Davenport Polishes the Turd

From Charles Davenport, Jr., editor of The Greensboro Guardian:

The former Massachusetts governor needed a running mate that would animate the conservative faction of the electorate—specifically, the Tea Party and its fiscally hawkish allies—and Representative Paul Ryan fits the bill.

Let’s see, a Wisconsin Catholic who’s spent his entire political career in Washington, DC. That’s not exactly the outside-the-beltway small business conservative the Tea Party craves, despite Davenport’s claim. Obama‘s campaign knows this and is delighted with the choice.

Romney’s pick is not only a politically astute acknowledgement of the pressure from his right flank, but also a bold declaration of his agenda: serious, reform-minded fiscal conservatism. Among champions of Obama’s European-style, big-government Nanny State, there must be dread and trembling.

Rather than dread and trembling, I expect the Obama camp is congratulating themselves for leading the hapless Romney campaign to choose their preferred VP candidate. Now they can get down to the business of legitimately frightening the base with conservative threats of austerity.

On all matters budgetary, he is a respected authority–some would argue, the authority—in the Republican Party. Ryan has confronted President Obama face-to-face, on fiscal matters, and the president did not fare well in those discussions. Vice President Biden will fare even worse in this fall’s debates.

Some may have noticed Romney’s failure to campaign on the specifics. This pick plays right into the Dem’s hands and guarantees the Reps will have to go wonkish in debates. Ryan’s published cuts in entitlement and tax cuts for the rich will be easy to counter as the bad economy continues. The fight for moderate and independent votes rests not on fears of Keynesian debt, but with the terrifying notion that Austerian cuts will not only increase their pain, but continue to enrich the one percent.

Romney-Ryan is a potential juggernaut that, if well-run, is likely to overwhelm President Obama and his dwindling band of followers: disappointed, demoralized defenders of the Nanny State.

Oh they’re going to be overwhelmed alright: with glee.

BTW, there is nothing to date, including this pick, to indicate the Romney campaign will be a “well-run juggernaut.” In fact, the last few days have evidenced a dramatic pratfall among the leadership when Andrea Saul went off message, alluding to Romney’s Massachusetts healthcare reform.

Davenport, like The Evil Dr. Guarino, lives in a world of delusion and myth. Of course, so do their readers.

The fact remains that the incumbent usually loses in a bad economy: unless the opposition promises to make things worse. This is Romney’s election to lose, and today’s pick takes him quite a bit down that road. Of course, he’s in an impossible situation, with the social retards and the Austerians having painted him into a corner. The hilarious aspect is that the real Romney is probably neither.