Mitt: Does Paul Ryan make you as uncomfortable as he does me? Scottie: Boy, howdy.
There's one Republican senator in particular who would just as soon completely pretend that there wasn't also a presidential race happening this year. Scott Brown really needs Massachusetts to forget that he's a Republican, and that his standard-bearer, Mitt Romney, just picked the most ideologically extreme choice he could to help him lead the ticket. So when asked about Paul Ryan, what could Brown do but
run away from them? Literally.
Brown praised Ryan as a thoughtful and serious leader on budgetary issues, but the Massachusetts Republican was quick to point out that he voted twice to block consideration of Ryan’s budget in the Senate. [...]
Brown appeared to grow frustrated with repeated questions about Ryan’s proposals, some of which have the potential to spook seniors and swing voters, important blocs that Brown is courting.
“Listen, you’ll have to speak to Ryan about his ideas,” Brown said, walking away as a reporter asked him about Ryan’s plan to raise the Medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67 by 2034. “I have my own ideas, and we’ve been voting on them.”
He actually sounds a lot like Romney there, well, the Mitt who says he's his own man with his own plan, not the Mitt who says he's totally on board with the Ryan plan. It is
hard to keep up.
It's Brown's same old game, to pretend like he's not another rubber-stamp Republican. When the vote doesn't matter—like with the Ryan budget that was never going to pass the Senate—he votes the way he thinks might help him get reelected. But when it really matters, like on jobs bills, he toes the party line. Just like Mitt, caving to the far right with his Ryan pick.
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