# Veep announcement \[Romney picks Paul Ryan\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [August 11, 2012, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-announcement-romney-picks-paul-ryan/631157 "2012-08-11T03:40:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 23
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-announcement-romney-picks-paul-ryan/631157/442 "2012-08-14T17:01:17Z")
I would advise everyone to check Gallup’s website today.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-announcement-romney-picks-paul-ryan/631157/443 "2012-08-14T17:04:12Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > It is interesting that Congressmen/women are so rarely tapped to be Vice Presidential nominees. Prior to this it seems Grealdine Ferraro was the most recent and then prior to that it lloks like it was the 1920s or so William Miller from Buffalo ran for VP with Barry Goldwater. I’m not surprised you forgot him. He was on an American Express commercial in a series about formerly famous people no one recognized any more. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-announcement-romney-picks-paul-ryan/631157/444 "2012-08-14T17:09:38Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > I would advise everyone to check Gallup’s website today.🙂 Wow, worse than [Dan Quayle](http://www.gallup.com/poll/156545/Reaction-Ryan-Pick-Among-Least-Positive-Historically.aspx). ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-announcement-romney-picks-paul-ryan/631157/445 "2012-08-14T17:10:18Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > I would advise everyone to check Gallup’s website today.🙂 This is what I found from [http://www.gallup.com/poll/156545/Reaction-Ryan-Pick-Among-Least-Positive-Historically.aspx](http://www.gallup.com/poll/156545/Reaction-Ryan-Pick-Among-Least-Positive-Historically.aspx) : > [@](#): > > Four in 10 Americans rate Mitt Romney’s selection of Rep. Paul Ryan to be his running mate as either “excellent” or “pretty good,” while 42% call the choice “only fair” or “poor.” This even division is among the least positive reactions to a vice presidential choice Gallup has recorded in recent elections. Only George H.W. Bush’s selection of Dan Quayle in 1988 generated a higher negative response, although it also generated higher positives. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-announcement-romney-picks-paul-ryan/631157/446 "2012-08-14T17:33:43Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > I would advise everyone to check Gallup’s website today.🙂 May I assume by your smiley that you are now rooting for Team Obama? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-announcement-romney-picks-paul-ryan/631157/447 "2012-08-14T17:48:49Z")
Tracking poll shows Romney with a 2-point lead. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-announcement-romney-picks-paul-ryan/631157/448 "2012-08-14T17:51:35Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Tracking poll shows Romney with a 2-point lead. Wow, that’s shocking, given that the poll has been a dead heat for a week and now this! A statistically similar result! ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-announcement-romney-picks-paul-ryan/631157/449 "2012-08-14T17:56:44Z")
With added bounce for major news that excites a good deal of the base. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-announcement-romney-picks-paul-ryan/631157/450 "2012-08-14T18:01:07Z")
A VP pick normally gives a 5-point bounce in the tracking polls: [cite](http://www.gallup.com/poll/109381/candidates-gotten-small-poll-bounce-after-naming-vp.aspx). So this looks about right, although a bit small, at this point. More like a 2-3 point bounce in Rasmussen and Gallup. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-announcement-romney-picks-paul-ryan/631157/451 "2012-08-14T18:03:36Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Tracking poll shows Romney with a 2-point lead. Aw, that’s precious! ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-announcement-romney-picks-paul-ryan/631157/452 "2012-08-14T18:04:01Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Tracking poll shows Romney with a 2-point lead. Since I’ve been saying this, oh I don’t know, _forever_, I’m sure you will realize that I am not being snarky in any way when I say, let me know when Romney has a lead in the electoral college anywhere. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-announcement-romney-picks-paul-ryan/631157/453 "2012-08-14T18:15:33Z")
I’d say the Ryan bounce is a bit on the small side. Likewise, the convention bounce will be small, assuming it’s positive at all. Then an Obama bounce for his convention then things back essentially as they were until the debates. ---
**Author:** ![BigAppleBucky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigapplebucky/32/178_2.png) [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-announcement-romney-picks-paul-ryan/631157/454 "2012-08-14T19:53:17Z")
BY KATE SULLIVAN [Veep nominee Paul Ryan renounces former fascination with Ayn Rand – New York Daily News](http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/pageviews/2012/08/veep-nominee-paul-ryan-renounces-former-fascination-with-ayn-rand) > [@](#): > > Paul Ryan, the budget plan-toting and P90Xing representative from Wisconsin, was recently chosen by Mitt Romney as his running mate, yet a hatred for big government and love of washboard abs aren’t the only things he feels strongly about. Ryan has had a life-long fascination and appreciation of Ayn Rand, author of philosophical novels “The Fountainhead” and “Atlas Shrugged.” Recently, he’s taken to distancing himself from the libertarian hero; however his current position is in