Up front, let me say that I really do admire Rep. Paul Ryan and thought he was the best decision (not that there’s a lot of competition for the title) that Mitt Romney made during his failed bid for the White House in 2012. Whatever his titular role, he is definitely a thought-leader and a Republican the party turns to on many important issues.
There’s something odd in the way his quest for the speakership has been reported in the press that makes me a little uneasy. (Okay, another caveat: It’s altogether possible that the press isn’t reporting any of this accurately, so that’s why I’m not willing to say simply No.)
Basically he’s requiring that the entire Republican caucus line up behind him before he’d take the job; no clumping together enough factions for a slim majority, he wants everybody on board.
Again, I’m not behind closed doors with Republicans, but best I can tell, that conversation likely went down one of two ways:
A) “Okay guys, here’s my vision. These are my top 3, 5, or 10 priorities, strategies on how to accomplish them, and what life will look like if we’re successful. I’ve put it all out there, and if elected, y’all should be prepared to see me work hard toward these goals. Who’s with me?”
B) “Okay guys, here’s the thing: I don’t want to hear anymore of y’all’s bullshit. And I’m not going to preside over a bunch of guys yelling at each other and not getting along. So if you want me to be your Speaker, I want to see 100% of you behind me, and a pledge that you won’t throw me over the ledge like you did with that guy from Ohio. Who’s with me?”
The concern should be pretty obvious:
If it went down (is going down) like A, that shows true leadership: Putting forward a vision and seeking support
If it went down like B, he’s saying he’ll only become the leader if the group doesn’t need one. What sort of leadership is that?
Again, I don’t know, and I’d like to think that Ryan is an upstanding dude with his head spun on straight. But if the last 20 or so years of politics has taught me anything, it’s that there are no heroes and none of these guys really do anything that isn’t in their own best interest.
What do you think?
-Nick (ColoradoPatriot, from HQ)
He’ll be fine as long as he doesn’t use the power poorly.
Sorry – Paul Ryan is a non-starter as far as I am concerned. Anyone who gets love from the like of Dingy Harry and Luis Gutierezz (D-Mexico) tells me that he’s a shill for the big money elites (gov’t and private) and is clueless as to what’s going on out in the hinterlands.
I don’t want someone who just says “no” to clog the toilet that is DC but I do want someone willing to go to the mat for things that matter. I want someone capable of speaking in coherent sentences. I want someone able to go toe-to-toe with the media and the opposition.
I’ll say this for the Dems – Reid and Pelosi may come across as dumber than soup (they’re not, they’re diabolical) but they’re willing to do battle for the cause. Our guys put up some lame static, take a drubbing in the media wars, and then surrender. And not even in that order (surrender, static, media drubbing – see cromnibus and enabling BHO’s DACA amnesty).
Look at their chicanery concerning Obamatrade (TPP).
Not only do conservatives lose, we are humiliated and worse off than before. It’s dangerous to liberty when there is NO effective opposition.
The other day, I read of a Homeland Security program that gives $12K to *employers* who hire foreign STEM students. W.T.F?!?!?! Did the law creating the egregious DHS include language stating that tax money be used to displace taxpayers, current and future? I sure as hell can’t find that in the Constitution.
Breitbart uncovered video of Paul Ryan hispandering – that congress-critters have to put themselves in the shoes of foreigners. What are we, chopped liver? Is that in their oath of office?
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/10/20/paul-ryan-job-u-s-lawmaker-put-shoes-foreign-citizens/
This is a rant but we’re at, or passing, the point of no return. And we are losing with both hands.
I think he doesn’t really want the job and threw all the demands out there as a poison pill. That said, the demands would make his rule a lot easier if the caucus was insane enough to grant them.
Sorry but Ryan is a huge let down.
Read this:
https://www.commentarymagazine.com/politics-ideas/paul-ryans-shrewd-move/
You want this?
Neither one of those is a good option. He’s just seeking warm bodies to toe the line either way.
In general, I think Paul Ryan should stay where he really wants to be–the head of the Ways and Means Committee. Round peg in round hole.
I think he was raising the price of his becoming speaker higher than the repubs would tolerate so he could stay where he wanted to be. As a counter-offer, if I were a (God forbid!) member of the House, I would say that I would not participate in or encourage a motion to vacate the Speaker’s position (essentially fire him) for the rest of this term, but no longer. After that, results matter. And if the speakership didn’t work out, then he would go back to his old job.
