Is Paul Ryan thinking of jumping into the GOP primary fray? He was a big supporter of Mitch Daniels [my preferred choice for the republican nominee] and his thinking on entering the race apparently changed dramatically when Daniels dropped out, or so this article would have you believe. There are three options walking the sidelines right now one of whom I think absolutely needs to get into the race - Jeb Bush, Chris Christie and Ryan. Bush I think is definitely out; Christie sounds like he's out but I still believe he'd really like to be pulled in - but I don't see him jumping in unless the calls for it get very persistent and loud, that kind of demand is what he's looking/waiting for the way I see it; Ryan is pretty young, has a young family vulnerable to the viciousness of a presidential campaign that he's probably concerned about protecting and as far as I can tell he lacks foreign policy credentials and executive experience - significant points of worry - but every time I hear him speak on the economy, the role of government and the fateful choice facing America come November 2012 I come away thinking 'that guy needs to be our next president'. I'm also possibly open to supporting a coup by Petraeus.
[I was willing to give Perry a look see, but he said something pretty moronic yesterday about Bernanke that comes too close to confirming ones worst fears about nominating another good ol' boy from Texas - that being said, his record as governor of the by far best job creating state in the republic cannot be ignored - and he served in the military, albeit piloting C-130s - hardly glamorous I guess, but still...]
[Jennifer Rubin weighs in on the Ryan question - she's a long time Ryan fan and I seem to remember I started reading her blog after she wrote something nice about him a year or so ago, soon after he caught my attention with an interview I think on CNBC - somehow Ryan almost starts to seem like the only choice for people like me]
[the rationale rises in defense of Perry contending his provocative anti-Fed rant was an appeal to the Tea Party etc - I have trouble seeing that - being embraced by the Tea Party is not really a problem Perry is gonna have - being seen as electable should he get the nomination is - Romney may have a problem with the Tea Party, but not Perry - still, Perry ain't backing off what he said and Obama has dropped his two cents into the debate, so I guess one could argue that now it appears Obama is arguing directly with Perry and Perry is firing back with bravado and that this sets Perry above the standing of his opponents and that's a good thing - possible, I can see that - still, demonstrating his electability to independents is Perry's problem, that's the whole point of his entry into the race ie he's not Bachman in the sense the Tea Party may love her but independents probably won't and so she's not in the end a viable candidate - the whole point of Perry is that he doesn't supposedly have that problem - so I continue to think he misspoke, it was a misstep, but Obama's involving himself changed the dynamic and Perry's camp saw an opportunity to make it look like a clever strategic ploy]
