No doubt the demagogues of the left are licking their chops dreaming and scheming of the over-the-top ads and slogans they can create to demonize U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney's choice for V.P. running mate.
Ryan pushing an elderly woman in a wheelchair over the cliff might seem tame in comparison to what's to come. Prepare for vitriol and vicious rage directed at Ryan on the left-wing-kook blog sites. But the great thing is, Ryan is a happy warrior with a thick skin, strong resolve and steadfast determination. He knows how dire our situation is and what we must do to extricate ourselves from this fiscal quicksand that threatens to destroy our nation. He's not afraid to tell the unvarnished truth.
The old establishment "country club Republicans" and GOP elitists who wanted a bland go-along-to-get-along type like Jeb Bush or Rob Portman to be the catcher's Mitt's running mate are dead wrong, and I commend Mitt for not listening to them. He probably recognized that he needed a serious hard-liner like Ryan to retain support among the often distrustful Tea Party contingent, many of whom regard Romney as a blue blood RINO.
A few things to consider: A blue-blood RINO and country club Republican, even if he/she is not pro life and is squishy on gun control, is hugely preferential to a statist ideologue whose destructive policies are undermining the foundations of our nation, and whose upcoming Supreme Court appointments would pound the final nails into the coffin of the late, great U.S.A. I am not joking when I say the fate of our nation hangs in the balance this Nov. 6. Obama wins and I will give serious consideration to moving to Canada.
Second, Paul Ryan's selection is likely to ignite the loony left like tapping a raw nerve with a ball-peen hammer. Subtlety, nuance and reason are not strong points of the left. Rather, spontaneous, mindless, impulsive rage are their hallmarks. Count on the left to overplay their hand, and suffer a backlash of disgust and revulsion (a la Occupy Wall Street) by the tens of millions of decent Americans who don't dig their act.
Most important, I continue to point to Ryan's home state of Wisconsin as evidence that his sober assessment of our fiscal predicament and the urgent need to respond to it are just what this nation needs and will support. Gov. Scott Walker won his recall election comfortably, despite the left and unions spending millions and throwing everything but the kitchen sink at him.
Let me add Republican governors Mitch Daniels of Indiana and Chris Christie of deep blue New Jersey, and even Rhode Island Democrat Treasurer Gina Raimondo as prime examples of demonized public officials who have dared to take on the ugly union bullies.
The crybaby liberals, pompous progressives and union thugs talk a good game. They threaten and vilify, kick and scream and whine. They predict doom and gloom if they don't get their way. And invariably, they are wrong. We have seen increasing evidence that many Americans have way too much common sense to fall for this drama queen garbage.
Ryan won't be taking on unions, per se, like Christie, Daniels and other governors. But he will be taking on the left's fantasy belief that we can sustain the status quo if only we raise taxes on the rich and keep pissing away hundreds of billions in Keynesian stimulus money that they believe will revive the middle class. (There are also people who still believe the earth is flat, but I digress).
Ryan will give us the straight dope about the horrible fiscal condition of Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and broadly, our entire federal fisc. There are leftists that will probably burst a blood vessel and go ballistic. Tough schmidt. It is what it is.
THE WEATHER DOES AN ABOUT-FACE - A few weeks ago, I was drenched in sweat as I cut up and hauled away logs and branches from a dead poplar I cut down in our back yard. We had 10-plus days of temperatures in the mid-90s to over 100. Then when temps moderated, we still were getting highs near 90 -- above the typical southern Michigan summertime high of 80 or 82. A lengthy drought has hurt farmers and left lawns in my neighborhood an ugly yellow and brown.
Suddenly a few days ago, the weather turned gray, rainy and cool. We had three days with temps in the 60s and steady drizzle. One morning when I walked the dog, I actually wore a brown jacket that's too thick to be a windbreaker, but not quite heavy enough for the dead of winter. But wearing a jacket in summer is strange. Saturday afternoon it gradually cleared, and temperatures were in the moderate 70s with low humidity. Today is gorgeous (mostly sunny, 75 degrees and low humidity as I type). My son is home from college for a few days, and I'll be heading out soon to play tennis with him. Hope he doesn't humiliate the old man too badly.
I have gone on record as saying that climate change, or even global warming, are possible, but the notion that humans are substantially responsible is ridiculous. Many natural factors such as solar flares, sun spots and oceanic volcanism affect our weather patterns. And we have had warm and cold cycles for millennia before the industrial revolution and internal combustion engine came along. No, I am not a scientist, but I can say for certain there are many respected meteorologists and scientists who do not agree with the concept of anthropogenic global warming. (And NO, liberals, they ARE NOT all in the oil industry's vest pocket. Please give that tired cliche a rest.)
At any rate, going forward we are certain to continue observing these two tendencies: When we get bitter cold and tons of snow in winter, global warming scoffers will be in their element, while Al Gore's legions will emphasize there's a big difference between weather (short-term) and climate (long-term). Conversely, when we have nasty hot summer weather and drought like this summer, Algore's true believers will tout the global warming line, while folks such as myself will note that it could be a short-term blip (i.e., weather) on the climate screen.
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