Originally posted by Oliver North
Romney has been faced with a really weird problem. If he ran on his record from Massachusetts, he would likely fare well, as he was a very progressive Republican who made rather pragmatic choices while in office. I personally still don't think he would be a good candidate, but at least that Romney would appeal to a broader base of, generally, better informed voters than the ones who make the backbone of the parties voter base. The so called "low-information-voters" tend to be the type that would elect a houseplant so long as it had a D or an R in front of it.However, because of this, and his general appearance as a Wall Street guy or as a Mormon, he has faced a lot of criticism from within the Tea Party and Evangelical wings of his base. This was seen in the primaries, of course. My suspicion is that Ryan is a nod to those people. His budget is like a Tea Party wet dream and he denounced Rand in order to prove his Christian credentials.
Its a terrible choice, however, because the people he is supposed to appeal to are already R voters and would never vote for a Dem, let alone a black one. We are talking about a group of voters who still emphasize that Obama's middle name is Hussein. Ryan is also stupid, and his budget is stupid, and he has a stupid face and is terrible as a speaker. I'm not sure, aside from trying to keep the base happy, why he would have been chosen.
Its just an altogether terrible Rep ticket this year. What it points out to me, however, is just how ****ed the American electorate is. Even with the literal worst campaign I can remember (worse than McCain/Palin by far... Maybe Dole?) some 40% of the electorate is still just a straight R voter. Like, they aren't even going conservative 3rd party. I'd say the same for progressives who still support Obama. some 80% of your population will never vote for anyone else, no matter how bad the choice is. This election should not be close at all...
These are all similar sentiments to what the other forum peeps were saying: it was an appeal to the conservative base to win over those people that Romney could not (due to Romney's progressive/moderate track record and his Mormon-ness).
However, I have not seen anything official from the Romney Campaign on why they chose Ryan (I am out of touch). It seems like a very detrimental choice.
Someone said to me, yesterday, "You know, if they would have just made Gary Johnson the primary and made Mitt the running mate, I may have voted R this November." I can agree to that. I am certainly not an Obama fan (but I'm not an Obama hater, either). I liked Romney in 08. I still think Romney would have been the best choice in '08, but it's a bit too late, now.
Maybe there is still some good Romney can do. I have my hopes up that Romney wins this election. I need an R in office for at least 4 years. I'll still vote for Gary Johnson, though. But out of the two big ones, I choose Romney.