Um, I don't think so. Nice try though.
Have to go in early today so no long notes, but just wanted to make this point, written Thursday night...
John Nichols, The Nation:
Ryan scares people who live outside the “bubble” of a modern conservative movement that thinks the wealthiest country in the world is “broke” and that Ayn Rand is an literary and economic seer.
The House Budget Committee chairman imagines himself as a high priest speaking unfortunate truths about debts and deficits, the unforgiving foe of social spending who would gladly sacrifice Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid on the altar of debt reduction. Ryan has branded himself well within Republican circles, so well that he has parlayed himself into contention for the vice presidential nod. To get that nomination, however, Ryan must count on the prospect that the party that takes as its symbol the memory-rich elephant will suddenly suffer a spell of forgetfulness. That’s because the Republican congressman from Wisconsin, for all his bluster, is anything but a consistent advocate for fiscal responsibility and balanced budgets. He is, in fact, a hypocrite,
Or, to be more precise, a hypocritical big spender—at least when Wall Street, the insurance industry and the military-industrial complex call.
Krugman has pointed out that Ryan is a fiscal fraud before, too. I consider him the most dangerous man in America, not only because of his Randian fantasies that the Republicans would surely carry out if giving the chance, but because of this:
CNN/ORC Poll of 1,010 adults, August 7-8, 2012.
We'd like to get your overall opinion of some people in the news. As I read each name, please say if you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of these people -- or if you have never heard of them.
Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan
Favorable 27%
Unfavorable 19%
Never heard of 38%
No opinion 16%
That's over 50% who don't know, or worse yet, don't care. Now, I expect that to change if he is nominated of course, and I don't expect that his favorables will improve once it's understood that he would gut SS and Medicare/Medicaid... but will people pay attention, or will they think it's just another election lie, when in fact it's the truth?
Another interesting stat: 31% of Republicans in the poll didn't know who Paul Ryan is, either.
Sometimes I forget that I live in a bubble myself, and that there are a lot of people out there that, even though they do declare a party preference out of tribal loyalty, they really aren't paying attention to who these people are and what they are doing now or plan to do in the future.
You begin to understand how it all goes wrong sometimes. I pray that this election isn't one of those times.