Who Will Be Romney's VP Pick?

[Terralthra]

Whoops, you're quite correct. My bad, I had it confused with the Senate.

[eion]

No prob. It's the Constitution. It can get complicated.

[Flagg]

Everyone who voted for Ryan after about 10pm PDT yesterday is a giant twat, just FYI.

[Dalton]

I think I had it a little confused too, because as I recall Rod Blagojevich appointed Roland Burris as Barack Obama's replacement for the Illinois Senate.

[Dark Hellion]

Blago was an Illinois governor so don't assume anything he did was legal

[Bright]

This joker is supposed to get Romney votes?

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/arc ... an/261027/

Under Paul Ryan's plan, Mitt Romney wouldn't pay any taxes for the next ten years -- or any of the years after that. Now, do I know that that's true. Yes, I'm certain.

Well, maybe not quite nothing. In 2010 -- the only year we have seen a full return from him -- Romney would have paid an effective tax rate of around 0.82 percent under the Ryan plan, rather than the 13.9 percent he actually did. How would someone with more than $21 million in taxable income pay so little? Well, the vast majority of Romney's income came from capital gains, interest, and dividends. And Ryan wants to eliminate all taxes on capital gains, interest and dividends.

Romney, of course, criticized this idea when Newt Gingrich proposed it back in January by pointing out that zeroing out taxes on savings and investment would mean zeroing out his own taxes.

Almost. Romney did earn $593,996 in author and speaking fees in 2010 that would still be taxed under the Ryan plan. Just not much. Ryan would cut the top marginal tax rate from 35 to 25 percent and get rid of the Alternative Minimum Tax -- saving Romney another $292,389 or so on his 2010 tax bill. Now, Romney would still owe self-employment taxes on his author and speaking fees, but that only amounts to $29,151. Add it all up, and Romney would have paid $177,650 out of a taxable income of $21,661,344, for a cool effective rate of 0.82 percent.

But what about corporate taxes? Aren't they a double tax on savings and investment, so Romney's "real" rate is higher than his headline rate? No. As Jared Bernstein of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has pointed out, Romney has structured his investments as "pass-throughs" that avoid corporate tax. In other words, the 0.82 percent tax rate is really a 0.82 percent tax rate.

It might seem impossible to fund the government when the super-rich pay no taxes. That is accurate. Ryan would actually raise taxes on the bottom 30 percent of earners, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, but that hardly fills the revenue hole he would create. The solution? All but eliminate all government outside of Social Security and defense -- a point my colleague Derek Thompson has made in incredible chart form.

Maybe Harry Reid's mysterious source that Romney didn't pay taxes for a decade was really a time-traveler from the future. If Romney wins, it could very well be true.

Romney/Ryan: 1% tax for the 1%!

[Crossroads Inc.]

This pick is basically Palin2.0.
Sure Ryan is a bit more competent then Palin, but what you basically have going on is a campaign that is full of people with low energy supportign a canidate they don't REALLY Believe in or like, but support because he is the only option.

In comes Ryan, a "Real" conservative, and suddenly we see a boost of intense support. Suddenly his numbers start to go up, energy is back in the people and everyone on the far right says "NOW We have someone to believe in!!!"

Two years again, McCain did the same thing in Sept, and we all know how that ended...

Ryan won't be the same disastor that Palin was, but the simple fact that Mittens HAS to pick someone to not just shore up the base, but actually put life into it, is telling of his numbers right now. Also, McCain waited untill Sept to pull this, Mittens is forced to do this a month early. Maybe that is a good move, who knows...

But the long and short of this pick is that Mittens has basically said with the pick he has no interest in trying to get independent or middle of the road voaters, but is gambling everything on winning just by the turn out of the far right...

[Mr Bean]

I'm not a fan of the Palin 2.0 comparisons to be honest for three main reasons

1. The reason McCain's campaign ended as it did was because the economy exploded and because Palin literally was going rogue on the campaign trail. Fuck up your first crises response and hire someone who won't obey and shit will go south on anyone.

