Miscellaneous facts about Paul Ryan
He’s exceptionally young: 42.
He didn’t go to an Ivy League school.
He’s not a lawyer.
(Those last two are a refreshing change.)
But he’s married to one—that is, to a former lawyer who’s now a stay-at-home mother. And like another politician’s lawyer wife, she went to Wellesley as an undergrad.
And lastly (and most frivolously) I cannot help but notice the fact that these are two extraordinarily attractive men. I remember when the Clinton-Gore ticket was announced there was a lot of talk about beefcake. Well, Romney-Ryan is light years ahead in that department:
Although now that I take a little stroll down memory lane, and try to be objective and wipe later developments from the Clinto/Gore duo out of my mind, they weren’t half bad-looking back in 1992 (I expect to get a lot of disagreement from you all on this score, but I will hold my ground):
And here’s a whole lot more trivia about Ryan, including the fact that he likes to catch catfish with his bare hands. Let’s see if the Obama team can spin that as elitist.
I think the fact that Ryan’s wife attended Wellesley is interesting. I would definitely consider it an Ivy League college and many graduates are staunch liberals. Hillery Clinton and Madeleine Albright both graduated from there and have said that their attendance there had a big impact on their careers. I think I’ve read that before she entered Wellesley, Hillery Clinton was conservative.
Ryan’s wife must have had a strong and independent mind to have resisted that.
It is interesting that their looks catch your attention. I would not be surprised if that is a plus for many women voters. Who wants to look at Biden for another 4 years when they can ‘ogle’ Ryan?
Ryan’s noodling experience should come in handy. In Obama/Biden he’s going after a real pair of bottom-feeders.
Hillary: attended Wellesley, was a lawyer, was, in 1992, AMAZING WOMAN WHOM PRESS COULD NOT STOP PRAISING AND FAWNING OVER.
Mrs. Paul Ryan: attended Wellesley, was a lawyer, is undoubtedly a bigoted, small minded, mean-spirited extremist. Its a done deal. She is.
older/wheezier:
Heh.
Neo, I am with you on Clinton/Gore back in the day. And Romney/Ryan are definitely a telegenic pair too.
I love the fact that Ryan has “only” a bachelor’s degree from a small midwestern liberal arts college (albeit a well-respected one). The guy is clearly brilliant and a tremendously talented politician. He can disagree without being disagreeable, as the saying goes.
Contrast that with our Harvard law review, “smartest president ever,” etc ad nauseum and his similarly credentialed wife.
Credentials don’t necessarily make the man, or women.
FWIW, Ryan and his wife Janna clearly take their Catholicism seriously and it shows.
I don’t know about photogenic, as Ryan strikes me more as geeky-charming. But the last stone cold fox (guess what era I’m from?) was John Edwards, and look at what he really was. Blech!
It’s nice that Ryan’s education won’t be an issue the way that Palin’s was. Any talkinghead who treats Miami University like a cow college will have his head handed to him.
MissJean: I guess it’s all a matter of personal preference, because I really like Ryan’s looks and always thought Edwards was unattractive.
Neo, I think it says a lot about the state of things that where you see “two extraordinarily attractive men,” others will see, or at least say they see, “two middle-aged white guys”–white bread, un-diverse, un-hip, out of touch, presumptively racist, sexist, etc etc. I have little doubt that such comments are already being made by pundits.
Good line, OlderandWheezier.
And for my part, I had to give up hope of getting much enjoyment from looking at the candidates when Michelle Bachmann’s campaign began to wane.
Ryan as photogenic? Just icing on the cake.
Mac – FWIW, I kinda have a girl crush on both Saran and Michelle, and I’m strictly hetero.
With regard to Edwards: a hairdo covering a vacuum between the ears. No insult intended to those women who found playboy Edwards attractive.
Ryan is a bit geeky, comes across as serious, smart, tough minded, and cheerful; and he seems ready to roll up his sleeves and get to work. Nice combination for one heart beat way.
Hey MissJean, “Any talkinghead who treats Miami University like a cow college will have his head handed to him”. Right on! The Oxford of the Midwest!
