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08-11-2012, 07:52 AM
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"When Mitt Romney taps Rep. Paul Ryan to be his running mate on Saturday, he is picking someone who has already tangled toe-to-toe with President Obama on several occasions, and is prepared for the bruising battle ahead.
Indeed, Mr. Obama has built up plenty of bad blood with Mr. Ryan, calling him the architect of “social Darwinism” earlier this year, stemming from the Wisconsin Republican’s budget plan.
And last year Mr. Obama invited Mr. Ryan to sit in the front row of a budget speech as the president pointedly called his budget blueprint not “serious” — then a day later pointedly blasted Mr. Ryan to campaign donors in Chicago, saying he’s “the same guy that voted for two wars that were unpaid for, voted for the Bush tax cuts that were unpaid for, voted for the prescription drug bill that cost as much as my health care bill — but wasn’t paid for. So it’s not on the level. And we’ve got to keep on, you know, keep on shining a light on that.”
After one of those broadsides, Mr. Ryan fired back, saying he had hoped for more out of the president.
“Rather than building bridges, he’s poisoning wells,” the usually mild-mannered Mr. Ryan said. “Exploiting people’s emotions of fear, envy and anxiety is not hope; it’s not change. It’s partisanship. We don’t need partisanship. We don’t need demagoguery. We need solutions. And we don’t need to keep punting to other people to make tough decisions.”
Obama and Ryan have tangled repeatedly - Washington Times
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