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Jewish World Review May 19, 2011 / 15 Iyar, 5771 High flyin' Ryan By Jack Kelly
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
In one of those oops moments, the Associated Press sent out a story last Sunday (5/15) with the headline: "Minnesota congressman Paul Ryan mulling Senate bid."
Rep. Ryan is from Wisconsin. To the AP, those states in flyover country are pretty much the same.
If you're like whoever was on the AP's news desk last Sunday, you may not know much about Paul Ryan, and would therefore be puzzled why some prominent conservatives think he should run not for the Senate, but for president.
Mr. Ryan is 41, genial and soft-spoken, handsome in a geeky sort of way. Reuters columnist James Pethokoukis described him as "a wonky version of George Bailey," the character Jimmy Stewart played in "It's a Wonderful Life." He was first elected to his southern Wisconsin district in 1998. And for the time being, he's one of the most important people in Washington.
That's because Paul Ryan is chairman of the House Budget Committee. The budget he's proposed for 2012 -- which would trim $6 trillion from President Barack Obama's spending plans over the next 10 years -- will be the talk of Washington this summer and fall.
Neither President Obama nor the Democratic majority in the Senate have proposed a serious alternative to the Ryan budget. This is because most Democrats don't want to cut spending, but they know a large majority of Americans wants spending cut. So they think it will be safer for them politically to snipe at Ryan's plan without offering one of their own for voters to scrutinize.
The sniping began in earnest during the Easter recess. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) launched radio ads and robo-calls in 50 districts, charging Ryan's plan for reforming Medicare would leave seniors destitute.
"This is false, inflammatory," said the Washington Post in an editorial. In fact, the Ryan plan is based on the very popular health care plan federal employees enjoy, and wouldn't apply to people already on Medicare, or within five years of eligibility for it.
The DCCC and labor unions encouraged activists to attend town meetings, to give the impression there is as much a backlash against Mr. Ryan's budget this year as there was against Obamacare last year.
A man sitting in the front row at his town meeting in Greenfield also had been in the front row six hours earlier in Waterford, Mr. Ryan noticed. "You've changed your shirt," he said good naturedly to Steve Josefczyk.
Democrats got a poor return on their ads and Astroturf. A Gallup Poll April 27 indicated seniors favored Ryan's Medicare plan, 48 percent to 42 percent. Though the news media highlighted hecklers when they could find them, most at town meetings supported GOP efforts to restrain spending.
This was especially so at the 19 meetings Rep. Ryan held, nearly all of which were standing room only. Though the AP story was headlined: "Ryan heckled at town hall meeting in Greenfield," about 70 percent of the audience there gave him a standing ovation.
Mr. Ryan represents " a conservative Republican district," said Time magazine, where devotion to liberalism is greater than devotion to accuracy. Al Gore carried it in 2000, and Barack Obama won there comfortably in 2008.
His district's slightly Democratic hue makes Mr. Ryan's margins -- 64 percent in the Obama landslide, 68 percent last year -- the more impressive. He's a good campaigner.
That's one of the reasons why some want Mr. Ryan to run for president. Others are that Wisconsin is a key swing state, Mr. Ryan is a pro-life Catholic, and he's strong on national defense.
But the most important reason is because the Ryan budget figures to be the foremost issue in 2012. So shouldn't its most knowledgeable and articulate salesman be the GOP candidate?
Mr. Ryan ate Mr. Obama's lunch in their interchange during the White House summit on the deficit a year ago February. That got under the president's thin skin, as he demonstrated with his churlish behavior toward Mr. Ryan during his speech at George Washington University last month.
Mr. Obama likely is splenetic again after Mr. Ryan's masterful address to the Economic Club of Chicago Monday (5/16). "Class warfare may be clever politics, but it's terrible economics," Mr. Ryan said. "Redistributing wealth never creates more of it."
Paul Ryan could stick the needle in deep during presidential debates. That might be reason enough for the GOP to nominate him.
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JWR contributor Jack Kelly, a former Marine and Green Beret, was a deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force in the Reagan administration.
© 2009, Jack Kelly |
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