Announcement

**bsteadman** · 08-11-2012, 03:48 PM

Man with a Plan: How Paul Ryan became the intellectual leader of the Republican party

Man with a Plan

How Paul Ryan became the intellectual leader of the Republican party

The Weekly Standard
Stephen F. Hayes
7/23/2012

Excerpt:

"Paul Ryan has come to Kenosha to deliver bad news. It’s May 3, 2012, and the United States faces an imminent debt crisis. The federal government is spending too much. Entitlements are out of control. Social Security is going insolvent. Medicare is sucking up an ever-increasing chunk of our tax dollars. There are too many retirees and too few workers to support them. And both political parties are responsible for the unholy mess.

Ryan, the seven-term representative from Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District, speaks quickly, as if the coming collapse might happen in the middle of his remarks if he takes too much time. It’s a bracing message. He is saying, in effect, that the American experiment, our 236 extraordinary years of self-government, is on the verge of failure.

And yet Ryan is smiling. It’s not the phony grin of a politician seeking votes, or the half-smirk of a charlatan putting one over on a group of rubes. It’s a real smile—the eager smile of someone excited to share important news. Paul Ryan believes he has the solution to these problems. And after a long and often lonely fight to convince his fellow Republicans that they should be talking about these issues, Ryan is succeeding.

The town hall in Kenosha is Ryan’s third public meeting of the day. He begins his comments by urging those in the crowd to treat each other with respect in order to facilitate a good conversation based on an exchange of ideas. As he says this, supporters of Rob Zerban, the Democrat who will lose to Ryan in November, hold up bumper stickers in front of their faces and begin talking loudly amongst themselves. When a security guard asks them to stop, several of them, led by a woman who looked to be in her 50s, affix the bumper stickers to their foreheads, an act of defiance that they evidently find quite hilarious.

Members of the group—perhaps 20 people out of an audience of some 250 constituents—loudly snicker and sneer throughout Ryan’s meeting in what appears to be an effort to unnerve him. So there is much harrumphing when Ryan touts his entitlement reforms, heavy sighing when he laments the refusal of Senate Democrats to offer a budget of their own, and later shouting as he tries to answer questions.

Ryan’s opening remarks take 19 minutes. As if to confirm his well-deserved reputation as a budget wonk, his PowerPoint presentation—yes, a PowerPoint—includes a dizzying array of charts and graphs with debt-to-GDP ratios, revenue estimates, spending analyses, CBO projections, and a fair number of acronyms.

For years, this was the rap on Ryan. He talks in wonkspeak, the peculiar Washington dialect of budget mavens and Capitol Hillians who focus on fiscal policy, and his attempts to communicate the seriousness of our situation were compromised by his affinity for budget jargon.

This is no longer true. Ryan’s presentation is compelling and easy to understand. He begins with a description of the coming debt crisis, briefly describes Barack Obama’s failure to address it, and then moves quickly to the five principles of his budget proposal. He’s given this talk hundreds of times before—to town halls, business groups, small gatherings of congressional Republicans. The practice shows. At one point, Ryan pauses for effect before he clicks to a slide depicting the “current path” projection over a graph tracing the history of U.S. debt. When he finally unveils the red Everest-like mountain of coming debt the audience responds with a collective gasp.

His criticism of the White House is matter-of-fact, almost muted, his tone one of disappointment, not anger. The exception comes when Ryan shares the comment Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner made in testimony before Ryan’s committee earlier this spring: “You’re right to say we’re not coming before you today to say we have a definitive solution to that long-term problem. What we do know is we don’t like yours.” Ryan was angry at Geithner’s indifference to solving such serious problems and indignant at his flippant dismissal of Ryan’s work. Those feelings may have subsided, but they haven’t gone away. “People said things like that to me all the time in high school,” Ryan says to the crowd. It’s probably the toughest shot he’ll take at the administration all day.
....................................

View the complete article at:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articl...an_648570.html

**bsteadman** · 08-11-2012, 03:56 PM

The Ryan Way

Mitt Romney has a history of elevating young talent.

National Review Online
Robert Costa
8/9/2012

Excerpt:

"As Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin has risen in the vice-presidential sweepstakes, a few political observers have joked that the athletic 42-year-old congressman, with his jet-black hair and square jaw, looks like one of Romney’s five sons. But according to Romney confidants, Ryan’s appeal to the former Massachusetts governor is more professional than filial.

