(08-11-2012, 09:00 PM)Duchess Wrote:

I think he sits so far to the right that he isn't even in the same room as the average person but Maggot doesn't seem to have a problem with him (that he has voiced anyway) and he's a pretty good judge of character.

my sister was going on and on about how fabulous he was for the ticket. apparently he is some type of financial wizard.

(08-11-2012, 08:58 PM)pspence Wrote: Is this guy going to be good or bad for Romney?

I think he was a good choice for Romney (although now it would be nice if Romney could name some great foreign policy person that he would have in his cabinet).

I like Ryan. My problem with all of them is that both he and Obama rejected the Simpson/Bowles recommendations. I think Ryan's plans to close corporate loopholes and cut entitlements are valid. I also think that tax cuts on the wealthiest individuals that Bush enacted ought to be re-examined.

They're both pandering to their parties. I understand Ryan is known as someone that is willing to reach across the aisle but I think Obama was willing to do that too...and was met with an intransigent opposition party.

I like Ryan better than Romney and think the ticket would be better reversed.

I'm stumped. I don't want either one. Simpson/Bowles for president!

(08-11-2012, 10:26 PM)username Wrote: I'm stumped. I don't want either one.

That's how I feel too.

I said this earlier in the year, I'll probably make my decision based on what I read in here. Some of the smartest Mockers are posting their opinions & I don't take them lightly, I'm paying attention to what they are saying.

How long until the Democrats demand that Ryan release his college records? But I believe they are already out there. Then they use them against him while Barry sits back and smiles. It happened with Romney. Americans are to stupid to see the one sided nature of all this though.

(08-11-2012, 10:26 PM)username Wrote: I understand Ryan is known as someone that is willing to reach across the aisle but I think Obama was willing to do that too...and was met with an intransigent opposition party.

I think your recollection is off. Obama didn't try to reach across any aisle until after the 2010 election. In fact, prior to 2010 he basically told the other side that elections have consequences, that he won, and then rammed everything he could through his majority. Then when he lost his majority, he began to use executive orders to bypass Congress.

So now we have another entitlement we can't afford... truth is, even if we gathered up all the rich people and confiscated every single penny they have earned, sold off their assets, and then burnt them alive as fuel to provide cheap energy, it wouldn't make a dent in the financial position the government finds itself.

Taxing the "rich" who are already carrying the load while nearly 50% pay zero is madness. But it soothes the financial blood lust of those who haven't been as successful, and provides an easy scapegoat. Maybe I'm crazy, but I see the people not paying taxes as a bigger threat to my country than those that are already paying.

I'll take my chances with someone new. I'm voting Romney/Ryan.

I like that Ryan is fiscally conservative & down on entitlements...for right now that's all I've got.

(08-12-2012, 11:19 AM)Jimbone Wrote: [quote='username' pid='277153' dateline='1344738379']I understand
Taxing the "rich" who are already carrying the load while nearly 50% pay zero is madness. But it soothes the financial blood lust of those who haven't been as successful, and provides an easy scapegoat. Maybe I'm crazy, but I see the people not paying taxes as a bigger threat to my country than those that are already paying.

I'll take my chances with someone new. I'm voting Romney/Ryan.

Damn Jimbone, you're cute and rich???? have i ever told you I have this beautiful daughter....

My son just dropped by to pick up his son and the first thing he said was, "Romney should have picked an Hispanic and it would have been a slam dunk".

I want a president that has money and knows how to handle it, not a kid that suddenly becomes "gasp" nigga rich.




sold off their assets, and then burnt them alive as fuel to provide cheap energy..................I like that!

(08-12-2012, 11:30 AM)pspence Wrote: Damn Jimbone, you're cute and rich???? have i ever told you I have this beautiful daughter....

Did I say I was rich?

(08-12-2012, 11:31 AM)pspence Wrote: My son just dropped by to pick up his son and the first thing he said was, "Romney should have picked an Hispanic and it would have been a slam dunk".

My wife wanted him to pick a woman.

(08-12-2012, 11:40 AM)Maggot Wrote:

(08-12-2012, 11:31 AM)pspence Wrote: My son just dropped by to pick up his son and the first thing he said was, "Romney should have picked an Hispanic and it would have been a slam dunk".

My wife wanted him to pick a woman.

would have been a good move...USA is so diverse now...it's very white maley...i'm just saying for strategy...no one shoot me...

(08-12-2012, 11:39 AM)Jimbone Wrote:

(08-12-2012, 11:30 AM)pspence Wrote: Damn Jimbone, you're cute and rich???? have i ever told you I have this beautiful daughter....

Did I say I was rich?

so you are not denying you are cute??? just got that impression from your political views...i bow to your humbleness if wrong...(i hope i'm right for your sake

I think the timing of the Ryan's VP selection is intereting in itself. It's much earlier out than usual.

Imo, Romney needed something to offset some of the negative coverage surrounding the cry for him to release more of his tax returns and some of the blunders in his speeches in Europe and Israel. He was losing ground last week, according to polls.

