We all saw Ryan's first VP interview with Brit Hume yesterday (and for those who didn't, here ya go)...
But as I've continued to hear panic on the Left for his 'radical' conservative views (just read Jeffrey Lord's piece mentioning three names related to Ryan that terrify the Left: Reagan, Kemp and Levin!) and badgering on the Right for some admittedly bad votes in the past (which disqualify him as 'conservative enough' for some...not sure where along the way they've forgotten about the Reagan awakening), I thought it might be important to interject more perspective in Romney's VP pick. And Thomas Sowell wrote a great piece yesterday on just what the Paul Ryan choice means...
RealClearPolitics: Anyone who wants to get a quick sense of who Paul Ryan is should watch a short video of a February 2010 meeting in which Congressman Ryan politely, but devastatingly, "schools" Barack Obama on the utter fraudulence of the statistics that the Obama administration was using to claim that ObamaCare would reduce the deficit.
As a long-time member, and now chairman, of the Budget Committee in the House of Representatives, Paul Ryan is thoroughly familiar with both the facts and the fictions in the federal government's budget. In recent years, the fictions have grown much bigger than the facts. But, as Congressman Ryan reminded the president, hiding spending is not the same as reducing spending.
But moreover, Sowell brings the entire election into focus...
This election is a test, not just of the opposing candidates but of the voting public. If what they want are the hard facts about where the country is, and where it is heading, they cannot vote for more of the same for the next four years.
But, if what they want is emotionally satisfying rhetoric and a promise to give them something for nothing, to be paid for by taxing somebody else, then Obama is their man.
There are no doubt voters who will vote on the basis of believing that Obama "cares" more about them. But that is a faith which passeth all understanding. The political mirage of something for nothing, from leaders who "care," has ruined many a nation.
Don't we know it. We've seen it throughout the ages, yet too many still deny history's lessons.
Look folks, I'm as idealistic as the next...but at some point (like say two-and-a-half months out!), reality, pragmatism, whatever you want to call it, has to set in. There is NO TIME for a third way. That movement should have set sail before Obama was elected, when we recognized that McLame wasn't going to do the job. And in some sense it did...enter 'the tea party'. It started in the grassroots; and for the most part, it's stayed there. We've had a small group of representatives and senators who have started tea party caucuses in each house; we've awakened the sleeping giant with American resilience and conservative principle. Yet, we're still a distance away from any formidable 'new' party materializing. Ron Paul's not gonna do that in two-and-a-half months; Rick Perry's not gonna do that in two-and-a-half months. And I could mention other hopefuls.
Love it, hate it, we are literally given ONLY two choices in this presidential race. So I've decided to stand with at least a 'chance' at Liberty, rather than a 'guarantee' of more Tyranny. It's Principle that guides us, conservatives...let it be to assist in saving our Nation from the Democratic Anti-Colonial Statist team of Obama & Biden, drawing on the strengths of our allies, their opponents...instead of getting caught up in the imperfections of our only choice in this late hour.
