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I think Mitt Romney was in a slough of despond. He was dropping in the polls. Ryan brings youth. He brings energy. He brings excitement. He energizes the conservative base of the party. He's a likable young fellow. He's 30 years younger, you've got to realize, than Joe Biden, the vice president for the incumbent president of the United States. And what he brings is, of course, a tremendous knowledge of the budget and all the rest of it. But there is a down side here. Jack Kemp, who was his mentor of sorts, was a supply sider. If we just cut taxes, cut taxes, it'll cure anything; cut taxes. This guy [Ryan] is a fiscal hawk. He's into deep root-canal economics, and he's got a budget plan out there which, on Medicare, was going to make it optional. Initially I think they were going to do away with it. So the Democrats are going to be able to go through this Ryan budget, cherry-pick it, find all the things where people are going to be cut and hurt, and they'll be pumping that out all fall long. But overall, I think you've got to give Mitt Romney - he rolled the dice, and I think he did the right thing.
-Pat Buchanan |
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U.S. Congressman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin is Mitt Romney's choice to be his vice presidential running mate. Ryan is 42 years old. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1998, 14 years ago, when he was 28 years of age. He is now concluding seven consecutive terms in the House. Ryan is the chairman of the House Budget Committee, where he originated a monumental budget analysis of U.S. federal spending that caused such a national uproar two years ago. Ryan's family has deep Wisconsin roots, fifth generation. He's the youngest of four, with two brothers, one sister. His father was a lawyer who died when Chairman Ryan was 16 years old. Chairman Ryan graduated from Miami University in Ohio, 1992, 20 years ago, with a bachelor's degree in economics and political science. After college, Ryan worked for the late Jack Kemp, whom he called his mentor. Mr. Kemp championed tax cuts to bolster growth. Paul Ryan is a Roman Catholic. He is married to Janna Little and has three children. Their home is in Wisconsin, where Ryan is a sportsman.
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