Paul Ryan: the elephant in the room

[You kip if you want to...]

Will the GOP base vote for a mormon and a catholic?

[Holmes]

Against Obama, yes. Never you worry.

[State Comptroller Atkins]

Romney has been saying for the past six years that he's an outsider who can change Washington for the better....and then he chooses Paul Ryan as his running mate. That's the bigger problem.

[Yelnoc]

Will the GOP base vote for a mormon and a catholic?

JCL is the only one who has not moved beyond this sort of identity politics.

[Progressive Realist]

Will the GOP base vote for a plutocrat and a Randian?

[asexual trans victimologist]

Will the GOP base vote for a plutocrat and a Randian?

Of course they will.

[Progressive Realist]

Will the GOP base vote for a plutocrat and a Randian?

Of course they will.

But I thought they were the party of moral values.

[LINCOLN REPUBLICAN]

Yes, obviously.

And quit trying to paint the Republican base as some kind of intolerant group of voters.

[Progressive Realist]

And quit trying to paint the Republican base as some kind of intolerant group of voters.

Oh they do a good enough job of that themselves. There's no need to paint!

[TJ in Wisco]

Will the GOP base vote for a plutocrat and a Randian?

Of course they will.

But I thought they were the party of moral values.

Ryan isn't a Randian and most people don't know who Rand is anyway.

[IDS Legislator Alfred F. Jones]

And quit trying to paint the Republican base as some kind of intolerant group of voters.

Do you seriously believe all the bullsh**t you spew?

[asexual trans victimologist]

Will the GOP base vote for a plutocrat and a Randian?

Of course they will.

But I thought they were the party of moral values.

Ryan isn't a Randian and most people don't know who Rand is anyway.

He's cited Rand as the reason he got into politics. The Obama people could, if they choose, do a very good job of making it very clear to people exactly who Rand was.

[TJ in Wisco]

Will the GOP base vote for a plutocrat and a Randian?

Of course they will.

But I thought they were the party of moral values.

Ryan isn't a Randian and most people don't know who Rand is anyway.

He's cited Rand as the reason he got into politics. The Obama people could, if they choose, do a very good job of making it very clear to people exactly who Rand was.

Sure he has, but he's also not espoused Ayn Rand's ideology in total. It doesn't make any sense to call him a Randian.

[Proud Lieberal from Northeast]

And quit trying to paint the Republican base as some kind of intolerant group of voters.

WTF?

[You kip if you want to...]

And quit trying to paint the Republican base as some kind of intolerant group of voters.

May I remind you of your last VP candidate's antics on the campaign trail?
Her as well as the members of the base who turned up to McCain/Palin rallies.

[asexual trans victimologist]

Will the GOP base vote for a plutocrat and a Randian?

Of course they will.

But I thought they were the party of moral values.

Ryan isn't a Randian and most people don't know who Rand is anyway.

He's cited Rand as the reason he got into politics. The Obama people could, if they choose, do a very good job of making it very clear to people exactly who Rand was.

Sure he has, but he's also not espoused Ayn Rand's ideology in total. It doesn't make any sense to call him a Randian.

Arguably not, but he's more Randian than I (and I would hope I'm joined in this by many or most Americans) am comfortable with for a Vice-Presidential candidate.

[TJ in Wisco]

Will the GOP base vote for a plutocrat and a Randian?

Of course they will.

But I thought they were the party of moral values.

Ryan isn't a Randian and most people don't know who Rand is anyway.

He's cited Rand as the reason he got into politics. The Obama people could, if they choose, do a very good job of making it very clear to people exactly who Rand was.

Sure he has, but he's also not espoused Ayn Rand's ideology in total. It doesn't make any sense to call him a Randian.

Arguably not, but he's more Randian than I (and I would hope I'm joined in this by many or most Americans) am comfortable with for a Vice-Presidential candidate.

Is it just me or does this sound exactly like the "Obama is a socialist" argument that would be rapidly eviscerated on here as a right-wing fantasy...

[memphis]

Not so much that he's Catholic. Is that he doesn't have the southern/country/low class vibe that the GOP desperately needs. Romney already has the grown up college Republican vote. Especially in Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, and Ohio he's gonna need red meat Take Back Our (White) Country crowd. Instead, he went for the best looking Ayn Rand fan in America. I've yet to see Ryan campaign, but I don't get the impression that he can get the job done.

[asexual trans victimologist]

Will the GOP base vote for a plutocrat and a Randian?

Of course they will.

But I thought they were the party of moral values.

Ryan isn't a Randian and most people don't know who Rand is anyway.

