# Romney attacks....Paul Ryan? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 9, 2012, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-attacks-paul-ryan/634160 "2012-09-09T04:09:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-attacks-paul-ryan/634160/1 "2012-09-09T04:09:19Z")
[Romney slams GOP Leaders](http://news.yahoo.com/romney-slams-gop-leaders-including-own-vp-nominee-234717289--abc-news-politics.html) for last year’s budget deal. Odd that this comes right after the Dem convention. It actually reminds me of 2008 when, during the last month of the campaign, the McCain campaign pretty much realized it was dead in the water and did a bunch of crazy things. The whole thing with Palin’s shopping sprees leaked, and McCain decided to go on SNL a few weeks before the election to make fun of himself. I don’t know if Romney’s throwing in the hat, probably not, but attacking your own running mate doesn’t seem like a good idea. But I’m not getting my hopes up too early. Looking at this from Romney’s perspective, what is he trying to do with this attack? Is it in the line of “Clinton’s a better speaker than Obama so vote Romney!” thinking? ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-attacks-paul-ryan/634160/2 "2012-09-09T04:18:48Z")
It is much, much easier to run as the frontrunner than the challenger. If you’re the frontrunner, as Obama seems to be after the conventions and he certainly was for most of 2008, you can more or less lean back and say “See, America likes what I’m offering. That’s why I’m in the lead.” If you’re behind, you have to change things, which is intrinsically risky, and make risky choices. That’s what McCain was thinking when he picked Palin, I believe. He wanted to shake up the race, and it bit him in the ass. He tried the wrong thing, but he had to try something, or he’d just lose. ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-attacks-paul-ryan/634160/3 "2012-09-09T04:21:53Z")
> [@appleciders](#): > > It is much, much easier to run as the frontrunner than the challenger. If you’re the frontrunner, as Obama seems to be after the conventions and he certainly was for most of 2008, you can more or less lean back and say “See, America likes what I’m offering. That’s why I’m in the lead.” If you’re behind, you have to change things, which is intrinsically risky, and make risky choices. That’s what McCain was thinking when he picked Palin, I believe. He wanted to shake up the race, and it bit him in the ass. He tried the wrong thing, but he had to try something, or he’d just lose. Thanks. Now I have the mental image of a sexy Sarah Palin biting McCain on the hiney. It’s both disturbing and exciting… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-attacks-paul-ryan/634160/4 "2012-09-09T04:52:48Z")
More pandering to the base. NO BUDGET DEAL! God knows how he expects to have any kind of budget as president if the Republicans don’t control both the House and Senate (which is unlikely). ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-attacks-paul-ryan/634160/5 "2012-09-09T05:01:16Z")
> [@appleciders](#): > > It is much, much easier to run as the frontrunner than the challenger. If you’re the frontrunner, as Obama seems to be after the conventions and he certainly was for most of 2008, you can more or less lean back and say “See, America likes what I’m offering. That’s why I’m in the lead.” If you’re behind, you have to change things, which is intrinsically risky, and make risky choices. That’s what McCain was thinking when he picked Palin, I believe. He wanted to shake up the race, and it bit him in the ass. He tried the wrong thing, but he had to try something, or he’d just lose. Romney seems to be acting like it’s still the primaries and he can relax and wait for the other guy to burn out. I don’t know if he’s over-confident and oblivious to the fact that he’s not the front-runner or if he just doesn’t know how to run anything except a front-runner campaign so he’s using it even though it’s not appropriate for his position. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-attacks-paul-ryan/634160/6 "2012-09-09T05:33:57Z")
Remember when I started that thread “I don’t think Romney really wants to be president anymore?” Well, here’s another piece of evidence that he doesn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-attacks-paul-ryan/634160/7 "2012-09-09T11:32:52Z")
From the article: > [@](#): > > Romney said the $1.2 in mandated cuts was “an extraordinary miscalculation in the wrong direction.” It will be interesting to see if Ryan lays down for this one. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-attacks-paul-ryan/634160/8 "2012-09-09T12:33:50Z")
Is Romney saying the US government should have spent more money without allowing itself to borrow more money? So the extra money would come from… where? Raised taxes? Am I completely misunderstanding? ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-attacks-paul-ryan/634160/9 "2012-09-09T12:42:08Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Romney seems to be acting like it’s still the primaries and he can relax and wait for the other guy to burn out. I don’t know if he’s over-confident and oblivious to the fact that he’s not the front-runner or if he just doesn’t know how to run anything except a front-runner campaign so he’s using it even though it’s not appropriate for his position. What I find baffling is that I felt pretty strongly that picking Ryan signaled that not only did he realize he was trailing, but that he knew his plan to constantly bring up the economy/jobs wasn’t gaining him ground. Picking Ryan could let him swing the campaign to be about Ryan’s style of fiscal responsibility (never mind that that was a fiction anyway) But now he’s come out shitting on Ryan’s / the Republican’s lousy attempt at fiscal responsibility… so who knows what they’re thinking. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-attacks-paul-ryan/634160/10 "2012-09-09T14:27:33Z")
