Sigh…
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Paul Ryan on Thursday formally declared his candidacy for speaker of the House after getting unified support from across the Republican conference.
“After talking with so many of you, and hearing your words of encouragement, I believe we are ready to move forward as a one, united team,” Ryan said in a letter to colleagues. “And I am ready and eager to be our speaker.”
The Wisconsin lawmaker and onetime GOP vice presidential nominee will be all but assured of triumphing in elections next week.
Here’s the thing… Ryan will be a fine Speaker. And he is certainly the most conservative Speaker in my lifetime. But it’s a thankless job, and as someone who hoped that Ryan would one day ascend to higher office, being the Speaker make that much less likely.
Ryan has two issues to overcome. The first is the fact the political world today is much different than 2012. So his position on open borders and immigrants being needed to keep the economic wheels here greased may still carry water over at Sykes blog and the Wall Street Journal offices, but it’s losing steam among a significant bloc of conservatives. Until Ryan considers correcting course on that, he’s going to face turbulence from those of us within the party.
But if he does correct course, and offers bills for border security, wall and halt to H1B1 he’ll easily get huge support from a lot of us who love him on the other 99 issues we agree with him on.
The second thing he needs to overcome is the whole “boy wonder” persona. As you look back in hindsight, while we here loved him and the pundits loved him, I do think he was viewed as too young, too much a career politician and not in touch with the average voter. The ad of him pushing Grandma off the cliff was effective whether we like it or not.
He’s got to show a new level of leadership and gravitas on the stump because he’s going to be our point person to communicate conservatism from today forward. He’s a talented guy, but he’s got to be a different Paul Ryan than the one before him. Not a ton different, but he does have to be different.
I’m actually happy about it. First, it’s the last government job he’s ever gonna have and I don’t like the man or his politics. But second, he really does look like the best shot at reigning in the crazy faction of his party so we can avoid idiotic things like government shutdowns and stuff. He may not be successful in this endeavor, but he’s the best chance apparently.
If he is a success, it will be a big success.
Expectations are low since he had to be dragged kicking and screaming.
Always set expectations reasonable and outperform.
so Ryan is starting out on right foot…nearly everyone thinks he will fail or have severe difficulty.
Could be set up fopr the great turn-around story for Congress in American history.
Predictions
1) Ryan will be an honorable negotiator but that’s not what the Far Right wants . Every passed and signed bill for Ryan is a loss for him with the Know Nothing Wing and they make his life a living hell
2) Hillary wins in 16′ by carrying every non angry white male voter in the country against either Carson or Trump
3) Ryan is the Speaker of the House with a Democratic Senate and a Democratic President
4) He quits the speakership and prepares to run in 2020
A few points…
1) There is no “far right” unless you are willing to concede there is a “far left”. Willing? No, I thought not. However, there is something to be said about people who argue by adjective instead of by position…
2) The conservatives in the House want certain things which Ryan is unlikely to push. However, they gave in to Ryan because (apparently) he promised to decentralize House leadership.
3) You don’t get your agenda implemented by compromise. In this sense, the House conservatives are no different than the House liberals, or William Wilberforce, or MLK. You can’t compromise your way to victory. Conservatives are interested in implementing their agenda.
4) Hillary is directly responsible for Benghazi. She has no hope of winning. Non-angry-white people do care about honesty and justice.
5) Paul Ryan would not be running if he did not have the establishment’s blessing. What happened to Webster? To DeSantis? Hmm? He exists to screw over conservatives on every issue except the budget.
“4) Hillary is directly responsible for Benghazi. She has no hope of winning. Non-angry-white people do care about honesty and justice.”
Dude, no. If you’re thinking lots of people care about this enough to influence the outcome of the election, you’re dead wrong. I’m sure the right-wing media makes it seem like All The People Care Really Deeply–but they don’t. Most people don’t think about it at all and many of the rest see what I see: Benghazi is a tragedy in search of a scandal. How many fruitless investigations must you have before you reach that conclusion? How many in your own party have to openly admit that the investigations are politically motivated?
If this is the best Republicans have, helloooo president Clinton.