The worst kept secret in D.C.: Conservatives trying to get Ryan to run

[oberliner]

It's from the resident RW op-ed person at Washington Post but an interesting window into what is going on over there:

It’s ironic — or not, as I will explain later — that a few days after Texas Gov. Rick Perry announces for president the conservative buzz is all about Rep. Paul Ryan (R- Wis.). Stephen Hayes, whose boss, Bill Kristol, first floated on this blog the idea of a Ryan ticket (back then it was Ryan-Odierno), is out with a piece detailing the efforts over the summer to convince Ryan to run

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/the-worst-kept-secret-in-dc-conservatives-trying-to-get-ryan-to-run/2011/03/29/gIQAeK1KJJ_blog.html

He might be pose more of a challenge than Perry or Romney.

[LiberalFighter]

1. He will be more of a challenge than Perry or Romney

only in the minds of Republicans.

He will be annihilated by Obama if he is the nominee.

[gateley]

2. I don't think he would be, since his Medicare fiasco. His supporters

turned on him, and I think they'd be heard. Not to mention IF we did it right, we could bury him with that issue alone.

[DrToast]

3. Who exactly does Ryan appeal to?

Independents hate him because he wants to kill Medicare.

The Christian Right hates him because he worships Ayn Rand.

I guess he's got the Tea Party.

[oberliner]

5. Who do you think will get the Repub nomination?

It seems like the RW talk show people hate Romney, are iffy on Perry, and love Bachmann but she is unelectable so the powers that be won't let her get the nomination.

Ron Paul maybe?

[DrToast]

15. Not sure

If I had to guess, Mitt Romney, but I don't know.

[Cosmocat]

7. He would not break double digits ...

He is an "insiders" fav, like Huntsman ... He would have some appeal to the mean spirited libertarian types, but ... He is Ron Paul light ...

He has little name recognition outside of people who follow politics and is a CONGRESSMAN with little personal appeal ...

[oberliner]

9. So who would break double digits?

And who do you think will be their nominee?

[Cosmocat]

10. Perry ...

I have said for months now, it is a two horse race with Perry and Romney, and I felt Perry would be at about 20 percent, having sucked the air out of Bachman and chippped into the Rs who were holding their noses for Romney within a month or two ...

I saw a poll this morning, less than four days after he announced, he is already ahead of both ...

He is mean, he is flambouant, he is a governor - he is the dream candidate for the republican party in 2012.

[tanyev]

4. The guy whose budget plan called for raising the debt ceiling much higher than

what they just had a manufactured conniption fit over? That guy?

House Republicans voted to make the Ryan budget law. But the Ryan budget includes $6 trillion in new debt over the next 10 years, which means that to become law, the Ryan budget would require a substantial increase in the debt ceiling. But before the Republicans agree to increase the debt ceiling so that the budget they passed can become law, Republicans are demanding the passage of either a balanced budget amendment that would make the Ryan budget unconstitutional or a spending cap that the Ryan budget would, in certain years (and if you’re using more realistic numbers, in all years), exceed.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/republicans-cant-meet-their-own-deficit-and-spending-targets/2011/04/13/AFxhhTIE_blog.html


Frakking hypocrites.

[elleng]

6. Wasn't it Kristol who 'floated' and flew w palin, last time around?

[oberliner]

8. I think so

She was big on the RW talk radio circuit before anything else.

[fujiyama]

11. Ryan? Seriously. That punk?

We may as well throw Florida in our column and the GOP can write it off, considering his voucher-care scheme.

That idiot is no where near ready for prime time. Romney obviously poses a challenge because at times he can sound almost sane. Perry is crazy, but people may overlook it for a promise of jobs.

Ryan is like Bachmann. Another idealogically extreme congressperson picked out of obscurity by desperate GOP pundits sensing what a pathetic field of freaks that have running.

[craigmatic]

12. Ryan would lose hard because of his plan.

[Douglas Carpenter]

13. Intrade has the possibility of a Ryan nomination at 3.5% - Perry at 37.9% - Romney at 29.1%

Bachmann's chances are now trading at 5.9%. These are figures for winning the Republican nomination. Not that intrade is always right - of course. But they are a reasonably good weather vane of what movement is underway.

http://www.intrade.com/v4/markets/?eventClassId=19

[oberliner]

14. 3.5 percent is I think about what Intrade had McCain at right about this time

Maybe lower.

For what that is worth.

[Douglas Carpenter]

16. actually it was little more than that - but not much - around 6%

Intrade and informed opinion in August 2007 had Giuliani at about 36% leading with Romney about 13% behind and Thompson a few points behind Romney,

http://race42012.com/2007/08/15/state-of-the-race-intrade-and-endorsement-race/

Intrade's value is certainly not long term soothsaying. But it does have very real value in picking up trends. Neither they nor any other recognized expert opinion had a clue about Palin. But once something started to leak - they responded with the lightning speed of - well the derivative market. However, in regards to Ryan - it would seem that if there was serious movement underway - their numbers would reflect it. It is totally possible that Perry could self-destruct even much more dramatically than Giuliani..and the current dynamics of the GOP would require a credible right-wing challenger to the boring Mormon from New England with a relatively (by Republican standards) liberal record. However, Ryan's medicare proposal was and is so wildly unpopular even among the social conservative base - that I doubt that he can mount a credible campaign - and unlike McCain at this time - he has no organization in place and it is probably already too late to get started.

[shellgame26]

17. Seriously? How many losers are the GOP

going to attempt to draft? It seems like every week there is another "hopeful". Just goes to show the disarray taking place in the party.