Some good fun here:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/summeranne/the-internet-digs-its-claws-into-paul-ryan?sub=1718962_507564
Mac: ah, but I’m a middle-aged white gal myself.
Ryan is a young whippersnapper to me.
Eye of the beholder, for sure. One of my Facebook pallys wrote than Ryan looks like Glenn Quagmire.
None of these four are hot enough to activate my gay gene. I would hope to age as well as Romney, though. I wonder what he looks like without makeup.
Ryan’s a graduate of Miami of Ohio, which was the academic flagship public college here when he graduated. Go Redhawks! Gottal love a school whose mascot is a firearms company http://www.redhawkrifles.com/
Oh yeah, neo, he’s a whippersnapper to me, too (middle-aged at best, on the brink of old). I just mean that’s the sort of thing that will be said, even by middle-aged white liberals. One of the more disgusting things in one of Harry Reid’s recent raves was the picture he painted of rich old white men drooling over…I don’t remember what, usual evil old rich man stuff…what’s the name of that guy on The Simpsons? Has Reid not noticed that he’s an old white man? Or is the phrase only to be applied to old white men who aren’t Democrats?
foxmarks: I’ve gotten within a foot of him twice (shaking his hand at two different rallies). I’m pretty much of an expert on makeup, and Romney didn’t have any on, as far as I can tell.
I’m beginning to suspect that Neo likes “rugged/manly” as opposed to “pretty boy/handsome”. 🙂
I would have expected no less. 🙂
texexec: kinda.
See this and this.
“I wonder what he looks like without makeup.”
Pointless, gratuitous cheap shot Then he wonders why no one listens to him.
Wretchard did a post on this yesterday: The Tyranny of Beauty. HE didn’t think of the candidates’ sexiness, but his WIFE pointed it out:
“One little-remarked aspect of the Paul Ryan vice presidential choice (which was pointed out to me by my wife) was that in Romney and Ryan the GOP had two handsome candidates of about 6’2″ in height. Why should it matter? It shouldn’t, but the Bible tells us that it always has. One of Saul’s qualifications for leadership was that he was rock-star handsome and tall. . . .
“By all accounts King David wasn’t bad-looking himself. One wonders how different the history of Israel – and the world – would have been if King David had looked like Danny DeVito instead of Richard Gere.
“I had never thought of it until my wife drily mentioned the circumstance to me, but come to think of it, how many women watch the NBA in part to see Pau Gasol or Kobe Bryant? Would as many have paid to watch Marty Feldman, even if he were a good basketball player? Maybe, maybe not.”
I voted for McCain even though I thought he was distinctly unattractive. Still, I can enjoy looking at, as well as listening to, our current ticket. 😉 [And Ryan has beautiful eyes.]
He didn’t go to an Ivy League school.
He’s not a lawyer.
Just for that I like him!!
Listening to Ryan speak, I’ve noticed in the past few days that he sounds in voice and accent almost exactly like one of my favorite teachers from college, who was a farm boy from Illinois, and who went on to great things in his chosen field.
It just predisposes me that much more in his favor. It’s really going to be hard for TPTB to make this guy into the enemy.
Neo: I saw a photo of Edwards before I knew his politics. 🙂
Surellin, you must be a Redhawk. I, however, am a Wolverine. I was accepted at Miami, but in-state tuition made the difference.
>>>> “I expect to get a lot of disagreement from you all on this score”
An easy test for pure partisans.
I’m a guy, so I have limited “guy looks” judgement, I know, but I’d grant they were not shabby. “Young Guns” is an appropriate term to apply, and anyone can’t figure that out is pretty much an unadulterated partisan.
I’ll ack that, in the looks dept., they certainly have a lot going for them.
Thankfully, that’s not all they have going for them.
>>> It just predisposes me that much more in his favor. It’s really going to be hard for TPTB to make this guy into the enemy.
Nawww… look what they did to Palin.
Ryan is a white boy, they’ll have even fewer compunctions than any they had regarding Palin.
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