But Mr. Ryan has shown he’s not shy about firing back at the president, bringing both budget numbers and sharp rhetoric to the fight.
“Rather than building bridges, he’s poisoning wells,” the usually mild-mannered Mr. Ryan said.
“Exploiting people’s emotions of fear, envy and anxiety is not hope; it’s not change. It’s partisanship. We don’t need partisanship. We don’t need demagoguery. We need solutions. And we don’t need to keep punting to other people to make tough decisions.”
Mr. Ryan’s first go-around with Mr. Obama came even before he became Budget Committee chairman. He was one of the Republicans invited to the White House for the 2010 summit on health care, and in six minutes sliced apart the math behind Democrats’ plans, arguing they didn’t meet the president’s own goals of cost-cutting.
Republicans feel the Ryan pick gives them an edge.
“Obama thinks he is smart and in command of the facts. Ryan actually is,” said Mike McKenna, a GOP strategist.
In tapping Mr. Ryan, Mr. Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has turned the election from a referendum on Mr. Obama’s economic record into a choice between two dramatically divergent views of the government’s spending and taxes.
It also instantly elevates this year’s election beyond the name-calling and accusations of recent weeks, and gives both sides something substantive to debate.....
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
