Sources say that Mitt will announce his running mate Saturday. Who do you think it will be?

My money's on Portman. A lot of folks seemed to think he would go with a "game changer". McCain tried that in 2008 and it didn't work out so well, other than to give an Alaskan hillbilly and her family 15 minutes of fame. I think he plays it safe and goes with the white bread candidate (pun definitely intended).


http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/08/10/romney-to-announce-running-mate-saturday-morning-in-virginia/

Paul Ryan. Mark it down.

It's Paul Ryan. Game on...

wow...America gets a real choice.

Yeah, Mitt really threw me a curve ball with that one. I guess Mitt doesn't need Florida and the over-50 crowd. Ryan's SS and Medicare/Medicaid plans will be a hot topic this fall.

^^^I like Paul Ryan, but I think Rubio would have been a better poilitical choice.

Interesting choice.
Not sure I like Ryan moving out of Congress. I disagree with some of his plans, but honestly, he was one of the few that had ideas.
Now, though, the race has begun.

Big fan of Paul Ryan but I agree it may have been a risky pick. Glad their first stop on the campaign trail is about 30 miles from my house, just signed up for my ticket.

From the standpoint that it now forces the administration to discuss their worst-in-history record on the budget/deficit, it's a solid pick.

HUGE,HUGE risk by Mitt Romney.


Outside of Wisconsin(which it still likely won't help),how/where does this help him electorally? It likely will cost him Florida,Pennsylvania,and maybe Ohio.


Rubio or Portman should have been the pick.


VP debate will be interesting.

Not saying this will cost Romney the election,but it isn't going to help him

Well, it forces a serious debate on Medicare and the budget, which needs to happen.
People need to understand Medicare needs to change. It cannot sustain itself.

Ending Medicare as we know it has to happen.

Ryan though, doesn't have that much of a record on reaching across the aisle.
Still, promotes a needed debate.

ptown_trojans_1;1244655 wrote:Well, it forces a serious debate on Medicare and the budget, which needs to happen.
People need to understand Medicare needs to change. It cannot sustain itself.

Ending Medicare as we know it has to happen.

Ryan though, doesn't have that much of a record on reaching across the aisle.
Still, promotes a needed debate.

I agree it needs to change.....but not the way Ryan is proposing

Ty Webb;1244656 wrote:I agree it needs to change.....but not the way Ryan is proposing

Then maybe this will force the administration to pony up and present its own plan. Because, right now, they do not have one on reforming Medicare.

ptown_trojans_1;1244655 wrote:Well, it forces a serious debate on Medicare and the budget, which needs to happen.
People need to understand Medicare needs to change. It cannot sustain itself.

Ending Medicare as we know it has to happen.

Ryan though, doesn't have that much of a record on reaching across the aisle.
Still, promotes a needed debate.

This is all wrong. Medicare has no problems that aren't plaguing our current healthcare system as a whole and actually is doing a better job of controlling costs than private health insurers. As Peter Orzag notes there is no evidence that Paul Ryan's proposal will control costs. If anything, there's evidence it will make things worse as is what happened with Medicare Advantage. If Medicare were able to negotiate the cost of prescription drugs it would save several billions of dollars more than anything Paul Ryan opposed but that idea is anathema because big Pharma is opposed to it.

Ending medicare as we know it does not "have to happen."

Glad to see the "reasonable centrists" being pulled into the smoke and mirrors of the medicare scolds and charlatans though.

As far as the Ryan pick goes...probably a bad choice imo. At least McDonnell, Rubio and Portman would've put swing states in play. Anybody who likes the Ryan pick was already a guaranteed Romney voter. And, not sure the base really needed to be galvanized as the dislike of Obummer does that enough already.

fish82;1244649 wrote:From the standpoint that it now forces the administration to discuss their worst-in-history record on the budget/deficit, it's a solid pick.

Paul Ryan and his minions in the House were the single biggest roadblocks to a bi-partisan budget deal which would've made your claim about obama being the worst in history on budget/deficit un-true.

BoatShoes;1244663 wrote:Paul Ryan and his minions in the House were the single biggest roadblocks to a bi-partisan budget deal which would've made your claim about obama being the worst in history on budget/deficit un-true.

