The New York Times has an editorial today on Obama and Romney/Ryan's dueling and confusing positions on Medicare. It fact checks the major points and concludes:

In the Medicare arena, the choice is between a Democratic approach that wants to retain Medicare as a guaranteed set of benefits with the government paying its share of the costs even if costs rise, and a Republican approach that wants to limit the government’s spending to a defined level, relying on untested market forces to drive down insurance costs.

In 2005, Paul Ryan not only endorsed the Bush Administration's plan to privatize Social Security, he argued it did not go far enough.

In his 2010 "Roadmap," Ryan continued his advocacy for privatizing Social Security:

One of Rep. Paul Ryan’s many past proposals to remake the federal safety net included a sweeping plan to privatize Social Security[. . . .] The proposal was in Ryan’s 2010 “Roadmap For America’s Future,” a broad blueprint to remake the federal budget which elevated the little-known congressman into the Republican Party’s visionary. It involved shifting Social Security funds to private retirement accounts as well as reducing benefits and gradually raising the age of eligibility.

I assume we will find out how that proposal plays in Florida.

Via digby, Paul Ryan on "anchor babies":

Paul Ryan is big on civility when discussing immigration. He very civilly refers to "anchor babies" and endorses a racist schpiel. But he is very civil as he "agrees" with the racism.

Mitt Romney's choice of Paul Ryan provides many facets of analysis. Does this reflect the final step of extreme right wing domination of the GOP? Would Romney's decisions as President be subject to veto by the most radical element of the conservative movement? Would this just the first of many instance where, as Grover Norquist put is, Romney would just be an "autopen" for extreme right wing policies?

These are obviously important questions, but they all stem from an underlying assumption -- that the choice of Paul Ryan as the GOP's VP candidate harms Romney's chances of winning in November. I share this view. the main reason is Florida, a must win state for Romney. I can imagine victorious electoral maps for Romney where he loses Wisconsin or Iowa or Pennsylvania. I don;t see a winning Romney map where he loses Florida.

And the Ryan choice puts Romney's chances of winning Florida in extreme jeopardy. I'll explain why I think so on the flip.

Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan today said they want to overhaul Medicaid and food stamps.

Here are the statistics on hunger in America.

One of the most common misconceptions is the assumption that if someone is hungry, that means they do not have a job and are living on the streets. What most people don’t understand is that anyone can experience hunger. It is a silent epidemic that affects 49 million Americans.

According to the US Census Bureau, in 2010, 21 million people lived in working-poor families. This translates into nearly 9.6 percent of all American families living below 100 percent of poverty have at least one family member working . In fact, 36 percent of client households served by the Feeding America network have one or more adults working.

Robert Greenstein, President of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, called Ryan's plan "Robin Hood in reverse, on steroids."

A New York Times editorial today calls Paul Ryan a "man of cramped vision."

A candidate [Mitt Romney]of no details — I’ll cut the budget but no need to explain just how — has named a vice-presidential running mate, Paul Ryan, whose vision is filled with endless columns of minus signs. Voters will now be able to see with painful clarity just what the Republican Party has in store for them.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops adds:

Mr. Ryan’s budget “will hurt hungry children, poor families, vulnerable seniors and workers who cannot find employment,” the bishops wrote in an April letter to the House. “These cuts are unjustified and wrong.”

[More...]

How does it feel
To be Without a Home
Like a Complete Unknown
Like a Rolling Stone

To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone ?

Ryan/Romney FAIL!

Congratulations, President Obama. You just got the vote of the boomers and Seniors. [More...]

Is anyone waiting with breathless excitement? USA Today reports:

Mitt Romney will announce his vice presidential choice on Saturday, the campaign announced late Friday night. The announcement is scheduled to take place during an event at the U.S.S. Wisconsin, a retired U.S. battleship.

Now pull the other one:

Donald Trump has declined an offer to deliver a prime-time speech at the Republican National Convention, sources with knowledge of convention plans tell Newsmax. But Newsmax has learned that the billionaire businessman has been asked to give a big “surprise” at the convention in Tampa, Fla., which begins on Aug. 27.

Is the surprise that he is going to pull the squirrel off of his head? Of course this is all complete nonsense. The GOP offered Trump a speaking role if he agreed to not accept it. But I think it was worth pressing Romney on this point - did you offer Trump a spot at the GOP convention? Cuz, we'd like to hear that answer.

What's really funny about Morris' column is how he gets to Romney winning a landslide:

"Romney is currently leading in every state McCain carried plus: Indiana, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Nevada, North Carolina, and Colorado. If he carries these states, he’ll have 228 electoral votes of the 270 he needs to win.

To win the election, Romney would then have to carry Florida where he trails by two points, and either Virginia (behind by two) or Ohio where he’s down by only one. If he carries all three of these states and also wins all the others where Obama is now at 50% or less – Iowa, New Mexico, Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey — he will get 351 electoral votes, a landslide about equal to Obama’s 363 vote tally in 2008." [Emphasis supplied.]

Michigan? Minnesota?? Pennsylvania??? New Jersey???? Hell, why not California? Morris actually demonstrates what a daunting task Romney has in front of him. As of now, Romney is not even contesting Pennsylvania's 20 EVs. New Mexico is a long shot at best. There's 5 EVs. New Jersey? Puhleeeaze. 14 EVs. Minnesota? 10 EVs. Realistically, Romney has no shot at any of these states. Thus, his ceiling is about 302 EVs. Romney has to win Florida, Virginia and Ohio to even be on the field. And that's granting Morris' funny numbers (which you really should not.) Romney a landslide? Impossible. He can still win narrowly. But it will be tough.

Dick Cheney has some advice for Mitt Romney: Don't pick a Sarah Palin. Cheney says he likes Palin but McCain shouldn't have picked her for his running mate because she wasn't qualified. He says the test has to be whether the person is qualified to assume the Presidency and she was not.

The interview will air tomorrow and highlights, including the part about Palin, are already available. I couldn't stand to watch for than 10 seconds of Dick Cheney, so I didn't see the actual remarks.