Last week, Professor Jacobson wrote about “Rubio’s biggest problem in 2016“:
I don’t mind a politician I disagree with on an issue half as much as I mind a politician I normally agree with getting played.
While I may not share the Prof’s indulgence of Rubio’s horrific flip-flop on immigration, I do agree that Rubio’s been played. Hard.
And now, we have to wonder if Paul Ryan might not be heading down that same, sad path with regard to immigration reform:
“We’d love to have Paul Ryan,” Rep. John Carter (R-TX), the Gang of Seven Member, told Politico when asked if the group would be able to land Ryan as a co-sponsor. “I think we will.”
Politico reports Ryan has been “in deep conversation” with supporters of comprehensive immigration reform like Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), and Zoe Lofgren (D-CA). He has also been in touch with Reps. Mike McCaul (R-TX) and Bob Goodlatte (R-VA), of the Homeland Security and Judiciary Committees, respectively, as well.
“I’m just trying to find the sweet spot,” Ryan told the publication on Friday. “I see an emerging consensus.”
According to Politico, “Ryan’s vagueness” has “some on the right concerned” because they are “privately skeptical about Ryan’s involvement.”
A “sweet spot”? Oh dear. He made noises about this right after the Senate bill was passed, and then had trouble explaining why border security should be tied to any immigration reform.
Real Clear Politics notes that the “2016 buzz” surrounding Ryan in Iowa is “subdued” and speculates, in part, that
. . . while Ryan was once largely viewed on the right as an insurgent candidate befitting the mood of a combative and ideologically pure generation of Republicans, his association with Mitt Romney is not the only negative for conservatives these days. Ryan’s recent overtures to pro-immigration reform advocates also threaten to leave him branded with the dreaded “establishment” tag.
Hopefully, Ryan will realize that it’s not a good sign that the people who are championing Rubio with any enthusiasm have been Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer , the latter notably and hilariously moving republican congressman Trey Gowdy (SC) “almost to the point of tears” with his “concern” for the future of the GOP.
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Comments
Short answer: Yes.
I have written Ryan off: no more votes or money from me. I will not support any politician who facilitates rewarding criminals with citizenship.
Politicians that work in the bubble of logic free D.C. don’t seem to realize that the reason people are pissed off with congress is precisely because they don’t take a stand against these horrifically large, complicated omnibus bills that no one reads until after they’ve been passed.
Rubio got played hard, Boehner and Ryan are about to be played hard, and 2014 may be the year that dems take back the house as well. Why, you might ask do I say this? Because it’s better to euthanize a severely wounded country quickly, rather than let it linger wounded and crippled. Call it the 1st step in an intervention. You need to let the country realize that it’s hit rock bottom before it will accept any help.
I would rather the country woke up from this madness and elected a constitutionally minded congress intent on REPEALING more laws than it enacts, but I think my hope may be forlorn. If it’s a choice between lingering decrepitude or a fast fall requiring a complete reset, I’d go with the latter. The pain will hit some generation, and it might as well be us. The buck stops here.
Rubio’s biggest problem isn’t his immigration position, he could (eventually) recover from that. It’s that he LIED about the bill’s provisions and their effects and “guarantees” OVER and OVER and over again.
Ryan hasn’t stepped in it yet. Careers don’t usually end on head feints.
For both of them, Cruz, Paul, Thune, and any other career Congress-dweller with ambitions: go home, run for Governor, do a good job, and we’ll come calling. As of now, YOU ARE NOT QUALIFIED to be President.
Learn how to actually manage a big operation by doing it successfully. We don’t need another greenhorn incompetent buffoon in the White House.
Or how about manage a real business successfully? Make a payroll? Deliver needed/wanted products to consumers? I’m following Ron Johnson.
I’m a black conservative man in Racine, WI which is part of Ryan’s Wisconsin 1st congressional district. I’ve met him several times at Racine Tea Party events and I’ve voted for him in every election since 1998.
But several of Ryan’s recent actions have troubled me; even though he positions himself as a fiscal conservative he always seems to end up supporting the “establishment” position, whether its TARP or the bailouts of GM and Chrysler. I understand that as part of House leadership he has to support some votes but he always supports the “establishment” position even when his vote is not necessary.
Now with his embrace of “immigration reform” I can no longer in good faith support him. The irony is that my wife and I are both legal immigrants who went through the arduous naturalization process yet it bothers me to see him supporting this shortcut while there are millions of legal immigrants waiting in line.
The commendable thing is that he holds frequent town hall meetings and you can bet I’ll be at his next event demanding that he explain his support for “immigration reform.”
Hail, fellow, well met. Please ask Ryan why he positions himself as Conservative but does not vote that way.
I believe he says he’s conservative, but he does not believe that he is.
Okay. It is a no-brainer.
Surrender is not a viable platform to run on.
Try this …
“Vote for me because the other guy is right.”
When people know I can tell the difference between urine and rain and stil try to tell me it’s rain on my leg. When people do 180s with a smile. When people do what will obviously, predictably cause what they claim they don’t want, I have a question.
Does somebody have something on these clowns?
>>”Will Paul Ryan Go the Way Of Marco Rubio?”
Why the question? It’s foreordained.
The “sweet spot”? That’s the spot where we lose and they win. The GOP could hit it blindfolded.
Come on punks, hit the “don’t like” button.
Boehner’s your real problem! He’s the guy who spray paints himself orange, calls himself a republican speaker of de’ house. Who is forever drunk. But, yes. Really nice blue eyes, who, like Frank Sinatra, doesn’t suffer from red eye.
And, more than anything else. Boehner has the best tie collection in all of DC.
Perhaps you”re wondering why congress can’t get above 15% approval rating? Well, if they’re not too drunk, they can always grab the pot of pork! Which is the only reason they went through the trouble of getting elected.
Spill tea on it. And, it still doesn’t improve.
One of the reasons it won’t improve? It’s da’ “culture.” Just like all “cultures” that supersede the American Way; you’ve chosen a common whore to lead you out of the wilderness.
As to Paul Ryan, how does he escape blame when it came to selling the Mitt Romney ticket?
I’m old enough to remember George Romney. Who, back in 1968 wanted to be the republican nominee. And, his competition was Nixon.
We were deep in the mud in Vietnam. Which, at first, (like Irak), was met with enthusiasm. Until it became obvious that drafted Americans were dropping like flies. And, one question George Romney was asked by the press was: “How come you supported going into Vietnam?” And, he answered: “Because I was brainwashed.”
You can’t claim brainwashing, now. You can only claim STUPID. Nice ties on Boehner. Leading the stupid party. (You know Pelosi thinks she can get the gavel back!)
Can you fix any of this before 2014? Boehner, and the chinless wonder in the senate, really believe they don’t even have to worry much about their candidates. Because Americans are so angry, they’ll get picked because the democrats are gonna go down in flames.
It’s how the STUPID PARTY plays politics. It’s also what George explained to his son, Mitt.
Speaker Boehner is the key here. He could possibly pass the Senate bill with all the Dems and a small number of more liberal Reps… But, the Hastert Rule requires that any legislation that he allows on the floor be acceptable to the majority of his caucus. And, I think enough of his caucus has made clear to him that if immigration “reform” anything like the Senate bill gets to the floor, his days as Speaker are numbered. I expect that the reason that he seems to dither so much is that he is caught between his caucus on the one side and a combination of beltway interests, news media, Dems, etc on the other. Let me add that Ryan doesn’t face that, but rather just a somewhat moderate WI district and national political aspirations.
The Republicans had better get their act together or else we WILL suffer the full consequences of the anointed one’s agenda.
The democrats are soooooo much better at this game..
Dear Grumpy One:
It’s not too hard to get the low IQ voters to vote the democrapic ticket. They get government checks. And, free cell phones. What’s not to like?
What we don’t know, however, is how many voters, above the median IQ line will go out and vote for another republican mayor. (True, Bloomberg got 3 terms) … but what’s to choose? There’s wall-to-wall nannies.
The Republicans have bought into the media’s portrayal that they are responsible for a “dysfunctional congress”. Now they want to appear to be reasonable and are willing to sell the farm to get the media to like them. Where do we get all these people without any convictions? They listen to their colleagues and not their constituencies. But, they don’t have to because their constituency will re-elect these fools. They do it time and time again. I look at Burr who is my Senator and have no doubt he would have voted for the immigration policy if his vote was needed. It wasn’t so he was able to vote, “No”. Is it time to send these people a set of balls again? They won’t be voted out of office. People keep saying they don’t want a third party, but the fact is we already have one — it’s just hidden inside the GOP.
I don’t like being lied to. Rubio lied through his teeth about what was in the bill, then said he was going to work to correct what he denied. Same with Ryan.
We’ll see what happens with Ryan. Immigration reform just isn’t the ticket that goes onwards and upwards in the GOP.
What we’re really seeing is the diconnect between the GOP beltway boys values and their base’s values. Someone’s run numbers and panicked the GOP into courting the Hispanic vote, and, being morons, they believe that immigration reform is the key to the Hispanic hearts.
BTW, the numbers make the US eventually having the same racial makeup of Texas– you know the state’s that’s a hotbead of Dems and the Left. We should pray. Right?
Current demographic trends make Texas permanently Democrat in maybe 20 years. So yes, we should pray.
LBJ came from Texas.
Seems our worst presidents come from Texas. And, when they fail they have to go back to Texas.
It seems, no matter what party puts up the clown, we’re getting candidates who’d even be rejected by clown schools.
And, now we have Perry, hair sprayed and all. Telling us he’s in the running for the republican nomination in 2016.
This is why the democraps probably own the casino.
Obama was from Illinois and Carter was from Georgia. So no, our worst Presidents have not all come from Texas.
And where are all the Dems coming from? It ain’t Mexico or anywhere further South. Most of the ones I meet are coming from California.
Racial demographics aren’t nearly as accurate in predicting political affiliation as people believe. They base their belief around Black Americans who are a very specific group that have a very specific hitory in America. And even their monolithic voting block is breaking down. Identity politics is a dead end and more and more people are coming to that conclusion.
That doesn’t stop people from panicking in the meantime though, and that’s what we’re witnessing.
Somewhat flippantly, the question then becomes – why rush things and make it 10 years by allowing in tens of millions more likely Dem voters?
Still, demographic trends have a way of equalizing out. The Dem coalition is showing signs of fragmenting, with union members bailing on ObamaCare and welfare recipients. Blacks and Hispanics going at it more often, etc. Besides, there is the “Roe” effect with mainline Dems (excluding Hispanics) tending to not reproduce themselves – apparently the stronger you back abortion, the less likely you will reproduce.
apparently the stronger you back abortion, the less likely you will reproduce
That’s one of the reasons liberals want massive immigration. To replace the children they aren’t having.
Cruz/Demint 2016
According to a recent poll the newly legal illegals would vote (how’s that gonna work) 8-1 Democrat. The fact that so many Republicans are playing the Democrats game gives credence to their moniker “The Stupid Party”!
both Rubio and Ryan (add Rand to the list) are failed candidates. none stand with conservatives when the going gets tough.
Ryan is an intentional, conscious phony. He willingly told what he knew were to be lies to the American people during the deal that created the sequester “solution.”
What lies? Ryan did not come up with the sequester. That was the 6 or 8 people in the committee. Ryan was not part of the committee.
I really liked Paul Ryan, but I don’t know where the hell he is coming from. He doesn’t seem definitively like a conservative.