Updates from the AFP Defending the American Dream summit

Just before lunch, Orville Seymer of the CRG Network announced an effort to recall Governor Jim Doyle.

At lunch, many of the attendees took a look out the window at the protestors, all 20 of them. Pretty pathetic. They can get 20 protestors to protest a veal sandwich. With this much notice, they should have had tons of people out there. Fred Dooley has a great picture.

Congressman Paul Ryan is now finishing speaking to a very attentive audience. Very popular with the attendees here. He told the crowd just how fast the agenda is moving in Washington. "We owe it to the American people to say, 'enough.'"

Update! Vicki McKenna just finished speaking. She endorsed the recall of Governor Jim Doyle.

The Ryan Express?

Congressman Paul Ryan is a good looking guy. Or so I am told, as I really hadn't noticed. He's smart, energetic, and moving up. He has big ideas. He could be the Republican nominee for Vice President. If not this election, four years from now.

Congressman Ryan also just proposed a comprehensive plan, The Roadmap for America's Future, that may end up being his party's agenda in the coming years. Or it may be the roadblock to Paul Ryan's future.

The room at Janesville City Hall was packed. Aides scrambled to bring in more chairs. Ryan stood in the center with the screen behind him. He could have been a vice president of finance of a local corporation explaining the profit and loss sheet with his Powerpoint presentation and his laser pointer.

Ryan admitted his plan is not something we can expect to happen right away. After all, he told the packed house, "Here’s the problem with Congress. We’re told, ‘Don’t try something that’s risky; there’s an election next year.’" Of course, Ryan adds, there’s always an election next year. He gets applause for the line, but the questions about the plan are skeptical.

I think the reception was generally positive, even from the members of the audience who were not members of Americans for Prosperity. But the audience wasn't exactly ready to march out onto the battlefield with a cry of "For St Paul and Entitlement Reform!"

The alternative, Ryan warned, is to watch government spending consume more and more of our gross domestic product, crushing the standard of living and reducing America’s competitiveness in the world.

It’s a bold plan, all the more daring when you consider that the most applause Congressman Ryan received all evening was when he switched topics to oil production. There were very few in the room who objected when Ryan suggested drilling for more oil in Alaska, in the Rocky Mountains and off the coast of Florida. When he said, "Build more oil refineries" you would have thought he was telling Janesville he was secretly Oprah and giving them all a free car.

But Ryan warned the audience that while most of them were supportive of more domestic oil production, "You should see all the letters I get against it."

At that moment I flashed back to the end of "Von Ryan’s Express." Sinatra is laying dead on the tracks, riddled with holes by the Germans as the soldiers who reluctantly followed him escape to freedom.

Congressman Ryan’s future is often talked about in terms of a possible Senate candidate or even vice president. We’ll see if he can avoid the tragic movie ending while leading us to entitlement reform.

On the other hand, how often can I work a Frank Sinatra reference into a column for the Waukesha Freeman?

For proof that I was there, Tee Bee at the Badger Blog Alliance caught a picture of my good side. Can you see the halo?

Good cop, bad cop

Troy Fullerton describes the speeches of Congressmen Paul Ryan and Jim Sensenbrenner as "Good Cop, Bad Cop" and has the transcript of the bad cop's speech. Sensenbrenner's speech is worth reading for the part attacking the state budget fix compromise.

The State budget repair bill which passed this week strips away the money to implement REAL ID in Wisconsin. Worse, last year’s budget hiked the drivers’ license fee by $10 to pay for REAL ID implementation. The budget repair bill steals that money to use for other spending, an idea that goes against the foundation of our core values.

All Republicans in the State Senate voted against this bill. Unfortunately, Speaker Heubsch decided to push it through the Assembly. And he did so in a manner which does not fix the problems of overtaxing, and replaces transportation fees with more state borrowing–exactly the same move which helped destroy the Republican brand. Everyone can see this is a political shell game that simply postpones the hard decisions.

Sometimes, leadership consists of saying “NO” to bad policies, rather than going along to get along.

Pick Paul Ryan against the field

The Racine Post surveys they field of candidates looking to take on Congressman Paul Ryan. For what was once a competitive district, the Democrats have a pretty thin selection of candidates.

(ht: Real Debate)

Paul Ryan an unlikely VP

Brian Moon of the Wisconsin Radio Network reports Congressman Paul Ryan doesn't see himself as a likely running mate for Senator John McCain:

"It's flattering, but I don't put a whole lot of stock into it," said the Janesville Republican. Strategists believe McCain needs to draw support from potential Midwest voters and supporters of fiscal conservatism, a philosophy that Ryan is known for. As a younger statesman, Ryan says, some view McCain's age, 71, as a factor in the match up.

Ryan says with everything going on between now and the November election, including the budget, he admits, "I really haven't given it a whole lot of thought."

I'm betting McCain chooses a governor instead, probably Crist of Florida.