Authentic Zealotry

Is it just me or does Paul Ryan sound like he's recruiting people to a cult right now?

I'm sorry but I really don;t understand how someone can preach about how man will be judged on how it treats the least fortunate among us, then promote the most aggressive social program cuts of anyone on a major presidential ticket in the past half century.

I respect Paul Ryan in many ways. I really do. But he is without doubt an extremist, not a candidate for which a broad base of voters across the country can rally around. His religious zealotry seemed an odd mix with his cold, passionless political agenda. I honestly have never seen Ryan in more bizarre form than in those last several minutes on stage in Tampa.

It just verified to me that this isn't a ticket as interested in winning the White House as it is spouting a strident conservative agenda. I'm not saying there isn't some value to that, but it seems strange watching the GOP say with such sincerity that they can win this race and then opt against a political strategy with any hope of winning.

Worse, the Ryan speech started to border toward its end on genuine personal offensiveness. Suggesting he was willing to bridge that huge bridge between Ryan's Catholicism and Romney's Mormonism made me wonder how religious people of virtually any other faith would feel. Sanctimoniousness and self-righteousness are attributes certain to turn off more voters than it draws in. Ryan is obviously a selection intended to rally the base, and a better choice than a Sarah Palin or Dan Quayle for sure, but sending this baby-faced ideologue on stage to deliver such a divisive message was misguided and insane.

Ryan's speech makes me feel better about the vice presidential debate than I have since the moment he was first announced. This guy just isn't ready for prime time.

I am starting to wonder if the Romney-Ryan ticket will be the first in decades to leave its own convention with underwater poll ratings. My wife kicks kicking me and telling me I am getting ahead of myself. Probably so. But no doubt any bump from this convention will be weak and be ground that President Obama can erase in a short period of time.