When was the last time the D controlled Senate passed a budget? 1000+ days?? Who is making things bad again?

stlouiedipalma;1244609 wrote:Yeah, Mitt really threw me a curve ball with that one. I guess Mitt doesn't need Florida and the over-50 crowd. Ryan's SS and Medicare/Medicaid plans will be a hot topic this fall.

As will Obama's gutting over half a trillion from Medicare (via accounting tricks) for Obamacare.

I never liked the "We need the (fill in the blank) vote, so let's nominate person X". I don't think Rubio is ready for primetime yet anyway, and Portman is basically Paul Ryan, just a little more boring and with too many ties to GWBush.

ptown_trojans_1;1244655 wrote:Well, it forces a serious debate on Medicare and the budget, which needs to happen.
People need to understand Medicare needs to change. It cannot sustain itself.

Ending Medicare as we know it has to happen.

Ryan though, doesn't have that much of a record on reaching across the aisle.
Still, promotes a needed debate.

If ending Medicare as we know it has to happen, then his opponents need to reach across the aisle to him.

BoatShoes;1244663 wrote:Paul Ryan and his minions in the House were the single biggest roadblocks to a bi-partisan budget deal which would've made your claim about obama being the worst in history on budget/deficit un-true.

I may have missed it, but when did the Senate ever vote on a budget that originated in the House? Just curious.

I don't know if there's a mercy rule in VP debates, but I'm really looking forward to seeing Paul Ryan run up the score on Joe Biden.

jhay78;1244679 wrote: I may have missed it, but when did the Senate ever vote on a budget that originated in the House? Just curious.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. There is no point in voting on the coloring book "budgets" that passed the house. It is a better use of time to vote on continuing resolutions.

elitesmithie05;1244674 wrote:When was the last time the D controlled Senate passed a budget? 1000+ days?? Who is making things bad again?

Means nothing. The government is running. Senate Democrats and the President had deals on the table more conservative than things Ronald Reagan signed and House Republicans dug in their heals and sacrificed anyone who was willing to deal.

jhay78;1244679 wrote:
If ending Medicare as we know it has to happen, then his opponents need to reach across the aisle to him.

It doesn't have to happen. Eliminating Medicare as a way to control federal spending without changes to healthcare delivery does not solve any problem and simply shifts the untenable costs that are exploding.

jhay78;1244686 wrote:I don't know if there's a mercy rule in VP debates, but I'm really looking forward to seeing Paul Ryan run up the score on Joe Biden.

You underestimate Joe Biden and that's a mistake. In the democratic presidential debates he made BHO, Hillary and everyone else look relatively silly on foreign policy issues...an area where Paul Ryan has little experience.

ptown_trojans_1;1244659 wrote:Then maybe this will force the administration to pony up and present its own plan. Because, right now, they do not have one on reforming Medicare.

The administration has a plan, it's called the Affordable Care Act which has realistic approaches to curbing the growth in spending that will lead to a better approach in the near future. Alice Rivlin, who once co-authored a plan with Ryan totally repudiates any of his new proposals and supports the affordable care act which Paul Ryan wants to repeal.

jhay78;1244686 wrote:I don't know if there's a mercy rule in VP debates, but I'm really looking forward to seeing Paul Ryan run up the score on Joe Biden.

Biden will school Ryan!

Ryan will come off brash,cocky,and arrogant while Joey stays on message

This was a good thing for BHO, who more and more looks like he is going to luck his way into a second term.

The Ryan choice turns this into a choice election, rather than a referendum on his failure, which in his case is a good thing.

Paul Ryan scares seniors, who are Willards biggest voting block. We will also see plenty of commercials with granny flying over the cliff in her wheel chair with Ryan/Willard pushing. That is of course after the opening half focuses on Willard's taxes.

Willard's biggest hope right now has to be that disaffected conservatives content to sit on their hands come out and vote for the ticket by voting for Paul Ryan who many wish had run.

I am surprised that Ryan was the pick in that he has almost next to no private sector experience (other than a few months at a construction company after college) and is a life long Washington bureaucrat. Part of Willard's line of attack on BHO has been to slam not understanding the economy, and he puts a guy on the ticket who has never created a job in his life (other than to put more and more people on his washington government staff). It is kind of peculiar.