It was a smart strategic move overall, imo. Focus has indeed been shifted, for now. Ryan will likely be embraced by fiscal conservatives and will greatly help Romney to pound on Obama regarding the necessity for economic reform and budget cuts, rather than relying primarily on tax increases. He is also young and more charismatic than Romney; that may help improve the GOP ticket's "personal likability factor" which I think is something that Obama capitalizes upon. While that shouldn't make a difference in deciding for whom to vote, it sure does for a lot of people. All JMO.

These are the 3 main entitlement reforms that Ryan has been staunchly advocating based on what I've been reading this year:

1. Medicaid funding would be transferred from the Fed to the States manage.
2. Workers now under the age of 55, would be given the option of a private program instead of the traditional Medicare program and receive money to offset the premium they have to pay (when they become "seniors", of course).
3. The retirement age for Social Security would gradually be raised to 70.

I think turning Medicaid over to the states is a plan that could attract some undediced independent and Libertarian voters. I do wonder if raising the SS retirement age could put off some voters who are currently in their lates 50s and 60s. Will be interested in reading the analysis of predicted pluses and minuses associated with the Ryan announcement.

I'm still undecided, but the Ryan announcement just pushed me slightly to the right, assuming Romney embraces Ryan's proposals to-date without demanding much adjustment. I'm a supporter of Ryan's entitlement reform, as it stands now. I've seen him interviewed a few times this year; it blows me away every time he quantifies that the US goes about $10 Trillion further in debt each year because the government can't deliver on its unfunded promises. Mind boggling, imo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pla...dINs#t=72s




Something to watch if you get a chance. Ryan picks apart the health care laws budgeting numbers.
The sitting president who has NEVER signed a budget since getting in office looks on and is schooled in real numbers , not made up ones.

(08-12-2012, 11:40 AM)Maggot Wrote:

(08-12-2012, 11:31 AM)pspence Wrote: My son just dropped by to pick up his son and the first thing he said was, "Romney should have picked an Hispanic and it would have been a slam dunk".

My wife wanted him to pick a woman.

Every poll indicates that the economy is far and away the biggest concern for the majority of voters. If there had been a woman and/or Hispanic with economic and fiscal expertise equivalent to Ryan, it could have been a good move. I don't think there was one. I think Ryan was a good choice, but imagine the ticket will be criticized by some for lack of diversity.

I posted this in the trivia thread last month. It's a photo collage of all the VP possibilities that had been kicked around early on; ethnically diverse with several women included. Ryan's there too.

(08-12-2012, 11:22 AM)Duchess Wrote:

I like that Ryan is fiscally conservative & down on entitlements...for right now that's all I've got.

Me too and Jimbone, I've complained about the 47% that pay NOTHING before. Everyone should be putting something in to the pot.

(08-12-2012, 01:37 PM)username Wrote: Me too and Jimbone, I've complained about the 47% that pay NOTHING before. Everyone should be putting something in to the pot.

I know you have... only the first part of my post was truly a reply to yours.

The rest of it ended up being a soapbox rant.

For all his talk of hope and change, Obumbles has been the most actively divisive President in history.

(08-12-2012, 11:59 AM)pspence Wrote: so you are not denying you are cute??? just got that impression from your political views...i bow to your humbleness if wrong...(i hope i'm right for your sake

This intrigues me... can you explain to me how my political views give the impression that I am rich?

(08-12-2012, 12:03 PM)HairOfTheDog Wrote: I'm still undecided, but the Ryan announcement just pushed me slightly to the right, assuming Romney embraces Ryan's proposals to-date without demanding much adjustment. I'm a supporter of Ryan's entitlement reform, as it stands now. I've seen him interviewed a few times this year; it blows me away every time he quantifies that the US goes about $10 Trillion further in debt each year because the government can't deliver on its unfunded promises. Mind boggling, imo.

I think this was a move made to sharply focus the difference between Obama and Romney. No one knows budgeting and the impending entitlement disaster better than Paul Ryan. While Democrats might temporarily being salivating that Ryan is on the ticket, I think they may regret it over time.

Romney and Ryan can run on returning the greatness to America (they've already started it actually), and contrast their vision with Obumble's last four years. Add in the Obumble's gaffe about how you didn't build your business, his major failure with green energy initiatives, and the rising health care costs despite Obumblecare... and that narrative may just work.

The economy is not getting better, and it won't in the next three months. A spike in gas prices and continued unemployment would doom any other incumbent President.

But it may be that we've slid so far towards an entitlement mentality that it won't.

We'll see.

(08-12-2012, 01:58 PM)Jimbone Wrote:

(08-12-2012, 01:37 PM)username Wrote: Me too and Jimbone, I've complained about the 47% that pay NOTHING before. Everyone should be putting something in to the pot.

I know you have... only the first part of my post was truly a reply to yours.

The rest of it ended up being a soapbox rant.

For all his talk of hope and change, Obumbles has been the most actively divisive President in history.

I don't blame Obama entirely for the current intransigence. You recall the determination to see him as a one term president from the gate, then the rise of the tea party and wall street movements. There were articles recently about how little legislation has been passed in the last 2 years.

I don't know that Romney will have any better success unless the Republicans gain control of the senate too. It's become a game of anything the other side wants must be fought at all costs.

There are very few who don't vote along party lines.