thoughts on the “voter suppression” that has been making the news/ACLU rounds lately? It seems odd to me that whilst the Republicans are seemingly doing everything in their power to lose the presidential race, they are at the same time enacting laws that many believe are designed to suppress those who would likely support Obama. Not that this is anything more than an academic question as our electoral system is not really free.