Support First Things by turning your adblocker off or by making a  donation. Thanks!

Need. More. Ryan.

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 »

A Week Of Ryan: Pros and Cons

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 »

Ryan and the Young Voter

I have to agree with Peter Lawler about the resentment younger generations might rightly feel towards Baby Boomers.  However, I ask if Baby Boomers weren’t equally screwed by the Greatest Generation?  Through Social Security and Medicare, that generation got back far more than it . . . . Continue Reading »

Keeping Expectations In Check

I’ve read several conservatives who argue that Paul Ryan will “will wipe the floor with Vice President Joe Biden in their one debate in October.”  I don’t think that is a realistic assumption.  Ryan has worked very hard to make himself expert on one (important) . . . . Continue Reading »

Two Big Factors

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 »

Making The Most Of Ryan

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 »

The Republican Mediscare

Reihan Salam points us to a National Journa l article about how the Democrats have used the Ryan budget to their political advantage.  The most important case mentioned in the article was an upstate New York Republican-leaning district where a Democrat won by attacking the Medicare cuts in the . . . . Continue Reading »

Filter Tag Articles