Paul Ryan is a longstanding advocate of decentralizing social welfare programs, but this does not mean he is deficient in either his moral commitment to the poor or his understanding of Catholic social doctrine. Continue Reading »
The wonky, compromising Ryan was a very useful fellow—but Republicans couldn’t leave well enough alone. Continue Reading »
TRIGGER WARNING: This column will speak well of Paul Ryan, the new Speaker of the House of Representatives, and compare him favorably to two liberal icons. Over forty years of teaching and writing about Catholic social doctrine, I’ve gotten to know three men who had the opportunity to embody the . . . . Continue Reading »
Pete Spiliakos has been complaining about Romney’s performance at the Republican convention and about the lack of definition and specification of policy in convention speakers as a whole . It didn’t bother me. I figured that the next week and all through the fall, Romney, . . . . Continue Reading »
1. My thoughts were overwhelmingly positive so I’ll start with the constructive criticism. It would have been better if Ryan had taken some time to explain Romney’s Ryan-Wyden-style Medicare reform proposal. It would have slowed the speech down a little, but in Ryan’s case, that . . . . Continue Reading »
So I was watching Fox News Sunday . They had Romney advisor Ed Gillespie on. Gillespie is one of the better communicators the Republicans have. When Chris Wallace asked Gillespie about Ryan’s Medicare reform plan and how the CBO estimated that this would cost the average . . . . Continue Reading »
I’m seeing more good than bad, so I’ll start with the good. Pro 1. Unifying the base - Of all the plausible VP contenders, only Marco Rubio would have done more to energize those who regularly consume right-leaning media (and I think Rubio would have had bigger problems than . . . . Continue Reading »
So I was watching William Kristol and he said that this Romney ad on Medicare shows that the Romney campaign has embraced one “big fact.” The Medicare cuts in Obamacare have made Obama vulnerable on both the Medicare issue and the broader health care issue (and it distinguishes . . . . Continue Reading »
Peter Lawler has some very useful thoughts below on the pros and cons of picking Ryan. Picking Ryan meant that Obama’s Mediscare campaign (which was coming anyway since Romney had already endorsed premium support Medicare) came early and possibly harder than it otherwise would . . . . Continue Reading »
So I was watching the Fox News 6:00 PM show and the panel was discussing whether Ryan could defend his Medicare cuts or if Ryan’s Medicare cut plan will hurt the Republicans among seniors. This is nuts as a matter of both fact and politics. As between the most recent Ryan budget . . . . Continue Reading »
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