Mitt Romney Running Mate Speculation Thread

seriously looks like an impromptu speech from a hungover groom at brunch

crowd is like 100% white people

"Join me in welcoming the next president of the United States, Paul Ryan!" I know, I know, everyone misspeaks--pretty funny nonetheless.

― clemenza, Saturday, 11 August 2012 14:29 (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

omg perfect

his follow-up, after running back to the podium once the music stopped. "Now I've been known to make a mistake...but this man will be the next VICE-President of the United States..."

wow everyone's still humping the "you didn't build that" line

staples....bright horizons...SPORTS AUTHORITY!

I'm only listening on the radio, does it seem any more alive or exciting when you can see the crowd? Cuz I'm not hearing a lot of electricity.

"our rights come from nature and god, not from government!" <---only line to get a really big reaction from the audience so far

but yeah this guy is no palin speech-wise

I don't know...he's got some work to do as a public speaker (when he mentioned something about "heart and mind," he pointed to his heart when he said "mind")--he's earnest to the point of sounding like he's pleading. Still, probably a better choice than Portman or Pawlenty.

ryan basically comes off like a college republican

"our rights come from nature and god, not from government!" <---only line to get a really big reaction from the audience so far

Which of course is why people in China and Iran are exactly as free as people in the United States and Sweden!

RYAN/ROMNEY '12
I've been known to make a mistake

he is for real a better pick though; if mitt's going to win it's surely in stoking up the people who want an abrasive-contrarian-asshole pick

the hilarity continues

he's gonna get like 4 undecided voters w this pick

CNN had Gingrich on after the speech, and they immediately hauled out the "right-wing social engineering" clip. He wriggled out of it, but that's something that'll keep turning up (guaranteed to be in a Democratic ad or two).

he isn't even going to win Wisconsin

I'd forgotten--Obama made exactly the same mistake introducing Biden four years ago. Interesting psychology there.

biden was a safe pick tho

oh I thought you meant doing this friday night / saturday morning, sorry, early

also Biden is fuckin hilarious

CNN's so funny sometimes: their crawl machine at the bottom still says "Three sources tell CNN that Romney to name Ryan as VP choice."

this may get Mitt a weekend of positive press -- all of which will be out-of-it pundits braying about how choosing Ryan was "bold" and "transformative" and how "brave" Ryan's give-the-rich-more-tax-cuts-paid-for-by-starving-Granny budget proposals are, but beggars can't be choosers -- but when the smoke clears he won't get a single swing vote. and it won't even work so well for getting the Teabags to the voting booth, b/c they're already hopped up on Obama-hate.

all the Dems gotta do in Florida is yell SOCIAL SECURITY loud enough

this is like Bush the Elder picking Quayle imho

"let's get a young guy, make you look less stuffy!"

granted Quayle didn't have party-base bonafides the way Ryan does

Have no idea what Ryan thinks he gains from this. He's giving up considerable power in the House to serve as veep?

actually Quayle did, Shakey! He was reliably to the right of Reagan for most of the eighties.

I was young, I just don't remember if Quayle was a similar firebrand. he did say stupid things in public, which Ryan also seems prone to. Looking forward to his "that Burger King over there is hiring" moment

Quayle was certainly dumb enough to appeal to 1988 Tea Party types.

but at least Paul Ryan knows how to spell "potato" correctly.

Have no idea what Ryan thinks he gains from this. He's giving up considerable power in the House to serve as veep?

But does he have to? Won't he still run for his House seat too?

Sure, and I guess when they both lose the race Ryan has more "prestige."

Lieberman chose to run for Senate even when he was Gore's running mate ... so yeah, Ryan doesn't have to decline to run for his House seat.

One of the main reasons Bush 41 settled on Quayle was the latter opposing most of Reagan's late term dealing with Gorby.

how was Palin in the Biden-Palin debate in '08? are these running-mate debates a big deal? i don't recall hearing about them over here much last time around.

repost dirty gif of Biden and Palin during debate plz

http://lifesteez.com/miscimg/gotthatbitch.gif

By the time of that debate, the Palin bar of expectations had been set so low that all she had to do was not be completely embarrassing for it to count as a triumph. I think the general consensus was that it didn't really help or hurt either of them.

so who will Obama pick as veep?

biden was really good in the debate, he said some plainly heartfelt things about his family which made palin's bear mama (or whatever it was ...) rhetoric look patently empty. the story was just 'palin fails to embarrass self', though

(xpost) Yes--although she still managed to fall short of those abysmally lowered expectations. I feel like I should apologize in advance for knowing this, but Biden was the "winner" in all the post-debate polls by about a 2-1 margin. On the other hand, she did get off one immortal line: "Mind if I call you Joe?"

It'd be fun to use that line in real life with some of you. "Mind if I call you Thomp?" "Mind if I call you Schlump?" "Mind if I call you A Regina Spektor Is Haunting Europe?"

My secret hope for this is that educating the public about Ayn Rand will turn into her becoming this election's Jeremiah Wright. WHY WON'T RYAN DENOUNCE HIS EXTREMIST IDEOLOGICAL MENTOR?

VP debates were handily Biden's but yeah, the CW was that Palin needed to not come out in clown makeup reciting nursery rhymes backwards, so it was a "win." Biden did have that alternately cringe-worthy/heartfelt speech about his roots. (Jon Stewart: "Oh yeah, Sarah Palin? You're from one shithole town? Joe Biden's from four."

Back to back:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=638sSV5WByQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4QCcwJjk54

Maybe until you're actually elected it's hard to get your head around the idea that the next president might be you.

And, if you're running for President, you're constantly hearing people introduce someone on stage (you) as "the next President of the United States!" Could imagine that just getting lodged in your head.

A simple explanation that makes perfect sense. Don't think it's a coincidence, though.

My secret hope for this is that educating the public about Ayn Rand will turn into her becoming this election's Jeremiah Wright. WHY WON'T RYAN DENOUNCE HIS EXTREMIST IDEOLOGICAL MENTOR?

considering that ryan is one of the new breed of "professional catholic" politicians his devotion to a notorious atheist is ripe for picking apart

yeah if ayn rand does come up its gonna be in the context of IS THE REPUBLICAN PARTY BEING RUN BY ATHEISTS