While the jury is out nationally on a Mitt Romney-Paul Ryan ticket, the pair is a “dream team” for the “old guard” of our local GOP contingent.
It will help embolden the hard-right wing of the local GOP — and already is. It will lead to some highly charged rhetoric from hard-right locals in the November election — and already is.
The addition of Ryan — a hero among the tea party, Tom McClintock and others — also will threaten to unravel a gradual move toward a more moderate and representative local GOP leadership.
The group has long been run by the hard right.
The Romney-Ryan “dream team” also is likely to be used to steer the dialogue and gain influence in local nonpartisan races, though — thankfully — the most controversial ones (Nate Beason v. Sue McGuire for District 1 supervisor, for example) already have been decided.
In Grass Valley City Council races, outspoken Democratic candidates might use the Romney-Ryan ticket as a way to invigorate the often-apathetic left.
In the end, most of us are in the middle. And our rural County needs to build bridges with the rest of our state and nation — not burn them.
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During the Republican primaries my brother who lives outside the US and talks with people from all over the globe told me that the world cannot believe the Republican Party is real and they actually have some power in our government. In other words the republican party platform and leadership are an international joke. My wife just got back from Europe and she said the same thing.
And given the resounding success of the 2012 Olympic Games in London, you can bet that Romney’s Salt Lake City perspective of whether they were prepared or not will be given a thorough rogering until the votes are cast in November. Hilarious.
And don’t forget to do your homework: http://www.alternet.org/election-2012/9-reasons-romneys-choice-paul-ryan-veep-smarter-you-think?akid=9204.6940.heHlmk&rd=1&src=newsletter691986&t=1
Michael,
What the pick of Ryan means is the leadership of the republican party are doubling down on going to the far right because in the near future they have the Citizens United campaign “laws” in place. The quotations are a symbol of law without the legislature or executive branch creating it. Ryan will be the front runner in 2016 after they lose in 2012.
Thanks Michael. Here’s what I find to be the most cogent points of the Alternet article, confirming Ben’s observation about the Citizens United campaign “laws.” This group has been able to raise money (from Koch) and others, and it has been effective technologically (AKA the “Freedomworks” group emails I have been posting here for all to see, often filled with vitriol). “Agitate” as Tom McClintock tells the tea party troops. Sure, these folks would have begrudgingly voted for Romney anyway; it’s more about the money.
4. Romney now has even more money.
5. Romney gets the full Koch election infrastructure.
6. The Romney campaign will now be the most brutal, race-tinged, fact-absent, expensive, technologically sophisticated campaign ever run.
Though a national election, it is the last one below (#6) that will impact the election rhetoric in our area. We have seen how some of the campaigns in our recent past were full of mudslinging – clerk recorder, judge, etc. – and the recall of judge McManus, etc.
The tea party gets defensive about its candidate forums, but it is not appropriate for them to be hosting such forums (and it is all part of their national strategy to be seen as “nonpartisan.”) These “forums” are increasing all over the country. Little burgs all over America, including ours, are being hoodwinked by them. The tea party is a group of political activists, unlike the League of Women Voters, for example.
The good news is that the most contentious local elections were over in June (no runoff for District 1 supervisor, Judge election over, Truckee supe election over, and Judge McManus retired, as expected). The departure of The Union’s previous publisher also means less small-town politics in the newspaper, too. (Remember how that went during the clerk-recorder campaign? Lots of attempted manipulation, particularly by one side). Tom McClintock largely leaving the district and Logue leaving helps too. But you can expect them to gain more visibility now that Ryan is in the race.
Moderate GOPers will be run over.
Here is what the American Catholic Church thought about the republican/ ryan budget when it came out.
“On Tuesday, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops sent a series of stern letters to Republican committee chairman in the House. The subject was proposed cuts to programs like food stamps and housing assistance, consistent with the overall spending blueprint that House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan has put forward. The message: Don’t slash the safety net, particularly if you’re doing so to finance tax cuts for the wealthy.”
http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-cohn/102746/catholic-bishops-protest-ryan-republican-budget-cuts-food-stamps-poor
The jury is not out. The jury has returned. The day that Romney announced that Ryan was his VP pick the RCP average polling numbers for Obama took a .5 point jump. I have argued previously in this blog that the GOP seriously has misjudged the tenor of the American People and as a result have wasted a strategic opportunity to put Florida or Ohio back into play.
