Written by: Beck
Rep. Paul Ryan from Wisconsin up now--not to be mistaken for Jack Ryan. If you don't know who Jack Ryan is, you don't read much political news.
He's talking about the economy. "Strong and getting stronger... 1.5 million new jobs in the past year... Thanks to the Bush tax relief, every American who pays federal income taxes keeps more of what he or she earns." Followed by some touching story about some specific family. I don't know if Clinton invented this tactic, but he was the first I can recall using it. Mentioning specific every-day Americans by name, listing various details of their lives, and detailing how government policies have impacted them. It seems to be a pretty effective tactic, but I get really sick of it.
Now Ryan's listing various tax cuts Kerry voted against and tax increases he voted for. It's stuff we've all heard before, but I suppose it doesn't hurt repeating it. Good line: regarding Kerry's support of raising taxes, "This is one place that Kerry never flip-flops." "Kerry believes the government can spend our money better than we can." That's one of my primary problems with Democrats.
[paraphrasing] "That's why they talk about two-Americas, but class warfare is not economic policy. That's why the politics of division will never benefit America." Much like Bush dropped the "We've turned the corner," line about the economy's growth after being ridiculed mercilessly by the two Johns, I suspect Edwards is going to have to ditch his "Two Americas" routine after this campaign.