“He is the kind of smart, young guy that Mitt likes and Mitt would have probably hired at Bain,” says Mike Murphy, a former Romney adviser. “He shares the intellectual talent and positive outlook of the guys who Mitt mentored for decades.”

Back when he was running Bain Capital, Romney was known for following a management method called the “Bain Way.” In their book, The Real Romney, Michael Kranish and Scott Helman describe it as “intensely analytical and data driven.” It required a “healthy ego,” the authors write, “to go into a business and tell an owner how to run his own firm better.”

It also required a specific type of talent. Bain Capital operated as a small shop, and Romney took care to hire ambitious and serious business-school graduates — fresh-thinking young men he could develop, not just seasoned Wall Street hands.

In the late 1970s, “I was asked to help recruit bright, recently graduated MBAs to join the firm,” Romney recalls in his book, No Apology. “We were a cutting-edge company, we paid high salaries, and we usually landed the cream of the crop.”

Edward Conard, a partner at Bain Capital from 1993 to 1997 and the author of Unintended Consequences, tells NRO that Romney’s effectiveness was sharpened by his relationships with the rising-star consultants he recruited, so he is not surprised to see Romney form a bond with the analytical Ryan. Romney may not have been an overly warm figure in the office, he says, but he was clearly drawn to uber-competent thinkers.

“I saw it firsthand,” Conard says. “Romney challenged us to challenge each other, and he was never afraid to ask tough questions, or answer them. He surrounded himself with the sharpest, most talented guys and ran the place like a consulting firm, where employees were expected to create value, to do their homework, and present proposals rooted in facts. In Ryan, you see that kind of politician; he’s not slinging bull.”

Inside Romney’s Boston headquarters, aspects of the Bain Way have seeped into the campaign effort. Spencer Zwick, a 32-year-old private-equity investor, who was dubbed Romney’s “sixth son” by Politico, runs Romney’s finance team. Bob White, a mid-fifties former Bain Capital partner, is one of Romney’s closest advisers, and a frequent presence at Romney’s side.

“Bob White is an important adviser, and he has known the governor since the early days at Bain,” says Ron Kaufman, a Romney strategist and former White House political director. “While they’re not the entire campaign, people like Spencer and Bob come out of the business world, know the governor very well, and have perspectives and skills that are valued.”
......................................

View the complete article at:

http://www.nationalreview.com/articl...y-robert-costa

**bsteadman** · 08-11-2012, 04:20 PM

Paul Ryan: My Plan to Save America

Newsmax
Rep. Paul Ryan
8/11/2012

Excerpt:

Newsmax asked vice presidential candidate Rep. Paul Ryan to provide his prescription for fixing the American economy and a defense of his proposed agenda, in light of the Obama's administration's refusal to address out-of-control entitlements. Here is his exclusive Newsmax Op-Ed.

"When President Barack Obama took office in 2009, he assumed a degree of command over the federal government that few U.S. presidents have enjoyed. His party had just enlarged its already-large majority in the House of Representatives, and gained a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. The president enjoyed tremendous popularity following his historic victory.

During his campaign, then-Sen. Obama argued that what had stopped us from meeting our nation’s greatest challenges had been “the failure of leadership, the smallness of our politics — the ease with which we’re distracted by the petty and trivial, our chronic avoidance of tough decisions, our preference for scoring cheap political points instead of rolling up our sleeves and building a working consensus to tackle big problems."

To solve this problem, he pledged to help us "rediscover our bonds to each other and get out of this constant, petty bickering that's come to characterize our politics."

The last three and a half years of divisive politics and broken promises have been disappointing.

The Obama administration did not cause the crisis we faced in January 2009. Bad policies from both parties in Washington and irresponsible behavior on Wall Street fueled the build-up of uncreditworthy mortgage liabilities in the financial sector, resulting in overwhelming debt levels and then a wave of panics, bankruptcies and foreclosures. The global financial system stood on the brink of collapse.

Yet, instead of keeping his campaign promises, advancing centrist policies to win the support of both parties, and addressing our real challenges, President Obama pursued an ideological agenda that made matters worse.

