Paul Ryan May Surprise Us
He could be just what we needed
Ever since it became clear that Paul Ryan would be the next Speaker of the House, there have been mixed feelings on the right about his ascension. Some worried that he isn’t conservative enough; others worried that he’d be too much like Boehner.
Now that he’s in the role and talking about his plans, he sounds like he might be the perfect choice.
This report from David Jackson of USA Today is encouraging:
With honeymoon over, Paul Ryan vows ‘to go on offense’
New House Speaker Paul Ryan figures his honeymoon is already over.
It lasted “about 35 minutes,” he said on Fox News Sunday in one of a string of interviews he gave following his election to succeed John Boehner as House speaker on Thursday.
Not only will Ryan go up against congressional Democrats and the Obama administration, he faces suspicious conservative House members who question his commitment to their cause.
In the interviews Sunday, Ryan pledged to go back to “regular order” in the House — a reference to allowing committees more power in crafting legislation — and to focus on reducing federal spending and the debt.
The Wisconsin Republican said he wants to create a system in which all House GOP members — including conservative members of the anti-Boehner “Freedom Caucus” — will get a chance to express their views on the floor.
“I think the legislative process has been too tightly controlled,” Ryan said on CNN’s State of the Union. At the same time, he said, “I think we need to be very clear about what we can and cannot achieve.”
Even more encouraging is the interview Ryan gave to CNN’s Dana Bash yesterday, in which he makes it clear that Obama can’t be trusted on immigration and that Planned Parenthood will be investigated.
Another thing to remember is that Paul Ryan represents a new generation of young Republican leaders, something the Democrats are dearly lacking.
Do you realize we haven’t had a Speaker of the House as young as Ryan since 1869?
CBS News reports:
Who was the last House speaker younger than Paul Ryan?
Earlier this week, the House of Representatives elected Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, as the next speaker of the House. Ryan, 45, became youngest Speaker since James G. Blaine, who was 39 years old when he was elected speaker in 1869, according to the House historian.
Blaine, a Republican, started his career in elected office by winning a seat in the Maine House of Representatives in 1858. He gradually climbed the ranks, eventually becoming House speaker for his last two years in the state legislature.
Featured image via YouTube.
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Comments
…he sounds like he might be the perfect choice.
There is no “perfect choice” in politics.
If you’re lucky, you can get “least objectionable”.
“I think we need to be very clear about what we can and cannot achieve.”
There it is right there. The cop out. The excuse. The hedging.
or perhaps a dose of reality that is needed in the House.
I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt and wait until I see what he achieves in office before sharpening up the pitchfork and lighting the torch. Sometimes I think Republicans are our own worst enemies with the way we disregard Reagan’s 11th Commandment at any opportunity.
What. You think there isn’t actually room to talk about things that we literally cannot achieve?
Not a cop-out at all, but a simple statement of reality. Ryan’s speakership did not come with a veto-proof conservative majority and no amount of bitching and character assassination will change that fact. Ryan is conservative by most standards, but he’s a pragmatic conservative. Always has been. The district he represents has much to do with it, but he’s never been one to make grandiose campaign promises. He has no trouble explaining to his constituents what he would prefer happen and what he actually believes is likely to happen… and why. The press ignores him because he talks “numbers” all the time, but his constituents keep right on reelecting him. Much like Scott Walker, Paul Ryan will tell you truths you’d really rather not hear.
For conservative leadership he’s a step in the right direction, but he still doesn’t have the keys to the kingdom. Republicans may be the majority in Congress, but conservatives are still a minority within that majority. A loud minority, but nonetheless still a voting minority. Ryan’s ability to move a more conservative agenda will be directly related to our movement’s ability to improve our voting blocks in both chambers. Numbers, folks. They’re improving, but still not good enough.
His conservative rating is F. What in the world are you talking about?
Pi$$ on the “raters.” They aren’t part of Congress.
It’s what you accomplish that counts. Let’s give Ryan some breathing room.
Bingo. That’s just a paraphrase of what crybaby said. He’s already getting ready to hoist the white flag.
No. It is all Kabuki Theater now. They sacrificed their only one power. The power of the purse. What will happen now is a bunch of empty words, and bills that will be stalled in the Senate or vetoed at the Emperor’s desk. This way their congress critters and feckless spineless jerks can go home and say “I voted to repeal ObamaCare 50 times! Aren’t I a good conservative?”
With a “budget” deal passed by Boehner, with the help of Obama, all Ryan needs to do is direct the play, act tough, say some empty words.. and it’ll be business as usual. Don’t get fooled by the shadow play.
They haven’t sacrificed anything. If Congress doesn’t appropriate money 0bama can’t spend it.
So. Since you obviously have a crystal-clear vision of the future, would you be kind enough to lay some winning lottery numbers on me? I could use help with the bills. 🙂
What? You don’t have future vision, Professor Trelawney? How sad.
Who benefits from immediately questioning the character of our elected Republican representatives, and who is it that hates our system enough to misuse it?
Democrats, of course.
We have trolls.
They aren’t Democratic trolls, though.
It’s the “burn it all down” crowd, upset that their small minority cannot dictate policy. Only nine Republicans of 245 voting opposed Ryan on the floor. He even had a broad majority of the “Freedom Caucus” – itself less than 16% of the House GOP Caucus.
The fringe nuts are loud beyond their numbers.