John,
The strategic miscalculation was the 2010 40% turnout could be repeated in 2012 if they could just obstruct Obama into the ground. I hope the American people are paying more attention and will reject this absolute hard right wing agenda of the republican party. If the strategy succeeds we need to become more organized and aggressive if we want the pendulum to swing back in our lifetimes.
If the race is close in November, the GOP’s massive campaign of voter disenfrachisement could make a critical difference.
I’m hoping it won’t be close.
ALEC strikes again.
Oligarchs literally can completely take over America if the republican party takes control of our federal government. They have been slowly doing so for the last 40/ 50 years and I have little faith the democratic party will have the political will or strength to stop it if they retain control of the federal government. They are in too deep with the same oligarchs, just not as eager or obvious with their legislation. We need a political or ballot box revolution throwing the powers that be out on their collective arses. For this to happen we need to abandon the helplessness of the two party system.
I agree, Ben. I’ve just started reading a book that supports your position completely, by longtime conservative Republican Mike Lofgren. It’s called “The Party is Over: How Republicans Went CRAZY, Democrats became USELESS, and the Middle Class Got SHAFTED“
Don,
To quote Thomas Paine from “The Crisis”
“THESE are the times that try men’s souls.”
Yes these are critical times. Don, let us know your thoughts on that book. And Ben, while I understand your distaste for just two parties, we are presented with such critical choices NOW and can’t be distracted from the far greater danger and really an insidious evil represented by the extreme hard right wing; the party of meism, or as Rand glorifies such behavior, selfishness. A coordinated attack is needed at this point, highlighting the realities of the Ryan budget and the consequences for the vanishing middle class. It is no time to be Mr. Nice Guy; just get the facts right, hand the ball to Bronco Nagurski, and ram it down their throats.
An
ll
I like your style, Ed.
Thanks, Michael. As you can see, Hal, my laptop, posted my thoughts before I was finished, but I was too worn out to continue. And Ben, I’ll defend you and your arguments as obviously superior by far to right wing bloggers, but I really don’t agree at all with the your critique of sudden change, nor even the wisdom of such a policy, no matter how comforting it looks on paper. I don’t think any president was more visciously attacked for supposed anti-constitutional actions than who most historians pick as our best President, Abe Lincoln. Our best tank commander in WWII slaps a soldier and he is relieved of command–only in the U.S. BTW, the Germans didn’t hold him in high regard, and he should thank all those ancient generals he revered that he never had to fight the Soviets with their T-34 tanks. Was U.S. Grant a murderer because of high causulties driving Lee toward Appomatox? or the savior of the Union?
Why are so many so positive that dark, corporate forces suddenly gain control of every decent man, turning him into a creatures of capitalist evil. How would the egomaniac Nader or any third party candidate perform any more purely and who would form his base of support in Congress.
If a bunch of white supremicist skinheads, American citizens all, were attempting to rob, maybe kill your family, and you had a gun, would you shoot the SOBs or go get the cops. I’d shoot them.
My point is only that the things you list were perhaps last choices and other choices do not guarantee safety from tragedy. Being anti-violence by no means ensures a state of no violence; in fact I think the reverse is probably true. One thing at a time and now is the time to defeat the Romney Ryan tea people. Then we move onto the next goal. Repeating the folly of 2000 will only entrench those we oppose more firmly in the seats of power from which we want to dump em. Just my thoughts.
Ed,
I totally understand your position but my horse left that barn a long time ago. It’s never a good time, times are good why change, times are bad its to important not let the really bad get more power. The republican made this calculated decision years ago and they are not going to change anytime soon. I am a civil libertarian and the democrats have picked where the war criminal Bush adminstration left off by passing the Patriot Act, TSA radiation scanners, kill lists, Guantanamo Bay, Drone Bombings, Suspend Habeas Corpus, FISA Act, and the list can go on and that is only one issue. Between Obama or Romney I prefer Obama but I have more options than that and plan on taking another option.
