Romney’s running mate Ryan ‘very supportive of Israel,’ says Ambassador Oren

Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan, named Saturday by Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney to be his running mate, is a supporter of Israel and has a solid pro-Israel voting record, Israel’s ambassador to the US said.

Ambassador Michael Oren met recently with Ryan and described him as “very supportive of Israel,” Channel 10 news reported on Saturday night.

However, Ryan has not focused heavily on foreign policy in his political career.

Introducing Ryan, the occasionally gaffe-prone Romney presented him as “the next president of the United States” to a crowd in Norfolk, Virginia. He then corrected himself to warm laughter. “Every now and then I’m known to make a mistake,” Romney said. “I did not make a mistake with this guy. But I can tell you this, he’s going to be the next vice president of the United States.”

In similar gaffe-prone mood, Channel 10’s Saturday night news presenter Oshrat Kotler, introducing the segment on the new would-be veep, asked her Washington correspondent, Gil Tamari, “What’s this Romney like?” To which Tamari replied, “Well, first of all, his name is Paul Ryan!”

Romney selected Ryan as a potential bridge between the Republican establishment and the small-tax, anti-big government tea party movement.

Ryan’s conservative credentials are highly regarded by fellow Republican House members, while many polls during the primaries of winter and spring found that Romney’s own were suspect among the party’s core, tea-party supporters.

With his choice, Romney sought to boost his own credentials, repair an image damaged by negative Democratic advertising and shift the trajectory of a campaign that’s seen him lose ground to President Barack Obama.

Ryan came out swinging early Saturday, attacking the president for what he called a “record of failure” and leading the “worst economic recovery in 70 years.” He noted that unemployment has been above 8 percent for more than three years — the longest stretch since the Great Depression.

Having Ryan on the ticket also could help Romney become more competitive in Wisconsin, a state Obama won handily four years ago in the state-by-state race for the presidency, but that could be much tighter this November.

Romney made his announcement to supporters via a phone app. “Mitt’s Choice for VP is Paul Ryan,” it said and implored backers to spread the word.

The ticket-mates arranged their first joint appearance later in the morning at a naval museum, the initial stop of a bus tour through four battleground states in as many days.

In a written statement issued a short while later, Romney’s campaign said that Ryan had worked in Congress to “eliminate the federal deficit, reform the tax code and preserve entitlements for future generations.”

At 42, Ryan is a generation younger than the 65-year-old Romney.

A seventh-term congressman, Ryan is chairman of the House Budget Committee, and primary author of conservative tax and spending blueprints that the tea party-infused Republican majority approved over vociferous Democratic opposition in 2011 and again in 2012.

It envisions transforming Medicare — the national health insurance program for Americans age 65 and older — into a program in which future seniors would receive government checks that they could use to purchase health insurance. Under the current program, the government directly pays doctors, hospitals and other health care providers.

Ryan and other supporters say the change is needed to prevent the program from financial calamity. Critics argue it would impose ever-increasing costs on seniors.

Other elements of the budget plan would cut projected spending for Medicaid, the government plan that provides health care for the poor, as well as food stamps, student loans and other social programs that Obama and Democrats have pledged to defend.

In all, it projected spending cuts of $5.3 trillion over a decade, and cut future projected deficits substantially.

It also envisions a far reaching overhaul of the tax code of the sort Romney has promised.

In turning to Ryan, Romney bypassed other potential running mates without the Wisconsin lawmaker’s following among rank-and-file conservatives, including Ohio Sen. Rob Portman and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

Republican officials said Romney had spoken with both men.

Romney and Ryan appeared unusually comfortable with each other when they campaigned together earlier in the year. The former governor eagerly shared the microphone with the younger man and they shared hamburgers at a fast food restaurant.

In making an endorsement before his state’s primary last spring, Ryan said, “I picked who I think is going to be the next president of the United States — I picked Mitt Romney. … The moment is here. The country can be saved. It is not too late to get America back on the right track. … It is not too late to save the American idea.”

Romney was the subject of an April Fools prank in which Ryan played a role. Romney showed up at a supposed campaign event where he heard Ryan calling him “the next president of the United States” — only to find the room nearly empty.

In recent days, conservative pundits have been urging Romney to choose Ryan in large part because of his authorship of the House-backed budget plan that seeks to curb overall spending on the benefit programs.

Republican National Committee finance chairman Ron Weiser of Michigan, said Friday night that Ryan’s selection would help Romney win Wisconsin and its 10 electoral votes in the fall. The state typically supports Democrats in presidential contests, and Obama won it handily four years ago.

Ryan has worked in Washington for much of his adult life, a contrast to Romney, who frequently emphasizes his experience in business.

The congressman worked as an aide in Congress, and also was a speechwriter for Jack Kemp, who years earlier had been one of the driving forces behind across-the-board tax cuts that were at the heart of Ronald Reagan’s winning presidential campaign in 1980.

Ryan is also well-known for his fiendish physical fitness workouts.

His congressional district in southeast Wisconsin has something of a bipartisan voting record. Obama took 54 percent of the vote there in 2008, while the congressman received 64 percent in winning re-election.

Most of Romney’s staff learned of the planned announcement during a 10 p.m. conference call Friday about an hour before the campaign issued a statement. The identity of Romney’s pick was not disclosed during the call. The campaign had promised that first news of the selection would be delivered via a phone app.