Wall Street Journal backs Paul Ryan as VP

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NEW YORK, Aug. 9 (UPI) -- The Wall Street Journal said Thursday U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, R.-Wis., should be presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's pick for running mate.

The Journal said Ryan "best exemplifies the nature and stakes of the election," more so than the other rumored running mates, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio.

"More than any other politician, the House Budget Chairman has defined those stakes well as a generational choice about the role of government and whether America will once again become a growth economy or sink into interest-group dominated decline," the endorsement read.

The Journal said Ryan is part of a new generation of GOP reformers alongside Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

"Against the advice of every Beltway bedwetter, [Ryan] has put entitlement reform at the center of the public agenda -- before it becomes a crisis that requires savage cuts. And he has done so as part of a larger vision that stresses tax reform for faster growth, spending restraint to prevent a Greek-like budget fate and a Jack Kemp-like belief in opportunity for all," the Journal said.

"As important, Mr. Ryan can make his case in a reasonable and unthreatening way. He doesn't get mad, or at least he doesn't show it. Like Reagan, he has a basic cheerfulness and Midwestern equanimity."