2. The more people met Palin the less impressed they were with her. If I meet her in person back when she was governor a time or two as most people did, I'd come away with the impression that she was an intelligent hard working devoted mother. Meeting her a third or fourth time or spending any length of continuous time with her and I understand the real Palin, that of someone still stuck in the head cheerleader mentality, vicious and full of grudges and ready to order reprisals for any slight no matter how small.

3. Paul Ryan is not a crazy fundamentalist, he's Catholic and he's a convince Catholic to boot. He lacks the same blind faith in himself and his actions that Palin had that got her in trouble.

Paul Ryan is at the end of the day exactly what he appears, a religious by upbringing Ayn Rand devotee who's in Congress to serve his free market beliefs that just so happen to make taxes low and regulations lose on rich corporations while cutting social programs and tossing people off of support services to fund more military spending. He is not a Christian Reconstruction with a firm belief in his own God guided destiny and a complete ignorance of anything outside his own social circles and not only a crippling lack of knowledge on many subjects but also a firm belief that acquiring such knowledge is sinful.

The only part of the comparison I agree with is that Romney like McCain picked someone more popular than he was. For McCain this was kinda hard. For Romney that was kinda easy.

[Darth Wong]

3. Paul Ryan is not a crazy fundamentalist, he's Catholic and he's a convince Catholic to boot. He lacks the same blind faith in himself and his actions that Palin had that got her in trouble.

He's not as stupid and self-centred as Palin, and he doesn't give off the same trailer-trash vibe, but he does appear to be a fundamentalist. He apparently has a 100% rating from the "National Right to Live Committee", which I assume you can't get unless you fall into the "foaming-at-the-mouth" category of anti-abortion fanatics.

[Mr Bean]

He's not as stupid and self-centred as Palin, and he doesn't give off the same trailer-trash vibe, but he does appear to be a fundamentalist. He apparently has a 100% rating from the "National Right to Live Committee", which I assume you can't get unless you fall into the "foaming-at-the-mouth" category of anti-abortion fanatics.

All you need to get a 100% from the NRLC is to vote against Abortion in every form which is something Ryan does but like I said he's a opportunity Catholic and one of his conveniences is his firm support of anything that hampers abortion in this country. He's not backed religion in schools, arresting abortion doctors, school prayer, creationism and any of the other I'm a fundamentalist so I hate these things causes. He just votes against abortion always and in all forms. Also gays, hates the gays but not in the Santorum because I'm possibly self hating kind of hate but the smug Christian our marriages are super special so you can't have them hates the gays.

[Max]

I'm confused why Romney would pick Paul Ryan. Isn't he trying to get the independent voters to swing his way? Paul Ryan seems like he'd do more to push those voters away than he would at bringing them in...

[Broomstick]

He may be hoping that the independents/swing voters stay home due to disillusionment with Obama, which is quite prevalent. If that occurs the voters to the left and the Democrats that remain won't vote for Romney anyway, in which case Romeny is better off playing to his base rather than attempting to woo voters he can't woo anyhow.

Me, I'm not convinced that's the smartest move. We'll find out in November if that was a winning strategy or not.

[UnderAGreySky]

I think it was a smart move in some ways; Paul Ryan has a lot of idiots convinced that he is a budget hero when - hat tip to Brad De Long whose blog I saw this on - he is an arsonist in a Fire Chief's hat. Believing that he is a fiscal phony involves mentally crunching the numbers - or lack thereof - in his budget and I'm not convinced a large section of any populace are well-placed to do that.

[Darth Wong]

He's not as stupid and self-centred as Palin, and he doesn't give off the same trailer-trash vibe, but he does appear to be a fundamentalist. He apparently has a 100% rating from the "National Right to Live Committee", which I assume you can't get unless you fall into the "foaming-at-the-mouth" category of anti-abortion fanatics.

