Listening
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- Aug 27, 2011
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Smart Democrats Should Be Worried - By John Fund - The Corner - National Review Online
Are there smart democrats ? Just asking.
There are five reasons. I'll post them one at a time.
Liberal pundits are already fanning out in force to attack and discredit Paul Ryan. Michael Tomasky, who recently wrote a Newsweek cover story calling Mitt Romney a wimp, has now decided that Romneys bold move is a terrible choice because Ryan has proven himself to be an extremist on budget issues.
No doubt there are many Democrats rubbing their hands in glee in contemplation of reviving some version of the ad that featured an actor playing Paul Ryan pushing a grandmother in a wheelchair off a cliff. But the smarter ones are worried.
First, if Ryan is an extremist and his proposals are so unpopular, how has he won election seven times in a Democratic district? His lowest share of the vote was 57 percent in his first race. He routinely wins over two-thirds of the vote. When Obama swept the nation in 2008, he carried Ryans district by four points. But at the same time, Ryan won reelection with 65 percent of the vote, meaning that a fifth of Obama voters also voted for him.
Ryan has pointed out to me that no Republican has carried his district for president since Ronald Reagan in 1984. I have held hundreds of town-hall meetings in my district explaining why we have to take bold reform steps, and Ive found treating people like adults works, he told me. All those ads pushing elderly woman off the cliffs dont work anymore if you lay out the problem.
Are there smart democrats ? Just asking.
There are five reasons. I'll post them one at a time.
Liberal pundits are already fanning out in force to attack and discredit Paul Ryan. Michael Tomasky, who recently wrote a Newsweek cover story calling Mitt Romney a wimp, has now decided that Romneys bold move is a terrible choice because Ryan has proven himself to be an extremist on budget issues.
No doubt there are many Democrats rubbing their hands in glee in contemplation of reviving some version of the ad that featured an actor playing Paul Ryan pushing a grandmother in a wheelchair off a cliff. But the smarter ones are worried.
First, if Ryan is an extremist and his proposals are so unpopular, how has he won election seven times in a Democratic district? His lowest share of the vote was 57 percent in his first race. He routinely wins over two-thirds of the vote. When Obama swept the nation in 2008, he carried Ryans district by four points. But at the same time, Ryan won reelection with 65 percent of the vote, meaning that a fifth of Obama voters also voted for him.
Ryan has pointed out to me that no Republican has carried his district for president since Ronald Reagan in 1984. I have held hundreds of town-hall meetings in my district explaining why we have to take bold reform steps, and Ive found treating people like adults works, he told me. All those ads pushing elderly woman off the cliffs dont work anymore if you lay out the problem.