This could prove to be some real entertainment:

As Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan comes to a final decision about running for president, several top national conservatives are encouraging him to join the race. Ryan, who has been seriously but quietly considering a presidential bid for several months, is expected to decide on a run in the next two weeks

Indiana governor Mitch Daniels hopes he runs. “If there were a Paul Ryan fan club, I’d be a national officer,” Daniels said in a phone interview Wednesday morning.

One issue with Ryan is his age:

Daniels also dismisses concerns about Ryan’s age. “It didn’t stop the last guy,” he says, laughing. “This president would have a hard time arguing that Paul wouldn’t be a serious candidate.” When asked if that might be an object lesson, Daniels says no. “It’s a natural question but I think people would be reassured both by hearing him talk and by the people he’d put around him.”

Ryan is 9 years younger that Obama, which would make him 5 years younger at the time of a Presidential run. But I don’t really view age as a big deal. The only ones who really seemed concerned about that was the Republicans in 2008, when they were talking about Obama. It does make for an interesting argument though – is a white man mature enough to run for office, when a black man, 5 years older, wasn’t? 

But let’s consider the real issues here, not the typical faux issues manufactured by politicians and pundits. 

It was only 4 months ago that we saw a large number of Republicans distance themselves from Paul Ryan. The reason was the Ryan budget. Even though the Republicans in the House voted for it overwhelmingly, once they heard concerns being raised by the public, especially the older Tea Party types, the quickly turned on Ryan. The key issue here was Medicare. Paul Ryan’s plan privatizes Medicare and would create fundamental changes in the way it works, as well as disruption and discontinuation of services for many seniors. Yes this was and still is a problem for the “keep the government out of my Medicare” seniors. 

Then we have the issue of taxes. Ryan proudly tauted tax reductions in his plan, but when the experts looked closer, the only ones seeing the tax cuts would be the top 2%. For the rest of the nation, those of us already struggling, we would see our taxes go up and in some cases, quiet a bit. Ryan was slick in how he did this though. It isn’t a out right tax increase, but rather a removal of write-offs and loopholes that mainly benefit the middle  and lower class. 

The fact that there is such a push on for Ryan to get in the race shows how little excitement there is about the current GOP field. Republicans really want someone strong to put up, but they can’t find anyone, so now they are pushing a man who was getting shunned by the party a few short months ago. The GOP is in disarray going into the next election and that is going to be their biggest hurdle.