Ross Perot? There are no other options, when you consider what President Ryan would do to the Supreme Court, Social Security, or Medicare, etc, etc, etc. . Dangerous talk from disenchanted voters to show their contempt by throwing away their vote or not voting at all. And, in a close election where the Republican war on voting rights will narrow the contest even more, it’s dumb.
Here’s the option—-”I’ll show you how let down Obama has made me, I’ll give the election away to the side who doesn’t hide what they will do to take this country apart”.
“and the list can go on”— with the “dark” side the list would NEVER stop.
Chip,
We made it through the Bush and Reagan years we will make it through a Romney administration. At the moment we are in a point in time where the debate is what kind of future direction do we want to move towards, I reject both the democratic and republican party’s vision because the are both doing the bidding of big business.
I will give you a saying that tells the difference between a liberal vs progressive. A liberal wants everyone to be able to live within a corrupt system while a progressive wants to correct the system so everyone can afford to live. I am a progressive.
Fascism, racism, and treason. That is the Republican platform in 2012. Truly remarkable.
http://www.alternet.org/election-2012/9-reasons-romneys-choice-paul-ryan-veep-smarter-you-think?akid=9204.6940.heHlmk&rd=1&src=newsletter691986&t=1&paging=off
Although I think there are many elements of what Don Hazen posits that are accurate–I still think that the choice of Ryan was a mistake. In one fell swoop the election went from a referendum on President Obama’s policies to stimulate the economy, to a debate on the nature of government itself, and the deconstruction of the social safety net that Ryan proposes. In short Romeny added a pole to the campaign that was not there, diminishing his ability to zero in on the ‘referendum’ and muddying the waters.
Most Americans support Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. The risk Ryan poses to these programs, and the point that Romney will be unable to distance himself from the proposals while picking a radical deconstructionist as his running mate, is a severe blow to Romney’s ability to win over independents, extend his margin with seniors, and contend in the states with a high proportion of older voters (Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa and perhaps even Arizona).
According to a poll by the AARP 67% of seniors were against the Ryan plan; and you better believe that both the Obama campaign and the AARP will motivate them up for the election.
I don’t even think Ryan helps Romney in Wisconsin, where I just spent a week and heard from many that the Scott Walker recall was not a referendum on policy, it was won on a rejection of recall as a policy tool. Ryan is seen in Wisconsin as an anomaly: a publicity seeking creature of Washington, and not a real Packer Fan.
Couple with that the embrace of the Koch plan for reshaping America into a Gilded Age oligarchy through social and economic policy that dis-emepowers women and concentrates wealth in the ruling class, ensuring that traditional democratic constituencies will be motivated to vote now.
This was a risky choice by Romney–but you (and Hazen) are right that the die is now cast and since he will have $1 billion to buy the office, the charge, oft made by our local iconoclastic bloggers on the right, both directly and using racist code, that our President is a communist, not an American, and is unfit for service, is the last hope they have.
More on the “dream team”: while opposing the Obama administrations recovery plans Paul Ryan supported grants to Wisconsin non-profits to “reduce greenhouse gas emissions”. The irony of this is too thick for words….http://articles.boston.com/2012-08-14/politics/33190233_1_stimulus-funds-energy-efficiency-energy-costs
Along with the obvious disenfranchisment by Republicans where they were able, again I’ll point out an advantage that helped Bush win comfortably–instead of a much closer race in ’04. Simple Marxist-Leninist organizational principles and disipline used by the evangelical christians. They will get their 25 to 30 percent out to vote and they won’t be voting for Obama, although the committment will be less fervent than for one-of-their-own-Bush. But they are organized, disciplined, they vote and fit to a T anti-Enlightenment descriptions as presented in Idiot America, Religiousity, God is Not Great, and other such works that expose the attack on expertise, scienc
e,
and advances made since the 10th century. Basically a repudiation of talking snakes and affirmation advances in knowledge.