Don Hazen: Paul Ryan for Veep is Smarter Than You Think!

When Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney tapped Paul Ryan, the 42 year old Wisconsin congressman to be his running mate, progressives went on a happy-thon. That Romney chose the House Budget Committee chairman known as the architect of draconian budgets that would make huge cuts in every aspect of the safety net, not to mention his quest to turn Medicare into a voucher program just seemed like a major blunder. My colleague, Joshua Holland, called it Romney's biggest mistake. Many were gleeful and shocked that Romney would seemingly play right into the Obama message on how the Romney agenda harms the middle class, but I wasn't so happy. The Romney decision signals several things about the future, and non of them good. Rather scary and ugly, as a matter of fact. My gut told me that, for the Republican vice presidential candidate, I would much rather have a non-entity like Portman or Pawlenty as the Republican than a right-wing rock star. Any day. Progressives are right when they say Ryan represents everything that shows how out of touch the Republicans are with the needs of the country, but they are not looking toward at Romney's Ryan decision for what it is, a hugely dangerous step toward getting the Koch brothers' hand picked star right to the verge of the presidency, which, if it should come to pass, could dramatically transform the nature of American politics for our lifetimes. Whether Romney wins or loses, the Ryan pick poses a threat to the well being of the nation. If Romney wins, then Ryan occupies the number two spot with a money base and huge constituency of his own, far more than any vice president has ever enjoyed.