I expected Paul Ryan to do well, but\u00a0this well?\u00a0 Wow!\u00a0\u00a0The last time I saw anything close to this was when Ronald Reagan gave a televised speech just before the 1964 Presidential election.\u00a0 Democrats expected some “B” level actor.\u00a0 Instead they were\u00a0introduced to the “Great Communicator.\u00a0\u00a0Commentators tonight expected Ryan to give a good speech, but they never dreamed that he could be so effective at connecting with an audience.\u00a0 He had\u00a0that rare ability to connect with the television audience just as well as he did with all those die hard\u00a0Republicans in the Tampa Convention Center.\u00a0 We just saw the public unveiling\u00a0of a new force of nature.\u00a0 I recommend\u00a0Democratic leaders all over the country\u00a0put in an order for a mountain of Maalox.\u00a0 They are going to need it.<\/p>\n
Democrats will respond, as they always respond, with personal attacks and class warfare rhetoric.\u00a0 They will try to destroy Ryans credibility by challenging some of his facts.\u00a0 Then they will\u00a0try to portray\u00a0him\u00a0as an evil villian determined to give huge tax cuts to big corporations while leaving Granny to die all alone without her Medicare.\u00a0 But this time they have a couple of huge problems.\u00a0 One is that even if you disagree with Paul Ryan he oozes credibility.\u00a0 No one, who watched him discuss his grandmother with Alzheimers is going to believe that this man wants to cut off health care for granny.\u00a0 Then, in a moment of high theater,\u00a0he made a compelling argument that it was Obama who is threatening granny’s Medicare.\u00a0\u00a0It was\u00a0stunningly\u00a0effective.\u00a0 Ryan took the traditional Democratic Mediscare play book and used it against them.\u00a0\u00a0It was a remarkable achievement.<\/p>\n
This is going to be a speech that will be remembered for a long time.\u00a0 The biggest problem for Republicans is that Mitt Romney has a very tough act to follow.\u00a0 But Mitt Romney is not John McCain.\u00a0 He probably won’t be nearly as effective as Ryan, but he will be effective enough.\u00a0 Ultimately,\u00a0Paul Ryan did a magnificent job of teeing it up\u00a0for Romney.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ari Fleischer made a very astute observation.\u00a0 He said the real issue is whether Republicans and \u00a0Democrats show up the way they did in 2008, the way they did in 2004 or the way they showed up in 2012.\u00a0 He pointed out that unless Democrats show up in unprecedented numbers, as they did in 2008, that Obama is in serious trouble.\u00a0 None of the liberal pundits, including Carville, challenged him on that.\u00a0 That is because they know he is right.\u00a0 But what Fleischer didn’t say is that a split between 2004 and 2008 is close to the best case scenario for Obama, and under that scenario Obama loses.\u00a0 No one in either party seriously believes Democrats will repeat the 2008 turnout.\u00a0 If Republican and Democrat turnout is similar to what is was in 2004, Romney will win in a landslide.\u00a0 If it is similar to what it was in 2010, it may be a\u00a0total wipeout.\u00a0 The least likely scenario is a repeat of 2008.\u00a0 Only a deaf, dumb and blind liberal optimist without access to polling data would predict that scenario.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One final thought.\u00a0 Joe Biden is scheduled to\u00a0speak next week.\u00a0 Imagine you are a liberal Democrat with faint residual dreams of Obama squeaking out a victory in November.\u00a0 Now imagine that you just got done watching Paul Ryan explode off the screen.\u00a0 Now\u00a0close your eyes and imagine Joe Biden trying to match this performance.\u00a0 Suddenly you get this cold clammy feeling and you feel faint.\u00a0 You wonder if there is enough alcohol in the house.\u00a0 Then you think about the upcoming debate between Joe Biden and Paul Ryan, on national television.\u00a0\u00a0A mountain of Maalox may not be enough.<\/p>\n
TDM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I expected Paul Ryan to do well, but\u00a0this well?\u00a0 Wow!\u00a0\u00a0The last time I saw anything close to this was when Ronald Reagan gave a televised speech just before the 1964 Presidential election.\u00a0 Democrats expected some “B” level actor.\u00a0 Instead they … Continue reading