From the "Morning Jolt"..

 

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Morning Jolt

. . . with Jim Geraghty

August 30, 2012

Honey, I Want to Rename Our Sons 'Paul' and 'Ryan'

Your mileage may vary; some of my colleagues thought Ryan was just pretty good, and one was pretty disappointed. As mentioned on Campaign Spot, I thought we saw not one but two off-the-charts speeches last night -- the first by Condi Rice (more on her speech below) and the second, and more important, by Paul Ryan.

One good line after another:

"The president is just throwing away money . . . and he's pretty experienced at that."

"Without a change in leadership, why would the next four years be any different from the last four years?"

"These past four years we have suffered no shortage of words in the White House. What's missing is leadership in the White House"

"The man assumed office nearly four years ago. Isn't it about time he assumed responsibility?"

"President Obama is the kind of president who puts a promise on the record . . . and then calls that the record."

I look at Ryan and am kind of bewildered at how anybody could generate genuine hatred of the guy. Maybe you don't like his idea here and there, maybe you wonder if he's old enough or experienced enough to be a heartbeat away from becoming commander in chief. Maybe he comes across as too perfect or something. But I don't understand how you can NOT admire his willingness to tackle the tough issues that so many lawmakers prefer to pretend don't exist.

I also don't understand how you can look at some sort of batty creature of the Senate cloakroom like Joe Biden, who seems to be unable to go a day without making some rhetorical pratfall that embarrasses himself, the president, the administration and the country, and say, "Boy, I feel better with that guy."

Most of the reviews were pretty darn positive:

Howard Fineman: "'Like a ship trying to sail on yesterday's wind.' This is the real risk to the president. He's connecting big time with these people here."

Toby Harnden: "Great performance by Ryan so far: humour, passion, feeling, confidence, principles, tough indictment of Obama."

Julian D: "Biden will go into witness protection before the VP debate."

Ace: "This isn't even fair. I'm serious, this weekend, "Replace Biden" reaches fever pitch. They have to do *something.* . . . Most effective restatement of "You did build that," ever. The details of opening the doors at 5 in the morning. Not even fair."

David Freddoso: "Only Paul Ryan can get an applause line out of a percentage of GDP."

Jim Pethokoukis: "Maybe the greatest performance by a bowman since English at the Battle of Agincourt."