His administration and Congress sought to transform a free-enterprise society into a government-centered society. That meant a vastly expanded role for the federal government, higher spending to support that role, with higher taxes and debt to pay for his entitlement programs.

His party’s congressional leaders squandered hundreds of billions of dollars aimed to jump-start the economy and keep unemployment from rising above 8 percent. Unemployment rose above 10 percent and has remained above 8 percent for more than 40 straight months.

Instead of focusing on getting the economy back on track, the president and the last Congress enacted a government-driven health care program. They spent 16 months pursuing this disastrous law, ramming it through on a party-line vote despite warning after warning that Americans rejected his misguided plan.

Rather than address Wall Street’s financial accountability issue, the president and his Congress continued to funnel billions of dollars to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and enacted the Dodd-Frank law giving protection and preferential treatment to big banks and more power to regulators who failed in the last crisis.

In 2005, Sen. Obama and other Democratic members stopped the Senate from considering legislation that would have empowered a regulator to crack down on these ‘Government-Sponsored Enterprises,’ and control their buildup of risky assets. That legislation might have eased or prevented the home mortgage meltdown that led to the financial panic three years later. Instead, Fannie and Freddie’s executives were enriched, the taxpayer got stuck with a bill of more than $300 billion to bail them out, while millions of Americans lost their homes in ensuing financial crisis.

The crony capitalist approach is a failure: economic growth and job creation remain anemic. Unprecedented numbers of Americans have stopped looking for work. Real GDP crept up just 1.7 percent in 2011, and 1.9 percent in the 1st quarter of 2012 — well below private-sector forecasts for this year, the 3 percent historical trend rate of U.S. growth, and a fraction of the pace in a typical recovery.

The government’s fiscal position has sharply deteriorated during President Obama’s term. In three and a half years, debt held by the public grew by about $4.5 trillion — a 70 percent increase. Instead of the promised 50 percent reduction, this year’s deficit is expected to come in at $1.2 trillion. This failure may be the President’s most consequential broken promise. Our debt is projected to spiral out of control in the years ahead. This is paralyzing economic growth. Investors, businesses and families fear that the coming debt crisis portends a diminished American future.

Americans aspire to control our own destiny and remain free from foreign powers who would impose limits on our dreams for ourselves and our children. If our generation fails to meet this challenge, America will surrender her independence to an army of foreign creditors who already own roughly half of our public debt. The policies in place today guarantee that outcome, unless we change course soon.

The budget passed by the House of Representatives earlier this year drew the pattern for a new president and Congress to follow beginning in 2013. It is a plan to lift the debt and free the nation from the constraints of ever-expanding government.

This budget will promote economic growth and opportunity immediately, with bold and fundamental reforms to the tax code and a credible, principled plan to stop the debt crisis from occurring.

President Obama’s government-centered policies embody corporate welfare, taking from hard-working Americans to support politically connected companies and privileged special interests. Our budget proposes to end corporate welfare.

Our budget will strengthen welfare programs for those who truly need support.

Government safety-net programs have been stretched to the breaking point in recent years, failing the very citizens who need help the most. Relying on distant government bureaucracies to lead the effort to assist those in need simply does not work. As a result of a government-centered approach to the war on poverty, one in six Americans is now in poverty – the highest rate in a generation.

Our budget draws on the historic proven welfare reforms of the 1990s, empowering state and local governments, communities, and individuals who are closest to those in need. We also promote opportunity and upward mobility by strengthening job training programs that help those who have fallen on hard times in an era of economic and technological change.

Our budget lifts the debt, fosters economic growth, and ensures that government keeps the promises it is making to Americans. Instead of letting critical health and retirement programs go bankrupt, our budget saves and strengthens them to fulfill their mission in the 21st Century.

A debate about the future of Medicare is overdue. Unfortunately President Obama frightens seniors with false charges about our plan, while staying silent about how he has already changed Medicare forever. His health care law put a board of 15 unelected bureaucrats in charge of cutting Medicare.

Senior citizens should be greatly concerned about Democrats’ efforts to stop true Medicare reform, because this will result in painful benefit cuts for current recipients. Our budget makes no changes for those in or near retirement and keeps the protections that have made Medicare a guaranteed promise for seniors over the years.

