Today, when asked about his abortion views, Paul Ryan responded,
I'm proud of my record. Mitt Romney's going to be the President, and the Presdent sets policy. Uh, his policy is exceptions for rape, incest the life of the mother. Uh, I'm comfortable with it because it's a good step in the right direction. This echoes the response we've heard from Romney himself, and a large subset of campaign spokespeople, whenever they are confronted with the extremity of Ryan's positions on everything from taxes to a personhood amendment.This line of argument is intended to soothe the voting public, to reassure them that it doesn't matter how scary Paul Ryan's legislative record and policy stances are, because Paul Ryan will be a mere marionette in the hands of Puppetmaster Willard. The Romney Plan, the Romney Position, the Romney Policy and the Romney Doctrine are what we're going to get if we elect the Romney Team.
As my students say, "Yeah right."
First of all, does anybody really believe that wimp Romney is going to stand up to Paul Ryan and his adoring RW fan club once the election is over? Two words: Dick Cheney.
But let's assume that, despite all appearances to the contrary, Mitt Romney does in fact have a spine and some core policy positions of his own that he will stand up for. (Yeah, I know that's a ridiculous proposition, but work with me.) That still leaves a second and even scarier (if such a thing is possible) point to deal with: 8 of of our 44 Presidents have died in office. That's almost one in five. Granted, it's not a huge sample size, but when someone becomes Vice President of the United States, there is a not-insignificant chance that they will become the President of the United States via the succession laws.
And whatever you believe about Romney's inclination and ability to stand up to the far right, you know that if Paul Ryan ever ended up in the top spot, we would immediately see one of two things:
1. If both chambers of Congress were under R control, we would see a tsunami of right wing legislation that would make Wisconsin's recent history look like the New Deal, or
2. If at least one chamber of Congress was in Dem hands, we would see a phalanx of Republican lawyers, lobbyists and consultants dispatched to all corners of the federal government to identify every Executive Order, every recess appointment, and every unofficial operational protocol that could be implemented without Congressional approval to advance the RW agenda, before the next Presidential election.
I want every voter in this country to go into the voting booth in November thinking about the prospect of the man who created the Ryan Budget being a heartbeat away from control of the Executive branch and the power to appoint Supreme Court Justices. I still have just enough hope left to believe that a decisive majority of this country would find that prospect troubling. If my hopeful assumption is wrong, then we are in such deep doo-doo that nothing matters anyway.