He's cited Rand as the reason he got into politics. The Obama people could, if they choose, do a very good job of making it very clear to people exactly who Rand was.

Sure he has, but he's also not espoused Ayn Rand's ideology in total. It doesn't make any sense to call him a Randian.

Arguably not, but he's more Randian than I (and I would hope I'm joined in this by many or most Americans) am comfortable with for a Vice-Presidential candidate.

Is it just me or does this sound exactly like the "Obama is a socialist" argument that would be rapidly eviscerated on here as a right-wing fantasy...

1. If Obama had cited some prominent socialist thinker as the reason he got into politics that would be a much more sensible line of attack.
2. There's nothing inherently unreasonable about saying that Obama's policies are closer to socialism than one is comfortable with. It's the idea that he's some sort of unreconstructed Marxist-Leninist or Eurocommunist that's prima facie absurd.

[You kip if you want to...]

Will the GOP base vote for a plutocrat and a Randian?

Of course they will.

But I thought they were the party of moral values.

Ryan isn't a Randian and most people don't know who Rand is anyway.

He's cited Rand as the reason he got into politics. The Obama people could, if they choose, do a very good job of making it very clear to people exactly who Rand was.

Sure he has, but he's also not espoused Ayn Rand's ideology in total. It doesn't make any sense to call him a Randian.

Arguably not, but he's more Randian than I (and I would hope I'm joined in this by many or most Americans) am comfortable with for a Vice-Presidential candidate.

Is it just me or does this sound exactly like the "Obama is a socialist" argument that would be rapidly eviscerated on here as a right-wing fantasy...

Did Barack Obama call himself a socialist or claim Tommy Douglas or Aneurin Bevan as the inspirations behind the Affordable Care Act?

[You kip if you want to...]

Will the GOP base vote for a plutocrat and a Randian?

Of course they will.

But I thought they were the party of moral values.

Ryan isn't a Randian and most people don't know who Rand is anyway.

He's cited Rand as the reason he got into politics. The Obama people could, if they choose, do a very good job of making it very clear to people exactly who Rand was.

Sure he has, but he's also not espoused Ayn Rand's ideology in total. It doesn't make any sense to call him a Randian.

Arguably not, but he's more Randian than I (and I would hope I'm joined in this by many or most Americans) am comfortable with for a Vice-Presidential candidate.

Is it just me or does this sound exactly like the "Obama is a socialist" argument that would be rapidly eviscerated on here as a right-wing fantasy...

1. If Obama had cited some prominent socialist thinker as the reason he got into politics that would be a much more sensible line of attack.
2. There's nothing inherently unreasonable about saying that Obama's policies are closer to socialism than one is comfortable with. It's the idea that he's some sort of unreconstructed Marxist-Leninist or Eurocommunist that's prima facie absurd.

Even calling him a social democrat would over doing it. He's to the right of your Milibands, your Hollandes and your Thorning-Schmidts.

[TJ in Wisco]

There are obvious problems with calling Obama a socialist, but can't you people see the obvious problems with calling Ryan a Randite? I mean, would Ayn Rand have voted for TARP? Would Rand be against abortion? How about the auto bailouts?

It just doesn't match up at all.

And as for his early political inspiration, the same argument can be made for Obama since he has plenty of questionable ties from early in his community organizer days.

[fezzyfestoon]

Republicans will vote for whoever they're told to vote for in the end. Plus, religion can be forgotten more than race if only for the simple fact that you can't see it.

[Progressive Realist]

Not so much that he's Catholic. Is that he doesn't have the southern/country/low class vibe that the GOP desperately needs. Romney already has the grown up college Republican vote. Especially in Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, and Ohio he's gonna need red meat Take Back Our (White) Country crowd. Instead, he went for the best looking Ayn Rand fan in America. I've yet to see Ryan campaign, but I don't get the impression that he can get the job done.

Either the "white working class" vote is more Democratic (or less Republican, alternatively) than the pundits give them credit for, or the Republicans take them completely for granted and really don't care about them.

[useful idiot]

If you'll vote for a Mormon, you'll vote for a Catholic. The bridge was already crossed. The OP is confusing though when it asks whether or not the "base" will vote for a Catholic. This is strange considering what a large segment of the base conservative Catholics are. Have you ever picked up National Review?

The more into politics a conservative evangelical is the more likely they are to be pro-Catholic, in politics or just in general. Hence for those who are even informed enough to be aware of his affiliation, it's probably a plus.

As for the nominally religious parts of the base, obviously it doesn't matter.