The unofficial Obama and Romney VP speculation thread

[LA Ute]

Don't worry it'll still piss 'em off.

Lol. No doubt.

[Omaha 680]

Um... It's about a quarter of all federal spending.

You're doing the math wrong. Our impending fiscal armagedeon isn't about current spending.

[frank ryan]

Lol. No doubt.

Ryan is obviously a better pick than Palin. It won't decide the presidential race but even if I don't care for his fiscal hawkishness, the man is bright and at least he has a political core. What the hell were Palin's politics? I honestly have no clue.

Romney won't take Wisconsin but he doesn't have to get it.
I like Obama, I think he is a great man who loves his country, but he is a very weak sitting president. If Romney can't beat him he needs to give politics a rest.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

Ryan is obviously a better pick than Palin. It won't decide the presidential race but even if I don't care for his fiscal hawkishness, the man is bright and at least he has a political core. What the hell were Palin's politics? I honestly have no clue.

Romney won't take Wisconsin but he doesn't have to get it.
I like Obama, I think he is a great man who loves his country, but he is a very weak sitting president. If Romney can't beat him he needs to give politics a rest.

I thought you would be a bigger supporter of your older brother.

[frank ryan]

I thought you would be a bigger supporter of your older brother.

lol, he does have a good Irish last name

[calicoug]

You're doing the math wrong. Our impending fiscal armagedeon isn't about current spending.

Look, defense spending (even excluding the cost of wars) right now exceeds all of Medicare spending. In 2011, defense spending was only $25 billion less than all social security spending (the gap widened a fair bit in 2012, in part due to cuts in military spending and in part due to growth in SS). It's a huge part of the nation's spending. It constitutes about 52% of all discretionary spending by the federal government.

Yes- Medicare is projected to be the real issue because of its growth over time, but you can't just ignore something the size of defense spending and act like it has nothing to do with future economic problems. It does.

[calicoug]

Ryan is obviously a better pick than Palin. It won't decide the presidential race but even if I don't care for his fiscal hawkishness, the man is bright and at least he has a political core. What the hell were Palin's politics? I honestly have no clue.

Romney won't take Wisconsin but he doesn't have to get it.
I like Obama, I think he is a great man who loves his country, but he is a very weak sitting president. If Romney can't beat him he needs to give politics a rest.

It depends on what you mean by "better." Ryan is leaps and bounds ahead of Palin in terms of qualifications to be president (even if he has zero foreign policy experience). He's a bright guy who is informed on spending issues, even if misguided in his conclusions. All of that is a clear contrast with Palin who was and is a moron.

But the context we are discussing, I think, is whether Ryan is better than Palin in terms of helping the presidential candidate win the presidency. On that topic, I think Ryan may be the exact same as Palin- both pulling in tea party and conservative types who otherwise might not have been as motivated to participate in the election but not doing much (or even ostracizing) independent voters.

[frank ryan]

It depends on what you mean by "better." Ryan is leaps and bounds ahead of Palin in terms of qualifications to be president (even if he has zero foreign policy experience). He's a bright guy who is informed on spending issues, even if misguided in his conclusions. All of that is a clear contrast with Palin who was and is a moron.

But the context we are discussing, I think, is whether Ryan is better than Palin in terms of helping the presidential candidate win the presidency. On that topic, I think Ryan may be the exact same as Palin- both pulling in tea party and conservative types who otherwise might not have been as motivated to participate in the election but not doing much (or even ostracizing) independent voters.

I abhor his politics but I am relieved he won't be talking about Mama Grizzlies.

[San Juan Sun]

In surfing the Interwebs, I find myself much amused at liberal attempts to convince themselves that they really wanted Ryan as Mitt's veep.

[Colly Wolly]

In surfing the Interwebs, I find myself much amused at liberal attempts to convince themselves that they really wanted Ryan as Mitt's veep.

I wanted Rubio. Ryan will kick more ass if he gets the job, but Rubio makes the GOP ticket more electable.

[calicoug]

In surfing the Interwebs, I find myself much amused at liberal attempts to convince themselves that they really wanted Ryan as Mitt's veep.

I think liberals are similarly amused at conservative attempts to convince themselves Ryan is a good addition politically.

I guess we will all know the answer in a few months.

[DU Ute]

My vote doesn't matter, but I've been waiting for Mitt to do something to show he is more moderate on social issues. This wasn't it. I'm sure there are more than a few people who are looking for the same thing who live in states where their vote matters.

[calicoug]

I guess I shouldn't be surprised anymore, but Republican arguments that Obama cut Medicare are incredible.

The Health Care law did, in fact, cut $500 million from Medicare, but only by reducing fraud and overpayments to private insurance companies. Republicans favored those cuts (who wouldn't). Now that they have promoted the Chief Medicare Cutter to VP nominee, they are trying to make the argument that it is the Democrats who want to cut Medicare.

Here's a good ABC fact check on this exact point:

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics...0-billion-tax/

Look- if Republicans want to cut Medicare, then fine. They want this to be a campaign on ideas, so make it just that. But advertise the ideas they support and attack the actual ideas Dems support. Let's see who wins.

Based on the Republican lies about what the health care law does, I'm guessing we all know who wins.

[Surfah]

My vote doesn't matter, but I've been waiting for Mitt to do something to show he is more moderate on social issues. This wasn't it. I'm sure there are more than a few people who are looking for the same thing who live in states where their vote matters.

And which vice president would have shown that?

[pellegrino]

And which vice president would have shown that?

I was wondering the same thing. We are talking about the Republicans, right? The party where socially moderate candidates are about as rare as unicorns.