Even though you call us names…
“We will not sit down and shut up!” – Sarah Palin, and many others
And here’s a friendly reminder. Only ten conservatives voted for someone besides Boehner for SOH in 2013. Yet, 2 years later…
You are nothing but a coward, just like Boehner and McConnell
He could be just what we need?????
He would never have been elected Speaker of the House if he was just what we need. So yeah, as someone already said – It depends on who “we” is.
If Ryan does not man up and be a conservative, we can boot him like Boehner and he knows it.
We may be able to boot him, but keep in mind that the Republicans have already yielded over any power to do anything until after either the first year of Hillary’s first term, or after the first year of Obama’s third term. Having funded EVERYTHING Obama wants, there is no reason for them to even show up in Washington.
After sucking up to Obama and handing him a massive 2 year sweetheart victory on the budget, Ryan said Planned Parenthood should be “investigated”. Not de-funded. How exciting!
And Obama can’t be trusted on immigration so we will fund his immigration program with a smile and a handshake. Squee!
And how exciting that he’s youthful. I can hardly contain my excitement.
Maybe some help from Townsend…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHhrZgojY1Q
Ryan said Planned Parenthood should be “investigated”. Not de-funded.
He said, right in this interview while you had your ears plugged, that he doesn’t think that PP should have one red cent from the taxpayers.
yeah, Ryan said that right after voting for and pushing through a budget funding them for two years!
Maybe you gotta turn it on?
http://tinyurl.com/ocruz73
A budget doesn’t fund anything. Appropriation bills fund things, and they haven’t passed.
What makes you think they won’t be funded by the respective appropriations? Banking on that resolve and fortitude they’ve been demonstrating for so long?
We have not had appropriation and authorization bills, what they used to call regular order, for 8 years now. Everything is done by Continuing Resolution which combines the two and does not allow any discretion in what gets funded.
Within the last week, both Houses of Congress, both in theory Republican held; passed a Continuing Resolution that gave Buraq Hussein Obama literally everything he asked for. And not for one year as they have done up till now. But for two whole years. Obama has already signed it. Congress now has no input on anything until after either the end of the first year of Hillary’s first term, or after the end of the first year of Obama’s third term.
The Republicans have surrendered, and Ryan is the smiling salesman of what Boehner did on the way out.
OT: Former Rubio Campaign Manager Jumps Ship; Endorses Jeb
http://floridapolitics.com/archives/193665-richard-corcoran-former-maro-rubio-chief-of-staff-endorses-jeb-bush-for-president
Surprise us? I rather doubt it. At least, not in a good way.
Daiwa, it depends on what the definition of what ‘we’ is.
He is a very smart man. he knows how to use Economics. We must give him a chance and see what he can get done. We worry about so many of the Politician’s qualifications. Too bad we never did that with Obama. ( Smartest pres. Ha. )
I recall the same being said about Obama after he was sworn in. Many of us had Obama accurately pegged when he as running against Hillary in 2008. All Obaba did was prove us right. We hoped he would fail (in his Socialist transformation of America).
Ryan is Establishment.
One can hardly be blamed for suspecting that Lucy is teeing up the football and assuring Charlie Brown she won’t pull it away this time.
Ryan voted for that abominably bad budget. Strike One.
Not quite. It’s total transgendering. The budget deal not only castrated the House but it eunuched it as well. There is literally nothing the House can do to overcome anything the enemy does.
FYI – my opinion is that any debt that has a lifespan longer than each term of Congress violates the constitution and is neither valid debt of the US nor legitimately authorized spending from the Treasury. Boehner got the standing to sue (one of the few things he did right) so we’ll just have to see if the House Appropriations committee does anything with its standing authority.
And what is the basis for that bizarre opinion? This should be interesting.
Ryan either gets it right or he can follow Boehner out the door on the next cycle.
There’s no reason why we can’t be cordial while we stand on his throat with an encouraging boot.
I;ll follow the lead of my Congressman, Mark Meadows, and give Ryan the chance to make needed changes in how the House operates.
Ryan is an ass kissing segment in the establishment centipede.
I’m sure he will prove us correct.
When you steal something that someone else said, you should at least provide attribution.
It isn’t like she’s posting an article so what’s the problem?
I give you your due attribution, Rags. That centipede analogy is brilliant.
Well, thanks, but it ain’t mine.
If your doctor recommends that you try cutting off your head to end migraines, maybe you need a new doc. This is what nobody but the dems and GOPe need.
He would have to.
A paraphrased, general quote: “We should give Ryan a chance.”
Like we have any f**king choice, lol.
“…he will go up against congressional Democrats and the Obama administration…”
It sounds strangely familiar…seems I’ve heard that somewhere…2010? 2014?
It’s simply time to demand that the R’s fight everything the WH wants. That’s all there is to it. Obstructionist would not be a bad name right now. This old refrain about it mobilizing the Dem base and so forth is pure garbage. Without ‘mobilizing the Dem base’ the Republicans have handed the WH and the Dems every single thing they’ve wanted. So what’s the difference?
Fight everything and start impeachment of a multitude of executive agency chiefs. It’s time for the R’s to be dirty, to be ruthless, and to be unyielding. The public doesn’t like them, but the public hates almost all Dem policies.
It would be good for them to also come up with an alternative to Obama Care and simply write legislation to get rid of it and force a veto in the face of a better system.
Republicans will do none of this, of course. They are cowards. Outright cowards.
If a pro-Amnesty RINO like Rubio gets elected, Ryan will EAGERLY shepherd Amnesty through the House with his good friend Gutierrez.