Ruth Marcus [“Reactions to Ryan,” op-ed, Aug. 12] professed shock at Mitt Romney’s choice of Paul Ryan as his running mate. The “outside of Washington candidate,” she declared, has unaccountably tied himself to a “career politician” who has served seven terms in the House. This alleged inconsistency, she asserted, “undercuts” the Romney narrative.
Every self-proclaimed “outsider” presidential candidate since World War II has chosen an insider as his running mate. Thus Carter-Mondale in 1976, Reagan-Bush in 1980, Dukakis-Bentsen in 1988, Clinton-Gore in 1992 and Bush-Cheney in 2000. Indeed, the Democratic nominee in 2008, although already serving as a freshman senator from Illinois, posed as the consummate outsider and promised that he would “change the culture of Washington.” Yet he picked one of the longest-serving members of the U.S. Senate to join him on the ticket. Such picks are manifestly the rule, not the exception.
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