To save Medicare for future generations, we propose to put 50 million seniors, not 15 unaccountable bureaucrats, in charge of their personal health care decisions."
.....................................

View the complete article at:

http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/Ryan...8/11/id/448245

**bsteadman** · 08-11-2012, 04:28 PM

Rasmussen: Ryan Could Help Romney in Several States

Newsmax
David A. Patten
8/11/2012

Excerpt:

"Mitt Romney’s bold choice of Rep. Paul Ryan as his vice presidential running mate opens up multiple states to GOP inroads at a time when President Barack Obama’s job-approval rating has plummeted to its lowest level so far this year, according to pollster Scott Rasmussen of Rasmussen Reports.

At the same time, Rasmussen in an exclusive interview with Newsmax, cautioned that the importance of vice presidential picks is often overstated.

“This race is still primarily about President Obama. His job approval this morning is at 43 percent, that’s the lowest level of 2012,” he said. “And consumer confidence this week fell to its lowest level of the year. Those are the factors that will determine the election far more than the dynamics of the vice presidential pick.”

Rasmussen said picking he Wisconsin congressman could tighten the race in the state, although he still believes Obama probably has the edge. But even if the House Budget Committee chairman can’t carry his home state for the Romney campaign, the pollster believes he could make a critical difference in the meighboring swing state of Iowa.

“It’s feasible,” the pollster told Newsmax. “We did some polling we released yesterday, before the Ryan announcement came out. Romney was up 2 points [in Iowa, 46 to 44 percent]. It is certainly in play, certainly very competitive.

"And getting a Midwesterner on the ticket may have some impact there. There is great concern in Iowa about spending and deficits.”

The critical issue for Republicans, Rasmussen states, is how the election is framed in coming weeks. The Ryan announcement and presentation, conducted with the Wisconsin battleship moored dockside in Norfolk in the swing state of Virginia, received strong reviews from both Republicans and Democrats.

“This is a strong pick,” said Weekly Standard editor William Kristol on Fox News. “It’s a bold pick, it’s a daring pick, it shows they’re not going to run away” from conservative House budget proposals.

But the Obama administration tipped off its strategy by quickly releasing a statement trying to define Ryan as “the architect of the radical Republican house budget.”

Whether American voters are ready, as Ryan believes, to face the somber realities of a national debt that has spiraled to over $15 trillion could well determine the outcome of the election.

“We’re in a world where government spending in America has gone up every single year since 1954,” says Rasmussen. “If somebody can convince people that they are serious about changing that trend, it will be a huge plus in the campaign.”

Pundits expect the Ryan pick will touch off a flurry of efforts by both sides to reframe the election.

“It shifts the whole debate,” said commentator Charles Krauthammer on Fox News. “It’s a dynamic one about the future ideas, and change.

“Change is now on the side of the Republicans, whereas it was obviously on the side of Democrats in 2008,” he said. “And they can make a coherent case of that, as we heard Ryan do it in his introductory remarks.”

Democratic campaign adviser Joe Trippi called Ryan’s speech “one of the better performances I can recall.”

But he said that in the Ryan pick, the Obama campaign got the opponent they wanted.

“During the summer, things didn’t go too well on trying to make this a referendum [on Obama’s performance]. It wasn’t working. Romney stayed close, but Obama started drifting away. Ryan makes this sort of a tip to the hat, that it’s going to be about a choice now.

The Obama campaign got what it wanted, this campaign is going to be about a choice. Now what they’re going to try to do is make this campaign a referendum. Not the referendum Romney wanted, but a referendum on the Ryan budget.

"So we’ve gone from Romney wanting it to be a referendum on Obama, to the Obama campaign going to try and make this a campaign about the Ryan budget.

“In the end, we finally get a choice. I think that’s the real thing about the pick today, and what Ryan on that stage means.”

Rasmussen notes that “most people will learn more about Paul Ryan in this coming week, than they have ever before in his 42 years on this earth.” He says only one in three Americans has a strong opinion about him.

He adds: “It is very important to reframe the debate. If the framing takes the line that this is an indication that Mitt Romney is serious about reducing federal spending, it will be seen as a plus. Two out of three Americans believe the best thing the government can do for the economy is to cut spending."
...................................

