hanuueshe:

So, I’m sitting here with my iPod turned all the way up so I don’t have to listen to Paul Ryan talking on CNN, and I started thinking: isn’t the VP pick supposed to be someone who balances out the presidential candidate in some way?

I mean, when Obama picked Biden, it was in answer to criticism that he had virtually no experience in Washington, as well as fears that he would be some kind of radical socialist black power Muslim (ha, ha). When McCain picked Palin, it was in response to accusations that he was too entrenched in Washington to be able to effect change, and in the hopes of capturing votes from women who had been hoping to cast their votes for Clinton come November.

So I’m sitting here thinking: Romney and Ryan are both white dudes, and the only demographic box they don’t share is religion, as a Mormon and a Catholic respectively. They have pretty much the same views on everything, from the economic issues that are going to dominate this election to social issues (including the increasingly unpopular position that marriage is an exclusively heterosexual concept). What’s the deal here? Are Romney and company just afraid that no one believed them when they said their policy would be to screw over the non-rich?

That’s when it hit: yes, of course they are. Romney doesn’t have the long record of advocating on behalf of rich people who want to become richer that Ryan does. (Romney doesn’t seem to have much of a record he wants to acknowledge, period.) That’s what Romney is trying to compensate for with this pick: a perceived lack of conviction towards increasing inequality in the nation.