James Pethokoukis: Here's Why Ryan May Run

Best reason? Because the entire Republican Party is going to have the Ryan Plan hung around their necks, and none of them can explain it extremely well.

Ryan can. Ryan may be the only one who can. So shouldn't he take point?

You hear that a lot.

Several House Republicans, however, tell NRO on background that some members feel like they were “thrown to the wolves” without sufficient preparation for the questions they’ve been facing back in their districts. The budget was adopted on a Friday afternoon before a two-week recess, they point out, and members were handed a sheet of talking points to take with them before they went home. “There’s only one Paul Ryan,” one says. “And it’s not that the budget isn’t a great plan, but there’s just so much in there that a lot of us haven’t been able to digest to the point where we can defend it as eloquently as he does.”

This completely makes sense. If Ryan is really the only one who can sell the Ryan Plan -- honestly, Mr. Ryan, you need to run. Our candidate can't beta-male himself by deferring questions to you. And Democrats are going to have a lot of questions and a lot of Mediscare stuff.

Ryan says he wants to be the Paul Revere of Financial Problems.

Well, Mr. Ryan, we may need a combo Paul Revere and George Washington.

If every Republican can become even half as capable as Paul Ryan at defending the GOP budget, it’s difficult to see how Democrats, in the absence of a coherent plan of their own, stand a chance in this debate. In this interview with CBS News, Ryan easily and artfully shoots down just about every Liberal talking point on his budget plan...

Yes, he's good.

One bit of good news from the polls: Seniors are actually... the most receptive to Ryan's plan out of all cohorts? And the most strongly opposed is... the young?

Well, in that NRO article linked above (the one about off-the-record Republicans grumbling that they feel throw to the wolves), some Representatives say that the moment seniors find out the plan won't touch those 56 and older, but only 55 and younger, there is considerable relief.

Integrative Complexity

Whatever the F it is, Paul Ryan's got more of it in his Bic than Obama has in his 2-wood.

posted by Ace at 09:37 PM

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