The Challenge Ahead for Romney-Ryan

Townhall.com ^ | August 12, 2012 | Carol Platt Liebau

[Kaslin]

Seeing the Sunday news shows did nothing to diminish my enthusiasm over Romney's choice of Paul Ryan for the VP slot.  It did, however, provide a sobering realization of the scale of the challenge ahead for the Romney-Ryan ticket -- given that (1) the Obama campaign has shown a willingness to lie without shame; and (2) the ostensible "referees" of the debate (i.e., the media) have already made it more than clear that they are in the tank for Obama.

There are some things that the Romney-Ryan team needs to do right away.  These include:

(1) Get surrogates and spokesmen the facts -- fast.  Reince Priebus has done a stellar job as RNC chairman, but he was not prepared for David Gregory's onslaught this morning on "Meet the Press."  It is entirely predictable that the left was ready with a "Romney-Ryan want to push Granny off the cliff."  The response needs to be strong, unified, coherent and easy to understand.  Paul Ryan has a talent for making the complex simple.  It is a talent everyone else needs to develop, fast.

People need to understand why entitlement reform is an integral part of our nation's fiscal recovery -- and how it helps them in the short term with the jobs crisis and the other fiscal issues we're currently facing.  The Obama message is short and simple: "They want to cut spending so millionaires don't have to pay taxes."  It's wrong (and assumes a level of evil and bad faith that's simply shocking!) but the GOP needs something almost as crisp and easy, keeping in mind that it has to make sense to normal people (who, quite sensibly, never believed Obama's claim that ObamaCare was needed for economic recovery to take hold).

(2) Inoculate the electorate against the "politics of fear" that's all the Obama team has to push.  How about an ad splicing together every apocalyptic denunciation of Republican reforms that the Democrats have routinely made over the last 30 years?  How about clips showing talking heads of the day predicting doom if Reagan were elected, or his tax cuts went through, or the 1986 tax reform passed, or welfare reform was passed in 1996?  People need to remember that this is the way Democrats have always responded to any effort to reform Big Government.  As part of this effort,

(3) Offer the states as examples.  GOP-led states are thriving (relatively), where governors have made tough choices and withstood the left's onslaught.  As part of the ads referenced above, show the left prophesying doom in Wisconsin and New Jersey . . . and then show the turnaround Governors Walker and Christie are achieving.  And for heaven's sake, get the governors on the campaign trail.  Governor Walker did fine this morning on "Meet the Press"  -- because he's used to dealing with the kind of "fear and smear" tactics the left employs and the media happily passes along.

(4) Help people understand that the Obama campaign is trying to make them afraid of the wrong things.  It's a tough sell to convince voters that President Obama is a bigger threat to government programs as they currently exist than Mitt Romney is -- although we were reminded, accurately and with some regularity this morning, that Obama is the one who cut $700 billion from Medicare.  But people won't believe that any more than the left can convince them that Republicans are the party of high taxes.

Instead, point out that the pain and the cost of addressing tough issues now is going to be significantly less than doing it in just a decade or so.  If we make changes now -- not even terribly horrible changes -- we can right the ship.  If we wait, our entire country will start to look like . . . California.  And that will be a disaster.  That's what we should really fear -- not, for example, paring spending back to 2006 levels.  In addition, explain why this time, it really is different than, say 1992 (when Ross Perot drove concern about the deficit, but we grew out of it shortly thereafter).  This isn't 1992 -- Obama has gotten us into a situation that -- in four years -- will be hard to recover from.

And offer some hope, framing the election as a choice: "The Obama campaign offers nothing but more fear, and more of the same.  Americans don't have to be afraid . . . if we do the right thing now.  We've all had to worry for four years.  It's time those day were over.  And it's time for us to stop blaming each other for the problems we face -- and to start solving them.  It's time for real hope, real change and a fresh start."

Finally, tHIS VIDEO SHOULD BE EVERYWHERE.  It shows Bill Clinton speaking with Paul Ryan about how he hopes the 2011 Democrat win in New York won't become an excuse for his party to "do nothing" about reform -- and invites Ryan to call him.  So who's really out of the mainstream -- Ryan and Clinton, or Obama and his lefty "do nothing" crew?

[jessduntno]

“If the left hates Romney, there has to be something to commend him.”

You’d think so, wouldn’t ya? They hate him and seem to fear him. Maybe it’s pure hate. I dunno. Appears some of us do to. I’m wondering if it’s political at all.

[bray]

Apparently the commiemedia disagrees with you.

Pray for America

[muawiyah]

Don't be fooled. The folks on the left are his friends ~ they loved him with an adulation you just don't find Republicans giving anyone.

