The Paul Ryan Selection May Have Been Worse Than McCain's Selection Of Sarah Palin

After I read Paul Ryan's Roadmap for balancing the US budget, over a year ago, I had two thoughts.  I was surprised that he would release a plan that was specific about balancing the budget. I also believed that the GOP would not be foolish enough to promote the Ryan plan.  It provided too good of a target for the Democrats to attack.  I was wrong.  Mitt Romney selected Paul Ryan as his running mate because he and his "brain trust" believed that they could sell the Ryan plan to a public that had been sold on the need for austerity.  I was wrong because they had misread the public.  They misread their success in the 2010 elections, which was inspired by Tea Party fever, as an accurate depiction of public sentiment.  The polls described in this article indicate that the public is not ready for Paul Ryan's transformation of Medicare and Social Security.  Perhaps if the GOP loses the election to an incumbent President, when unemployment exceeds 8%, they will get the message.  On the other hand, when fanatics are unsuccessful they tend to double down.  That defines fanaticism, and it may describe the ideologues in the GOP.  They may still believe that they can sell a bad product by spending millions on propaganda.