All you need to get a 100% from the NRLC is to vote against Abortion in every form which is something Ryan does but like I said he's a opportunity Catholic and one of his conveniences is his firm support of anything that hampers abortion in this country. He's not backed religion in schools, arresting abortion doctors, school prayer, creationism and any of the other I'm a fundamentalist so I hate these things causes. He just votes against abortion always and in all forms. Also gays, hates the gays but not in the Santorum because I'm possibly self hating kind of hate but the smug Christian our marriages are super special so you can't have them hates the gays.

That just means he hasn't spoken out about those other issues, which might simply mean that he's smart enough to pick his battles. His attitudes on issues that we do know of seems to be solidly in line with the Religious Right.

[Flagg]

I just realized something: There is no Protestant on the ticket. Christ, what was Romney thinking?

[Broomstick]

Maybe he was thinking Obama is the Protestant?

More likely, those who'd give a damn about the brand of Christianity are probably so squicked out by Romney being Mormon it doesn't matter whether his VP is Catholic or Protestant.

As for Ryan's stance on various issues, This website contains links to Ryan's stance on various issues based on such things as his voting record and published comments.

[Zaune]

Well, if Ryan thought his Christian credentials were going to do him any good, he can think again now: The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has weighed in on the Ryan Budget, and they ain't impressed.

[Flagg]

Well, if Ryan thought his Christian credentials were going to do him any good, he can think again now: The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has weighed in on the Ryan Budget, and they ain't impressed.

I don't know how much stock rightwing religious nutters put in what Catholic Bishops think. Hell, I don't.

[Dark Hellion]

Ryan isn't being picked to shore up his Christian vote in the first place but to shore up his support among the idealogical wing of the Republicans. Which is why so many people are comparing him to Palin.

[Darth Wong]

Well, if Ryan thought his Christian credentials were going to do him any good, he can think again now: The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has weighed in on the Ryan Budget, and they ain't impressed.

I don't know how much stock rightwing religious nutters put in what Catholic Bishops think. Hell, I don't.

Maybe not, but it does make it sound funny when he says that his budget is based on his Catholic faith.

[Flagg]

Well, if Ryan thought his Christian credentials were going to do him any good, he can think again now: The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has weighed in on the Ryan Budget, and they ain't impressed.

I don't know how much stock rightwing religious nutters put in what Catholic Bishops think. Hell, I don't.

Maybe not, but it does make it sound funny when he says that his budget is based on his Catholic faith.

He said that? That's hilarious.

[Dalton]

I don't know how much stock rightwing religious nutters put in what Catholic Bishops think. Hell, I don't.

Maybe not, but it does make it sound funny when he says that his budget is based on his Catholic faith.

He said that? That's hilarious.

Well, here's the deal...I doubt he's against personal charity - that's all well and good and biblically proper, not that that last should matter - but more and more I wonder if the question these inarticulate jackasses are trying to say is "Should the government force you to be charitable, or redistribute your wealth for you without your say-so?" He's probably got that "God helps those who help themselves" mentality - essentially the fiscal version of faith healing.

[Simon_Jester]

He seems to be one of those oxymoronic Christian Randists- that, or a Randist pretending to be a Christian, which would be tricky to pull off for this long.

[Dalton]

He seems to be one of those oxymoronic Christian Randists- that, or a Randist pretending to be a Christian, which would be tricky to pull off for this long.

That's what gets me - the GOP is essentially schizophrenic. They're also champion fucking contortionists.

[Dark Hellion]

He seems to be one of those oxymoronic Christian Randists- that, or a Randist pretending to be a Christian, which would be tricky to pull off for this long.

That's what gets me - the GOP is essentially schizophrenic. They're also champion fucking contortionists.

I think its that the modern Republican party tends to attract those who have the kind of cognitive disconnects that can put ideology over practicality when it comes to politics. This seems to be a result of the ideological cleansing that the party did during the Clinton and Bush Jr. years. The sad thing is that it seems to have worked in some regards because it makes them look decisive to the nonobservant masses even as it makes them look more and more insane to those who are more politically interested and astute.