fierce contradiction with fairly recent statements of praise for the Russian-born author. **snip** > [@](#): > > Yet now, perhaps in a bid to appeal to the independent voters, Ryan has tempered his obsession with Rand, though given his outspoken nature on the topic, it will be a hard sell to convince the population he isn’t sleeping with “The Fountainhead” under his pillow. Ryan’s change of heart is obvious when one considers Rand’s views on things besides support of capitalism; Rand was pro-abortion, a hater of Ronald Reagan and her books support atheism, obviously placing the individual at the forefront of what is important. > > _ **snip** _ > > “I reject her philosophy,” Ryan says firmly. “It’s an atheist philosophy. It reduces human interactions down to mere contracts and it is antithetical to my worldview. **If somebody is going to try to paste a person’s view on epistemology to me, then give me Thomas Aquinas,** ” who believed that man needs divine help in the pursuit of knowledge. “Don’t give me Ayn Rand,” he says. _ **Dear Paul - here’s quote from Aquinas - you might need to find someone else. Maybe Darwin?** _ “Whatever a man has in superabundance is owed, of natural right, to the poor for their sustenance. So Ambrosius says, and it is also to be found in the Decretum Gratiani: ‘The bread which you withhold belongs to the hungry: the clothing you shut away, to the naked: and the money you bury in the earth is the redemption and freedom of the penniless.’” — St Thomas Aquinas (Summa Theologica, 1274 CE) ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-announcement-romney-picks-paul-ryan/631157/455 "2012-08-14T20:13:06Z")
> [@BigAppleBucky](#): > > BY KATE SULLIVAN > [Veep nominee Paul Ryan renounces former fascination with Ayn Rand – New York Daily News](http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/pageviews/2012/08/veep-nominee-paul-ryan-renounces-former-fascination-with-ayn-rand) > > **snip** > > _ **Dear Paul - here’s quote from Aquinas - you might need to find someone else. Maybe Darwin?** _ > > “Whatever a man has in superabundance is owed, of natural right, to the poor for their sustenance. So Ambrosius says, and it is also to be found in the Decretum Gratiani: ‘The bread which you withhold belongs to the hungry: the clothing you shut away, to the naked: and the money you bury in the earth is the redemption and freedom of the penniless.’” > > — St Thomas Aquinas (Summa Theologica, 1274 CE) He probably is talking about a different Thomas Aquinas. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-announcement-romney-picks-paul-ryan/631157/456 "2012-08-14T20:39:55Z")
Hey I can totally understand his not knowing about her atheism, sometimes these little details slip past you. I can remember how shocked I was to find out Karl Marx was a Communist. ---
**Author:** ![jshore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@jshore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jshore)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-announcement-romney-picks-paul-ryan/631157/457 "2012-08-14T20:57:17Z")
Great…Ryan rejects Ayn Rand’s philosophy for its one redeeming feature! ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-announcement-romney-picks-paul-ryan/631157/458 "2012-08-14T21:02:15Z")
> [@jshore](#): > > Great…Ryan rejects Ayn Rand’s philosophy for its one redeeming feature! Now you’re REALLY not going to vote for Romney. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-announcement-romney-picks-paul-ryan/631157/459 "2012-08-14T21:09:37Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Hey I can totally understand his not knowing about her atheism, sometimes these little details slip past you. I can remember how shocked I was to find out Karl Marx was a Communist. “The Fuerher just found out that Roehm is homosexual. He was furious! Just imagine how angry he’ll be when he discovers that Goering is fat and Goebbels is short!” And, swiveling back to topic > [@](#): > > [Romney Campaign Bars Press From Ryan, Adelson Event](http://www.buzzfeed.com/zekejmiller/romney-campaign-bars-press-from-ryan-adelson-even) > > Presumptive Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan’s first major fundraiser will be closed to the press, in apparent violation of the Romney-Ryan campaign’s oft-strained agreement with the reporters who cover the campaign… > > UPDATE: A Romney aide told reporters that the event in Las Vegas is not a fundraiser but a “finance event,” and therefore closed to reporters. The aide would not say what the distinction is between the two, declining to say whether the campaign is collecting checks at the event… ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-announcement-romney-picks-paul-ryan/631157/460 "2012-08-14T21:23:38Z")
_blink_blink\* What was that about washboard abs? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2012, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-announcement-romney-picks-paul-ryan/631157/461 "2012-08-14T23:43:08Z")
> [@BigAppleBucky](#): > > “Whatever a man has in superabundance is owed, of natural right, to the poor for their sustenance. So Ambrosius says, and it is also to be found in the Decretum Gratiani: ‘The bread which you withhold belongs to the hungry: the clothing you shut away, to the naked: and the money you bury in the earth is the redemption and freedom of the penniless.’” > > — St Thomas Aquinas (Summa Theologica, 1274 CE) Next thing you’re going to claim is that Jesus was against tax cuts for the rich. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-announcement-romney-picks-paul-ryan/631157.md?page=22) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/veep-announcement-romney-picks-paul-ryan/631157.md?page=24)