Boehner Loves Romney's Choice

Boehner Loves Romney’s Choice

P. Schultz

August 12, 2012

            It will surprise no one who reads this blog with some regularity that I find the following persuasive. 

“First, Romney’s choice: The past few weeks have made clear that the race is slipping away from him, as President Obama’s lead has widened in state and national polls and the economic outlook has brightened slightly. The right has sensed this — see talk show host Laura Ingraham, among others — and conservatives are convinced that Romney is losing because he’s not assertive or conservative enough. So I agree with the New Republic’s Noam Scheiber when he writes this:

“’Ryan is the way Romney and his aides escape blame for their now-likely defeat — blame which would have vicious and unrelenting — and pin it in on conservatives instead. With only minor historical revisions, they will be able to tell a story about how Romney was keeping the race close through early August, at which point the party’s conservative darling joined the ticket and sent the poll numbers into steady decline.’”

            Now, I would not say that Romney is being deliberately coy with his pick of Paul Ryan as his VP but it is worth asking what will be said about this pick should Romney lose the election, as it looks like he might. I would say that Romney had little choice but to select Paul Ryan. He was losing, even or especially among conservatives as was evident in Ann Coulter’s scream against Romney and his spokeswoman a few days ago. Still, John Boehner loves this pick because I either way he wins. If Romney wins, Ryan is out of the House. If he loses, then it can be said, as Mr. Scheiber notes here, that Ryan and the Tea Partiers are to blame. In either case, Ryan is either no or less of a threat to Boehner than he is now.