Oh I Finally Get It – Romney is the Straight Man and Ryan is the Comedian

First thing this morning on the web news page I saw an image, got a mixed message, with an image of young healthy handsome Paul Ryan next to a headline of

Romney slams Obama over Medicare, pledges more help for 'poor' and 'sick'

http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/18/13347755-romney-slams-obama-over-medicare-pledges-more-help-for-poor-and-sick?lite

The combination of the image of Mount Rushmore chiseled Paul and Mitt’s “Pledges more help for the ‘poor’ and ‘sick’" put me in mind of straight man/comic comedy teams.  And in all deference to the great Jerry Lewis, I thought of Martin and Lewis above.  Especially since they have decided that “comedian” Paul Ryan cannot be trusted with the straight “medicare” lines in punch line delivery at this early stage of the comedy hour campaign.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=159072889

The nation's most controversial budget architect, Ryan is often described as the intellectual leader of the House Republican caucus. But Romney's Boston headquarters — so far, at least — seems to prefer that the 42-year-old father of three talks about camping and milking cows instead of the transformational budget proposals that made him a conservative hero. 

Ryan, who wrote a plan to overhaul Medicare as chairman of the House Budget Committee, did not use the word "Medicare" with voters over the first four days on the campaign trail. When he finally touched on the health care insurance program for seniors, he did so only in broad strokes after Romney himself first outlined the campaign's talking points. 

"We will not duck the tough issues," Ryan declared in Virginia on Friday. "We will lead."

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