View the complete article at:

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/Ras...8/11/id/448250

**bsteadman** · 08-11-2012, 05:01 PM

Video: Romney introduces Paul Ryan as V.P. choice

Published on Aug 11, 2012 by CNN

View the video at:

http://youtu.be/gQGNDczkjV0

**bsteadman** · 08-11-2012, 05:24 PM

A gust of fresh air, a boost of energy and a message “We will turn the economy around”- all embodied in Romney choice for VP-young congressman Paul Ryan

Defend Our Freedoms Foundation
Orly Taitz, Esq.
8/11/2012

Excerpt:

"Ryan represents an amalgam of youth, energy and maturity. Ryan is 42 years old and will appeal to young voters.

Noteworthy is the fact that Ryan is Roman -catholic and will appeal to millions of Hispanic voters, who happen to be Roman Catholic as well. This means that this nomination will help Romney to make inroads into the Democratic strongholds: younger voters and minority voters.

Aside from youth and energy Ryan represents maturity beyond his years. He lost his father at the age of 16, yet had strength to go on, get good education in Economics and Political Science and become and aid to a Senator. He later continued with his Congressional career and became a 7 times congressman by an early age of 42.

I believe Ryan will appeal to women not only by virtue of his youth and good looks, but also and more importantly by the fact that he is married, a father to 3 children and represents strong family values.

Ryan is a person who is known as an unconventional thinker, he is not afraid to take on hard tasks, which probably explains his chairmanship of an influential House Budget committee.

I believe that Ryan nomination will help Romney to break ahead towards the finish line of the U.S. Presidency."
.....................................

View the complete post at:

http://www.orlytaitzesq.com/?p=227887

**bsteadman** · 08-11-2012, 05:50 PM

Ryan's Address: 'Our Rights Come from Nature and God, Not Government'

Ryan's Address: 'Our Rights Come from Nature and God, Not Government'

The Weekly Standard
Daniel Halper
8/11/2012

Excerpt:

Here's the prepared text of Paul Ryan's address in Norfolk, Virginia:

"Thank you Governor Romney, Ann. I am deeply honored and excited to join you as your running mate.

Mitt Romney is a leader with the skills, the background and the character that our country needs at a crucial time in its history. Following four years of failed leadership, the hopes of our country, which have inspired the world, are growing dim; and they need someone to revive them. Governor Romney is the man for this moment; and he and I share one commitment: we will restore the dreams and greatness of this country.

I want you to meet my family. My wife Janna, our daughter Liza, and our sons, Charlie and Sam.

I am surrounded by the people I love, and I have been asked by Governor Romney to serve the country I love.

Janesville, Wisconsin is where I was born and raised, and I never really left it. It’s our home now.

For the last 14 years, I have proudly represented Wisconsin in Congress. There, I have focused on solving the problems that confront our country, and turning ideas into action; and action into solutions.

I am committed, in heart and mind, to putting that experience to work in a Romney Administration. This is a crucial moment in the life of our nation; and it is absolutely vital that we select the right man to lead America back to prosperity and greatness.

That man is standing next to me. His name is Mitt Romney. And he will be the next president of the United States

My dad died when I was young. He was a good and decent man. I still remember a couple of things he would say that have really stuck with me. "Son you are either part of the problem or part of the solution."

Regrettably, President Obama has become part of the problem,...and Mitt Romney is the solution.

The other thing my dad would say is that every generation of Americans leaves their children better off. That's the American legacy.

Sadly, for the first time in our history, we are on a path which will undo that legacy. That is why we need new leadership to become part of the solution – new leadership to restore prosperity, economic growth, and jobs.

It is our duty to save the American Dream for our children, and theirs.

And I believe there is no person in America who is better prepared – because of his experience; because of the principles he holds; and because of his achievements and excellence in so many different arenas – to lead America at this point in its history.

Let me say a word about the man Mitt Romney will replace. No one disputes President Obama inherited a difficult situation. And, in his first 2 years, with his party in complete control of Washington, he passed nearly every item on his agenda. But that didn’t make things better.

In fact, we find ourselves in a nation facing debt, doubt and despair."

..................................

View the complete article at:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/...ss_649771.html

Announcement

America CAN Be SAVED: The Paul Ryan Revolution Begins! -- Canada Free Press

America CAN Be SAVED: The Paul Ryan Revolution Begins! -- Canada Free Press

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment