New reports have surfaced (h/t CharlieSykes) that Paul Ryan is reconsidering his prior decision not to run for President:
As Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan comes to a final decision about running for president, several top national conservatives are encouraging him to join the race. Ryan, who has been seriously but quietly considering a presidential bid for several months, is expected to decide on a run in the next two weeks
Perhaps you could tell me again about Ryan, now with the benefit of knowing who (most of) the Republican candidates are.
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He’s got a lot of attention for his views on the sorry state of the economy but not much on this:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/ryan-embraces-exceptionalism-rejects-isolationism-foreign-policy-speech_573194.html
The rumor was started at the same Weekly Standard. Steve Hayes is supposedly plugged in to the Ryan camp. Personally I would like to see a Perry/Ryan ticket.
My first choice would be a Perry/Palin ticket but Perry/Ryan wouldn’t break my heart 🙂
From The Weekly Standard, “Mitch Daniels, Jeb Bush, John Boehner, Jim Jordan, and Bill Bennett encourage Ryan to run for president.” It’s going to be hard for him to resist that pressure now that it’s public. And with those heavyweights behind him, I have to believe he’ll raise as much dough as he needs to be competitive.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/big-names-encourage-paul-ryan-run_590322.html?nopager=1
Also, he voted for TARP, which he can probably rationalize away as an “investment” that was made at an extraordinary time to save the financial system and which has mostly been repaid (I don’t necessarily buy that argument, but since it’s mostly been repaid, I can forgive the vote).
Far more problematic is his vote for Medicare Part D. He can not rationalize that vote to fiscal conservatives like me. In fact, I’ve said before that how people voted on Medicare Part D ought to be a litmus test on whether they get primaried or not. Ironically, McCain and Grahamnesty would pass the test (because they went against the Republican Party and voted against the new entitlement) while fiscal hawks like Ryan would fail the test because he voted for it.
Regarding Medicare part D
It has come in under budget every year it has been in existence but 1
Plus according to a study from the National Bureau Of Economic Research part D has had ” a salutory effect on Medicare”
for every $1.00 spent on drugs medicare saves over $2.00 in care
If i understand the program seniors pay a monthly premium plus ( when means tested ) pay a co pay for their drugs
this program is not the disaster dems want to make it
Thanks. I’m glad it’s coming in below budget. But the reality is Medicare Part D was a brand spanking new entitlement that wasn’t paid for with additional taxes or budget cuts elsewhere. It was just more spending with the costs added to the national credit card.
Do we really want as our guy someone who will be talking about reforming Medicare when less than eight years ago he voted to massively expand it without paying for the new benefits by raising taxes? And do we want the electorate to be reminded that he cast that vote and it became law when Republicans held both houses of Congress and the Presidency? How can Ryan claim to be a fiscal conservative and champion a balanced budget when he voted for fiscal profligacy? How can he not be characterized as a hypocrite? Obama will make mince meat out of him during the campaign/debates. I’ve thought all along that if the election is going to be in part about the need to reform entitlements, then our guy has to be someone who has completely clean hands from that vote. I like Ryan alot, but unfortunately, his hands are dirty on this one.
You need to read the Social Security Trustees report. Medicare Part D is the ONLY part of the entire program that is financially sound as it is wholey paid for out of premiums from seniors deducted from their monthly check. As a government program goes, it is one of the very few that actually works, which is why Democrats have denounced it, that and it was initiated by George W Bush, which in itself was more than sufficient reason to oppose it for Democrats.
AGAIN: Democrats HATE Medicare Part D because it works and George W Bush and the GOP created it. I don’t know about you but IF a liberal Democrat hates something, as a Conservative my interest is immediately peaked to understand why and most likely support it. If they’re again it, I’m for it!!!! Especially, if you spend $1 and save $2 somewhere else, by my math that’s a $1 net savings to Medicare. And you wonder why liberal Democrats hate it so??????????????????????????????????????
Social Security Trustees Report for your edification: http://www.ssa.gov/oact/tr/2011/tr2011.pdf
I think Paul Ryan is a good guy and a great congressman. I don’t think he should run for president. We need people like Ryan right where he is; he will be able to do much more good work in Congress than he will as failed presidential candidate. When was the last time an actively serving member of the House was elected President?
I agree completely….I’d like to see him become Speaker instead of cry-Boehner.
Well said and I would add he like Obama has ZERO executive experience in running a business or government agency, city or state. Don’t make a good guy into a bad guy by putting him in a situation he has no training to handle. Obama is incompetent for a reason, the results for Ryan would be little different. Ideology can never be a substitute for a skill set deficit.
The POTUS position is not a semi-skilled job where in 90 days you can learn all the necessary skills to successfully carry out the job. After 3 years of on the job training Obama still hasn’t learned enough to properly govern.
Perhaps not on the top of the ticket, but how about as the #2 man, in a Perry/Ryan ticket? or Palin/Ryan ticket…or any other combination.
That would give him 4-8 years of experience near the very top. He would thus gain the executive epxerience he’d need in 2020, to run for President in his own right. Think about it…he’s what? 41? 42? 43? In 8 years, he’d be in his early 50’s, and with that relative youth, could usher in 16 years of GOP control…that’s just about what we need to place America back on the right path.
Rich Vail
Pikesville, Maryland
The Vail Spot dot Blogspot dot Com
The TARP vote is a big red flag, but I’d still take him over “Si Se Puerry.”
Paul Ryan is overqualified for his current position. I’ve been for a Ryan presidential run since the healthcare debate, well before there was any serious talk about him. He has dumbfounded Obama on several occasions. Whenever they have had an exchange, Obama has tried to change the subject and move on a quickly as possible. Ryan could single handedly destroy the myth of Obama the intellectual. If we go with Perry or Romney I’m afraid we resign ourselves to a close loss or even a win without the fundamental change we so desperately need. Ryan would shock the country back to the right path.
The healthcare debate was awesome but I have to agree with Trochilus….he lacks experience in actually running anything….so I still would prefer him as Veep rather than Prez.
I think the most important aspect of being an executive is the ability to lead, which Paul Ryan has exemplified for the past two years. How much of a leap is it to learn how to “run something” after one has already mastered the art of leadership? It sounds like simply picking up on logistics at that point. Something tells me Ryan will easily pick up controlling the day-to-day business after having already become the de facto leader of the party.
There were two aspects to my prior comment addressing the fact that Paul Ryan has not yet run anything. One key aspect of leadership is the ability to articulate and communicate one’s grasp and intellectual competence in a persuasive manner to those who are like-minded.
On that score, Paul Ryan is certainly second to none. For many years while in Congress, Newt Gingrich was intellectually second to none as well. Each one of them led the party in the realm of ideas.
Who could doubt Ryan’s capacity on that score when he, in part, says thing like this to CPAC earlier this year:
In his legislative role, he should be a big part of giving the nation a choice in 2012.
But in my view, a Presidential contender must be able exercise leadership by communicating views persuasively to a bigger audience. Part of that is being able to point to broader accomplishments, particularly those of an executive nature, such as having been a governor or a business leader and having successfully directed an enterprise.
Cut, Cap & Balance impressed me because it was more comprehensive than people realize. That makes him a formidable legislator going forward, in my book. However he lacks experience in actually running anything, and there are several Republican candidates (including a few who are unannounced) who can convincingly make the claim that they have proven skill running either public or private enterprises, or both.
In the end, a Republican candidate will have to make the case, not only to Republicans, but to independents and hopefully some disaffected Democrats, that he or she would “hit the ground running” in order for them to vote to replace a sitting President.
The question of choice would likely come down to a “devil we know” situation with Obama if the Republican candidate has no executive experience — people will not vote for an inexperienced candidate to replace a President who was very inexperienced himself, and as a result failed in many ways.
A potent portion of the case against Obama should be that he did not know what he was doing, and that he most likely will not know what he is doing going forward. Even setting ideology aside, that would convince many that he should be replaced.
But faced with the choice of another inexperienced candidate, the tendency will be for voters to instead rationalize that Obama has hopefully “learned his lesson” during the course of his admittedly costly “on-the-job training” period, and that at this crucial juncture, the country simply cannot afford another trainee at the helm.
At least some executive experience should be an indispensable attribute for a candidate to be a serious major candidate for President of the United States.
“This past Sunday I was watching the political talk shows while my wife was reading a magazine. A picture of Paul Ryan came on screen and with exuberance I pointed and said, “There’s Paul Ryan! He needs to be President.”
My wife looked at the TV screen and responded, “No, he doesn’t look like a President.” She looked back at her magazine, having destroyed Ryan’s brilliant career in public service with the indifference of a queen ordering the decapitation of lowly peon. Voting really is power, isn’t it?
Her words bothered me all day whenever I saw Ryan on television. I’m not sure why. Perhaps it’s the same feeling you get the first time being pulled over by a policeman who is younger than you. Paul Ryan would be the first President younger than me. That quite naturally makes me contemplate my eventual death. Not a good association.
On the surface, my wife’s judgment of the surface of Ryan appears frivolous, but it isn’t. Many have held that the TV screen sunk Nixon versus Kennedy.”
from Ricochet
Ryan’s a very smart guy and rather cute.
Yet, I suspect whoever wins in the general election over Obama will be older with a bit more gravitas.
‘Gravitas’ is BS. All it is is a fancy word that means the person looks old, wise, and has something important to say that other people would/should listen to. Nobody could accuse Obama on any of those points. The media blokes all strive for gravitas cuz they wall want to be the straw that stirs the drink.
I’m tired of ‘gravitas’ and ‘looks/sounds presidential’. We have an aashole in the WH who acts and sounds like a corner-boy street heckler. I want somebody who knows what the he’ll they’re doing and has a sound plan to restore American greatness. That’s Sarah Palin, the only politician who has openly espoused the Ryan plan. Ryan has ever once been gracious enough to thank her. He’s an establishment man and an ungracious one.
Thank you for your blog, Wm.
One last thing, ‘gravitas’ is symbolism over substance.
The ABP campaign continues.
After Perry’s announcement Saturday, I kept mulling Perry/Palin over in my mind.
The MSM and Poliwood weren’t just waiting for Perry, they embarrass themselves with the amount of preparation used to pounce on Perry. It’s a good sign. They’re tipping their hat to what an abysmal mess, Obama is.
Today I feel like why should Sarah Palin have to be the VP before President. Barak Obama brought NOTHING and He’s in there.
I think Palin/Ryan could be the winning ticket. BUT I fear KARL ROVE will have none of that.
Here is something to chew on…
Does Sarah Palin have a secret Nixon strategy?
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/08/13/palin-to-hannity-i-may-run
Accidental Good Fortune? Or Strategic Genius By The Woman Tony Knowles Called ‘Alley Cat Smart
http://conservatives4palin.com/2011/08/accidental-good-fortune-or-strategic-genius-by-the-woman-tony-knowles-called-alley-cat-smart.html
“She’s what I call ‘alley-cat smart,’” Tony Knowles, the former Democratic governor, told me. “It’s not about ideology. She knows how to pick her way down the political route that she feels will be the most beneficial to what she wants to do.”
Professor, It was a good time to play FEELING GOOD I don’t think you linked to it since 2010 election.
Readers with long memories is a good and a bad thing!
Ryan is of critical importance right where he is – the House Budget Committee is the only group in Congress OR the Executive Branch actually doing any budget calculations. Obama and Reid know that to put their preferences down in black and white would sink their support even further, and they can’t afford that.
Incidentally, even Cut, Cap & Balance was insufficient to postpone a credit rating downgrade for long. Only Ryan’s original budget plan with its CBO-scored $5.65 trillion in deficit reduction over the ten-year budget window met what the ratings agencies put forth as a credible down payment on fiscal responsibility.
But the lack of executive experience is telling. The US federal government is the largest operation in the history of mankind. It’s annual budget is greater than the GDP of all other nations except China and Japan. We’ve seen the folly of on-the-job-training with the current buffoon.
And he would be wasted in the Vice Presidency – that’s for placeholders who won’t be terribly missed, like Joe Biden.
Ryan’s a great Congressman and a walking encyclopedia on budget matters. He’s also a good guy.
So I hope he does NOT run for President.
If he does, he will become a referendum on the issue of modifying entitlements–if he’s not successful, “entitlement reform” will be (again) the Third Rail. And given the firepower of others in the race (Perry and Romney have ALL the money), it will be a very steep hill for Ryan to climb.
Some (that be Karl Rove and B. Kristol) that he must run just to put entitlements on the table. However, NO (R) candidate has endorsed his plan.
Frankly, I think it’s a trap.
Well, if he runs, and catches fire, I know the vast majority of people here will get behind him. Whatever you may think his chances are, I hope you can imagine what it would be like having him setting the agenda in the Oval Office. Do you see Romney or Perry as running for any other reason than they want to be president? Ryan is the closest thing we’ll get to that reluctant hero we always seem to be dreaming for.
Right now, I think it’s more likely than not that he runs. If he decides against a run, look for Chris Christie to take his place.
“Gravitas” has the appearance of competence, but no one will know if it is true of any candidate until a few months into a new President’s term.
Until then, may the best actor or actress candidate win.
Lots of good folks in the mix, lots. The focus has been on domestic policies, serious to be sure, but we’ve heard practically nothing from anyone with foreign policy experience where the present administration’s record is equally atrocious and dangerous to people everywhere in the world. I want to hear from John Bolton. He has a lot of hands-on foreign policy experience, broad government experience at high levels, understands the connection between our economic health and international well being, and understands America. Go ahead, someone, say it: another Yale lawyer. Yeah, that’s a little scary.
[…] Paul Ryan will announce his final decision/intentions in a week or two after everyone thought he was a definite “no go.” If he gets in we’re sure he will be fully vetted (unlike Barack Obama). […]
Most DC politicians are at a disadvantage due to their experience. I much prefer outsiders which pretty much means governors.
I call him the real deal.
Sure, Paul Ryan does not have the executive experience many would like but he comes at a time when this Nation is threatened to be economically ripped apart. He is the only person who has submitted a plan to deal with our economic future. He will raise the discourse to an adult level which Obama will not be able to comprehend (cue Obama scratching his head/face with his middle finger).
He is competent/articulate enough to deal with all the demagoguery the Democrats will throw at him. With Ryan at the top of the ticket, the Democrats bankruptcy of ideas will become apparent, even to non political junkies.
Just going from the picture on this post it sure looks to me like Ryan looks a lot like Aaron Rodgers. In Wisconsin that’s got to be quite a plus.
It is being reported that there are some forces behind a “draft Ryan” movement. Those forces include Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida. This is NOT good. And a very stupid move.
If true, Jeb Bush is counting on the fact that his brother’s approval rating has gone up slightly since G.W. left the White House. But it is also going to show a couple of other things: one, that the establishment Republicans of northeastern money, are against the Man from Paint Creek, a person who reached the heights of success without coming from a wealth family. It is also going to show that Perry is his own man, and not in the Bush camp.
With all the bashing of the wealthy that the Democrats do, pointing out that the wealthy of the GOP are backing Ryan, and not the guy from Paint Creek, is not going to set well in the heartland.
[…] push for Paul Ryan to get into the Presidential race is growing stronger. I wish it were not so as it makes the job […]
My concern with Ryan is that I’m not sure if he has the bare-knuckle street smarts yet for a grueling presidential run. He’s hands-down the smartest man in Congress on economic and budget matters, but that kind of intelligence doesn’t necessarily translate to knowing how to win big political races.
I think back to him accepting the recent invite to Obama’s “budget” speech where Obama (in his typical crass fashion) then proceeded to publicly berate Ryan, and Ryan left understandably upset, and apparently shocked at the encounter. But it shouldn’t have been a surprise to him- Narcissus Obama does this at every opportunity- attempting to humiliate Supreme Court justices at the State of the Union speech, treating Ryan himself very rudely at the Obamacare “Summit”, etc., etc.
Why do I mention this? Because I’m not sure if Ryan will get rattled by all of the dirty lies, underhanded tactics, AstroTurf, smears, and so on that is the hallmark of Obama-Axelrod style politics. I think Ryan is an earnest man who truly wants to save this country with his wealth of sound ideas- but does he want to spend the next year fending off all the petty, vicious nonsense (and claims that he’s going to cut entitlements for the poor) that will be thrown his way?
If he does, then perhaps he should run. If he doesn’t… then he needs a choice spot on the next Republican president’s cabinet in 2013.
Paul Ryan was summoned by Obama & thrashed in public. He took a humiliation.
Paul Ryan apologised for someone else buying a 350 bottle of wine.!
A good guy for certain but a lamb not a lion .
Not sure that Wisconsin is stable enough GOP territory for him to run .He could do a Gore & lose his home long repped state.
This nominee must have fire – the GOP establishment can be sidelined like never before.
Nah too polite too submissive too wonky.
The Liberals started months ago with PAC ads against Ryan in his own state. I hope he does run because he has power where he is and much as I think he has great ideas the liberals will just turn those the suck at the government teat against him and he will get killed in a national election. I already fear that he may be in danger of losing his congressional seat because of the money from outside of WI being spent against conservatives there.
If, as you seem to believe, he is at risk of losing his congressional seat in 2012 — demographically a Republican District — then he must be in a bit more danger of losing in a General (Presidential) Election held statewide.
I’m not convinced (he got 68% of the vote in 2010) but if you are correct because of his more recent and very public “Cut, Cap & Balance” identity, then running for President would put him at the disadvantage of not even being able to win in his own backyard. In politics, that is called having a weak base.
So, that would be a persuasive reason for him NOT to run for President, based on your analysis.
I like the guy and I think he is brilliant. And, he is a bow-hunter, which tells me something about his respect for solitude and patience.
I’d just rather see someone with some executive experience at the helm.
When we win in 2012 — and I believe we will — look for this guy to be the Chief of Staff, or Sec’y of the Treasury.