> [@Enkel](#): > > From the article: > It will be interesting to see if Ryan lays down for this one. Looks like this morning Ryan heard about what Romney said. Now he’s disagreeing with Romney! [Ryan says he won’t reject debt deal that Mitt Romney dismissed](http://news.yahoo.com/paul-ryan-wont-reject-debt-deal-mitt-romney-111104599--abc-news-politics.html) All we need now are leaks to see how much Ryan spends on his suits on his donors’ dimes ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-attacks-paul-ryan/634160/11 "2012-09-09T15:02:15Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Romney seems to be acting like it’s still the primaries and he can relax and wait for the other guy to burn out. I don’t know if he’s over-confident and oblivious to the fact that he’s not the front-runner or if he just doesn’t know how to run anything except a front-runner campaign so he’s using it even though it’s not appropriate for his position. I think this hits the nail on the head. In fact this interesting Politico [piece](http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0912/80949.html?hp=t1) pretty much confirms it. > [@](#): > > Stevens said Romney remains unfazed by the hand-wringing among Republicans and staff. > > “We’re a very patient campaign,” Stevens said. “We’re the campaign that couldn’t break 25 percent [in the primaries].We just have tremendous confidence in the governor’s ability to talk to people in a way that resonates. Very steady, very confident.” They don’t realize that running against Obama isn’t the same as running against a bunch of bozos. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-attacks-paul-ryan/634160/12 "2012-09-09T15:30:50Z")
Not entirely unreasonable, though, considering he runs against a relatively low-job-approval incumbent hobbled by an unresponsive economy Romney probably feels he _should_ be the front runner and ought to act like it; that would mean that in his mind he’s only incidentally behind because of greater charismatic appeal of the other fellow (as happened at various times in the primary) and not having yet fully unleashed his considerable campaign war chest. So, he says to himself, count on things remaining close and then in the homestretch pour it on and do unto Obama as you did unto Gingrich. Still, the whole deal about just what cuts ARE acceptable is an awful mess on both sides of the aisle and with Mitt’s reputation for saying whatever it will take to win it does not surprise me. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-attacks-paul-ryan/634160/13 "2012-09-09T15:36:24Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > So the extra money would come from… where? Raised taxes? No lower taxes. The cure for all that ails you. Recently my knee was hurting. I paid less tax, and it felt better immediately. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-attacks-paul-ryan/634160/14 "2012-09-09T15:46:36Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > No lower taxes. The cure for all that ails you. Recently my knee was hurting. I paid less tax, and it felt better immediately. That’s not how it works though. They will cut taxes for millionaires and **then** your knee will feel better. ---
**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-attacks-paul-ryan/634160/15 "2012-09-09T15:51:15Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > No lower taxes. The cure for all that ails you. Recently my knee was hurting. I paid less tax, and it felt better immediately. Um… per the honerable Mr Ryan “Our problem is not that we are overtaxed.” – I soooo want to see that one used in campaign ads. Right along side of Romeny saying “Of course there are a number of things that I like in health care reform” ( first quote: [http://news.yahoo.com/paul-ryan-wont-reject-debt-deal-mitt-romney-111104599--abc-news-politics.html](http://news.yahoo.com/paul-ryan-wont-reject-debt-deal-mitt-romney-111104599--abc-news-politics.html) second quote: [Mitt Romney On Obamacare: 'I'm Not Getting Rid Of All Of Health Care Reform' (VIDEO) [UPDATED] | HuffPost Latest News](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/09/mitt-romney-obamacare-_n_1868385.html)) ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2012, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/romney-attacks-paul-ryan/634160/16 "2012-09-09T16:07:42Z")
> [@Enkel](#): > > Um… per the honerable Mr Ryan “Our problem is not that we are overtaxed.” – I soooo want to see that one used in campaign ads. Right along side of Romeny saying “Of course there are a number of things that I like in health care reform” ( first quote: [http://news.yahoo.com/paul-ryan-wont-reject-debt-deal-mitt-romney-111104599--abc-news-politics.html](http://news.yahoo.com/paul-ryan-wont-reject-debt-deal-mitt-romney-111104599--abc-news-politics.html) second quote: [Mitt Romney On Obamacare: 'I'm Not Getting Rid Of All Of Health Care Reform' (VIDEO) [UPDATED] | HuffPost Latest News](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/09/mitt-romney-obamacare-_n_1868385.html)) Yeah, I kind of like \*this \*iteration of Mitt Romney. But how did he wake up feeling about women’s reproductive rights this morning?