Makes me wonder how many of the faux Conservatives on these boards aren't even real Republicans.

To win this or any election it is necessary for a politician to protect his voting base as much as possible while seeking to peel off a faction from the other side ~ usually on the basis of a demonstrable commonality of purpose or interest.

What you don't win with is turning into a pale imitation of the other side, or worse, in selecting a top end candidate who cannot be differentiated from their candidate.

That method is guaranteed to lose, or at best, make for a very lengthy vote counting session!~

[combat_boots]

“Judge Forrest had ruled for a temporary injunction against an unconstitutional provision in this law, after government attorneys refused to provide assurances to the court that plaintiffs and others would not be indefinitely detained for engaging in first amendment activities. At that time, twice the government has refused to define what it means to be an “associated force”, and it claimed the right to refrain from offering any clear definition of this term, or clear boundaries of power under this law.

This past week’s hearing was even more terrifying. Government attorneys again, in this hearing, presented no evidence to support their position and brought forth no witnesses. Most incredibly, Obama’s attorneys refused to assure the court, when questioned, that the NDAA’s section 1021 – the provision that permits reporters and others who have not committed crimes to be detained without trial – has not been applied by the US government anywhere in the world after Judge Forrest’s injunction.”

http://libertyblitzkrieg.com/2012/08/10/ndaa-the-most-important-lawsuit-in-american-history-that-no-one-is-talking-about/

[radioone]

"The Challenge Ahead for Romney-Ryan" is the Looters, Moochers and Conservatives with their panties all in an uproar! If you can't vote for Ryan...stay at home and pout!

Remembering Rumsfeld: "You go to war with the army you have---not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time.

[reasonisfaith]

Next to an anti-American communist liar, decent becomes very easy.

[reasonisfaith]

Not you—your message. It’s a loser and I’m not following it.

[muawiyah]

The commiemedia lie an awful lot ~ do not be so easily fooled.

You see Michelle going around campaigning hither and yon ~ ? Right now she's protecting the Democrat voting base. There are no new programs or policies she's peddling, nor will there be anything new in Obama's speeches. These people are spinning the fable that their voters are important people who are privileged to vote for Obama.

They might well get cracking to strip off a faction of GOP-e types who are fed up that Conservatives didn't go lockstep with them over the cliff, but for right now the Obamistas are shoring up the resolve of their voting base.

Still waiting on Romney to figure out how to do that ~ and it doesn't mean selecting Ryan ~ it means getting out of the way and letting the Convention resolve the issues and pick a real candidate.

[reasonisfaith]

Not you—your message. It’s a loser and I’m not following it.

[comebacknewt]

Makes me wonder how many of the faux Conservatives on these boards aren't even real Republicans.

Told you.

[muawiyah]

Rumsfeld got fired.

[reasonisfaith]

“Rumsfeld got fired.”

Against the will of conservatives. Only the leftists celebrate his firing.

[muawiyah]

You don't like the message because you haven't thought through the problem ~ we have a candidate who has done nothing to protect the Republican voting base ~ guy doesn't even know Conservatives control at least 40% of the votes AND they campaign.

Putting Ryan on the ticket may not be satisfactory to all the Social Conservatives either.

[muawiyah]

He still got fired.

[GlockThe Vote]

LOL! Other than palin no one would have satisfied some of the fanatics. Ryan is as good as it gets for this pick

[muawiyah]

But he has to run with Romney. That ruins everything.

[sportutegrl]

Suppose Romney had a change of heart. Or, maybe he was always right of center, but moved to the left to win reelection in Mass, (with secret plans to move back right after the election). He didn't win, BTW, which may have taught him something about what the people want and being true to yourself. GWB pretended to be a conservative in his first term to get reelected, and then brought us Prescription Drugs in his second term.

So, maybe Romney learned a lesson, there, or maybe he sees where the country is headed and realizes there needs to be some big changes to save this country. I'm willing to give him a chance.

[jeffc]

I'll say it again (maybe somehow the word will get to the Repubs):

The "news" media may broadcast the debates, but they should not moderate it. C'mon, they work for a broadcast company that tries to get viewers; they need drama and controversy. It's just that they get it by sand-bagging the Repubs because of their ideology.

Use retired politicians, judges, ambassadors, etc. as moderators.

[reasonisfaith]

I will never support a pro-Obama message.

The message is a loser.

[reasonisfaith]

You’re another one who might have been duped by the posts of Obama supporters pretending to be conservative.

Don’t let them fool you.

An Obama second term is a labor camp for folks like you and me.