Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Paul Ryan: Looking Good!

"If you believe in freedom, liberty, self-determination, free enterprise, I don't care if you're a Muslim, Jewish, Agnostic, Christian, gay, straight, Latino, black, white, Irish, whatever. Join us."
-- Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Good Looking)
Yeah, it's easy to see why Ryan's a rising star for the GOP. C'mon, ladies: Those blue eyes? That thick hair? That aw-shucks grin?

A dude like that could tempt Cynthia Yockey. Oh, what the heck -- he could tempt me.

This was one of my basic insights into the massive fail of Crazy Cousin John. Even without his RINO deviations, Maverick had the problem of being old, short, grumpy and, worst of all, bald.

When was the last time America elected a bald president? Ike. Welcome to the TV age. Therefore, when in doubt in a GOP primary, always vote for the guy with the best hair.

Unlike Mitt Romney, however, Ryan's not only got great hair, he also seems to have conservative principles. He's also very shrewd. I remember being in the press lounge at CPAC this year while Ryan was giving the keynote address. I was checking my e-mail and moderating comments, and the TV was on behind me, so I heard, rather than saw, Ryan's speech, when I made this update:

In his keynote address, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) just called for "sound money" -- evincing cheers from the Paulistas.

Ding! That impressed me, even before I turned around and saw this good-looking Irish kid who's got "telegenic" like I've got "crazy."

The Paulistas were a well-organized presence at CPAC this year, with young volunteers handing out fliers in the hotel corridors and various events scheduled throughout the conference. The phrase "sound money" is like magic with Paulistas and, whether it was pre-planned or ad-libbed, those two words were the smartest thing Ryan said.

If there is one lesson to take away from the 2008 campaign -- besides the hopeless folly of running an old bald guy for president -- it's that Republicans can't win unless they unite their base as the foundation of a broad coalition strategy.

Ron Paul got 1.2 million GOP primary votes and raised $35 million. Compare that to Rudy Giuliani, who spent $59 million to get fewer than 600,000 votes. Giuliani represented no constiuency that John McCain did not equally represent. Watching those two during the GOP debates was like watching Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy.

Given the current political realities, the Republican Party simply can't afford to ignore the votes, the money and the grassroots energy that the Paulistas offer. And with two words -- "sound money" -- Ryan acknowledged that fact. Very smart.

Ryan's a married Catholic father of three, so he can count on the family values vote. If he can sound like Peter Schiff on economics and sound like Mark Krikorian on immigration, he would have no problem getting the rest of the Reagan coalition on board for 2012.

Yes, I said 2012. This doesn't mean I'm abandoning Sarah Palin. But tempus fugits, and if she doesn't have time to attend CPAC or the GOP congressional fundraiser in 2009, then if she's going to run for re-election as governor in 2010, it's going to be hard for Palin to catch up with all the Republicans who are organizing 2012 presidential campaigns now.

If conservatives don't want to be faced with a choice between Romney and Jeb Bush -- No More Bushes! -- we're going to have to get behind somebody PDQ, and Ryan is definitely somebody. He's extremely young (only 39), and he's only a congressman, not a senator or a governor, but he's from a Midwestern swing state (and attended college in Ohio), so he's got that Electoral College factor going for him. Plus, the Heritage Foundation loves the guy.

Lots of Republican strategists harbor little hope for beating Obama in 2012, so if Palin wants to wait for 2016 or later . . . hey, why not let the Irish kid take a shot? You gotta admit: Ryan's looking good.

9 comments:

  1. My husband Pundit has long held the theory that the presidential candidate with the best hair wins. I won't go public on whom he blames for that, or what he might say about woman's suffrage.

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  2. Tell the truth, you just threw those compliments in about Palin because you were embarrassed about how much you gushed over Ryan's looks, right?

    You were just reasserting your hetero bonafides ;)

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  3. For the most part, Rep. Ryan does have good conservative principles. However, there's quite a bit of concern over his support of the initial TARP, the UAW bailout, and the 90% TARP Bonus Tax.

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  4. McCain, I'm a fan of yours. I read your blog. I agree with about 95% of what you say.

    However, you are dead wrong on this. Ryan's track record in the past year has been pathetic. He voted for TARP, voted for illegally using TARP for bailing out the automakers and voted for the AIG bonus last month. Heath Shuler has a better voting record on these issues than Ryan does.

    Just tell us your "Ryan is God" post is a belated April Fools joke and be done with it already...

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  5. It's okay to have voted for TARP I think. It was a best available information thing. Eric Cantor's vote to steal the money from those nice AIG workers was really a betrayal of his own humanity though. The esteem I had for Cantor needs a new focus so Paul Ryan I think will do as well as any for now.

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  6. oh. I just saw what Mr. egg wrote about this Ryan person voting to steal money from the nice AIG people. Maybe we should just list the Republicans what are not budding little fascists.

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  7. hmmm.
    it would be interesting to see this line-up
    of so-called "rising GOP stars" that are paraded around every couple of weeks,until of course one of these " rising stars" runs into the grim reality that is being a poster child for the party of no ideas.
    Which explains this sudden embracing of "Paulista"
    ideology. Yep, the same "Paulistas" who were ridiculed by GOP pundits and Cons alike.
    And typical of GOP thinking, Cons now see an opportunity in co-opting the very populist message they poo-poo'd less than a year ago.
    Principled? No.
    Strategery? Yes.
    Which begs the question: Does Conservatism really stand for anything except winning elections?

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  8. @Y4E:
    Does Conservatism really stand for anything except winning elections?
    Conservativism stands for two crucial ideas:
    - Common sense
    - Giving you a place to hang your flamebait.
    And stand firm it will.

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  9. How can this be?

    To quote what some guy said recently: "I mean, that dude's from Wisconsin. It's practically Canada."

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