Refuting the Challenges to Ryan's VP Nom

Congressman Paul Ryan:
Above the Media Smears

http://news.yahoo.com/5-things-mitt-doesnt-want-know-paul-ryan-162758609.html

Following Romney's selection of Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate, the media wasted no time in evaluating the Chairman of the Budget Committee as the one heart beat away from the presidency.

The selection of Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan as Mitt Romney's running mate is sure to excite the Left almost as much as it does the Right.

The Left has more to worry about, since he is the face of the New GOP, a younger approach not afraid to cross the aisle, speak truth to power as well as the population, and propose reforms, no matter how unpopular they may be on impact.

Ryan, 42, has been considered a rising star in the party for years. He's been the chairman of the House Budget Committee since Republicans took back control of the House in 2010, and he's known for his keen fiscal knowledge. Plus, he hails from an important state. The GOP has been hoping to take Wisconsin this cycle. Although the state hasn't gone red in a presidential race since 1984, Republicans have been buoyed by the successful gubernatorial race of Scott Walker, who became the first governor to face a recall election and win last June.

Wisconsin is now one step closer to going red, a change which the GOP has been waiting for for some time. The war over budgets and backroom deals between statehouses and unionhouses has disenchanted gun-rack, Reagan Democrats, who love their country had who will never warm to the effeminate progressivism of Obama's welfare state on steroids.

Ryan is an exciting pick, but there's no such thing as a perfect candidate, and Ryan brings his own set of political risks to the table. Here's a list of five things that Mitt Romney might not want highlighted about his VP candidate (hint: most of them have to do with his budget proposals).

The search for perfection should be all but over by now. Obama was the "Messiah" for the voters, and he turned out to one more politician willing to throw supports and opponents under the bus to make his way in the world.

1. His budget plans include big cuts, and there's ample room for Democrats to continue with their "Romneyhood narrative." The nonpartisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates 62 percent of Ryan's cuts are to programs for the poor.

These programs create poverty, and they  deserve much of the blame. The real "rob from the rich schemes" always make everyone poorer, as wealth creators have no other choice but to lock up their wealth and worthy and refuse to invest. This is a hollow analysis, nothing worth taking. Shameful and shallow.

2. Ryan's budget proposals have included big changes to Medicare - including gradually replacing the program with a voucher program for private health care, and gradually raising the retirement age. That could scare older Americans, a crucial voting bloc.

That "could" scare, or maybe not. Marco Rubio bested the establishment Republican and the Democrat to become the US Senator in Florida, and he did not mince words about entitlement reform. The majority of elderly voters are mature enough to respect his argument, and they voted for him. Nothing to worry about.

3. He voted for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. While a lot of other Republicans did too, and it was proposed by the Bush administration, some have viewed it as a rejection of the conservative economic values Ryan and hard-line fiscal conservatives espouse.

He voted for TARP. Too bad, but I see no reason to harp on it at this point.

4. He's easily pegged as Washington insider. He's been in Congress since 1999, and before that he worked as a congressional staffer. Congressional approval ratings are abysmally low- a recent CBS News/NY Times poll showed that only 12 percent of voters approve of the way Congress is doing its job.

Anyone who has been in Congress for more than three terms is automatically an "insider". This tarring has not merit. In fact, Ryan is an example of a well-versed legislator whose skills and experience are helping rather than hindering Congress from taking necessary steps to deal with debts, deficits, and default.

5. This is both a pro and a con to Ryan, depending on who you ask, but he's notably further to the left on the issue of lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender rights than the base of the party. He broke with a lot of his party to support the Employee Non-Discrimination Act in 2007.

The Republican party will most likely adopt a libertarian stance on homosexuality. Gay marriage is out, but perhaps ending the role of the state in marriage altogether would be the way to go. Favor less government and remain committed the integrity of the human family. The GOP could kill two birds with one stone by simplifying the tax code, in the course of which they can do away with the tax incentives for married couples, and slowly remove the role of the state and allow "holy" as in sacred (no secular) to return to "holy matrimony".

Paul Ryan is not a perfect pick, perhaps, for VP. But the voters thought that they had selected a perfect President in 2008, who fell so far short of the glorious ideal. The American voters have the chance to reveal that they have matured in their understanding of the role of government.

We do not need perfect, we need good, responsible, and genuine. Paul Ryan brings all of that and more to the Romney ticket.