The endorsement of leading obstructionist dems worries me. diabolical on several levels.
Bag on Ryan all you want, but the situation we have now in the House sure doesn’t work very well. The Dems get things done because they do toe the line and don’t get sidetracked chasing the perfect.
Democrats use the scorched earth, no-holds-barred, enforced unity method for controlling the agenda and ramming their ideology through.
Republicans have no balls.
It’s ultimately a poor reflection on the GOP that they ONLY acceptable candidate for Speaker of the House had to be ‘pressed’ unwillingly/reluctantly into the post. The GOP House bench has become that shallow and polarized?
I suspect Reid praised Ryan because he didn’t want Ryan as Speaker.
“Democrats use the scorched earth, no-holds-barred, enforced unity method for controlling the agenda and ramming their ideology through.”
If that were true we would have single payer health care and tougher gun control regulations. But the Dems compromised with conservative factions and they found a middle ground.
Leading to Liberals claiming that Dem lawmakers compromise too much and are too pragmatic.
And like clockwork, here comes Mikey to explain how a bill rammed through by one party is ‘bi-partisan.
Livewire
I know reality is hard for you, but here it is again if you would like:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2015/07/13/the_real_story_of_obamacare039s_birth_360669.html
“Baucus very deliberately started the talks with a template that was the core of the 1993-4 Republican plan, built around an individual mandate and exchanges with private insurers—much to the chagrin of many Democrats and liberals who wanted, if not a single-payer system, at least one with a public insurance option.”
Remember. To mikey the Democrats still support the invasion of Iraq, because they did so in the past.
Repeating something doesn’t make it true Mikey.
One has to remember that Mikey lies.
But unfortunately for Mikey, he’s so stupid that he doesn’t realize he just admitted that Democrats are fascists who want to confiscate all guns and prevent people from choosing their own health care.
Mikey is like the weaselly man who joined the Nazi Party for personal gain and is now desperately trying to explain why murdering Jews is moral and virtuous.
Ding. Ding. Ding. We have a winner! Why Dingy Harry is treated like E.F. Hutton by people who profess to be unable to stand him is beyond me. Monkeywrenching is what alleged pederast Harry Reid does best. (“Mitt Romney has not paid any income tax, so I was told.”) So all the people who are engaged in constant handwringing because Rep Ryan was ‘endorsed’ by him should take a chill pill and relax.
@17: You’d have a point IF our “representatives” weren’t so freaking clueless.
There is no doubt that Ryan is an open-borders shill: his love fest with Luis Gutierrez and his belief that our “representatives” have a duty to push themselves in the shoes of foreigners is not conjecture. It’s documented fact.
Of all the things which have been said about Paul Ryan in the past week, I still haven’t heard that he eats puppies for breakfast and in his spare time, makes mittens and mufflers out of kittens with his kids as part of “family time”. But I fully expect to, given the horrible person he apparently is. (Still, the left called it first by showing him throwing granny off a cliff.)
Nonetheless, it still doesn’t negate the fact that Dark Shades Harry is manipulating the conversation towards his own ends. That people who also think him evil are paying attention to it is just proof that politics ensnares strange bedfellows, sometimes irrationally so.
NDT –
Are you calling me Howard W. Campbell Jr.? – I was a spy I swear it!
so it goes
Livewire
Fine if you don’t beleive me but why not listen to Romney then?
Romney also credited Mr. Stemberg with persuading him to push for health care reform in Massachusetts when he was governor.
Romney recalled that shortly after he was elected, Mr. Stemberg asked him why he ran for governor. Romney said he wanted to help people, and Mr. Stemberg replied that if he really wanted to help, he should give everyone access to health care, which Romney said he hadn’t really considered before.
“Without Tom pushing it, I don’t think we would have had Romneycare,” Romney said. “Without Romneycare, I don’t think we would have Obamacare. So without Tom, a lot of people wouldn’t have health insurance.”
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/10/23/staples-founder-thomas-stemberg-dies/3i4GgQA1zIxieMYAeZFmkJ/story.html
Notice how the stupid mikey continues to try to scream and kick and blame Obamacare on the Republicans.
Which proves it is a massive failure, because mikey would never give the Republicans any credit if it were a success.
Typical. Mikey is a worthless blame shifter, just like Obama.