Senior Obama campaign adviser David Axelrod dismissed the GOP base’s enthusiasm for Mitt Romney’s new running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), on Monday, likening it to the reaction Sarah Palin received when given the party’s vice presidential nod in 2008.
Speaking on "CBS This Morning," Axelrod said the reaction he was seeing among Republican supporters for Ryan was the “same kind of excitement” he saw four years ago. “When John McCain appointed Sarah Palin, as well, there were huge crowds, much of the same kind of reaction, and I don’t think it worked out very well,” he said.
Axelrod said the selection of the House Budget Committee chairman to join presumptive nominee Romney on the ticket had “thrilled the base of the party, the Tea Party Republicans, the social conservatives,” and labeled Ryan as a “certifiable right-wing ideologue.“
“I think when the reality catches up with the moment it’s not going to be a plus for Gov. Romney,” he added.
Democrats have launched a strong offensive against Ryan since Romney tapped him to join the campaign on Saturday, hoping to define the seven-term lawmaker and tie his controversial budget plan to Romney.
On Sunday, Axelrod had called Romney and Ryan “kindred spirits” who shared “extreme” views.
The Romney campaign has pushed back, though, with the former Massachusetts governor insisting that he was running on his own budget plans, and not Ryan’s.
“I have my budget plan, as you know, that I've put out. And that's the budget plan that we're going to run on,” Romney said Sunday in his first sit-down interview alongside Ryan.
But Axelrod dismissed that claim on Monday, saying there was little daylight between the two proposals.
“It was laughable last night to hear Gov. Romney say, ‘Well, that’s his plan, I’ve got my own plan.’ Those plans are very similar,” he said.
“For the middle class it feels like a choice between a punch in the nose and a knee to the groin. The fact is both plans call for trillions and trillions of dollars of new tax cuts skewed to the wealthy.
"This is not a prescription for a stronger economy; it’s not a prescription for a stronger country,” he added.
