Paul Ryan: Our Best Hope for Speaker of the House?
“It is our duty to serve the people the way they deserve to be served.”
Speaking Tuesday, Rep. Paul Ryan said he would consider running for Speaker of the House.
Prior to McCarthy’s sudden withdrawal from the Speaker race, Paul adamantly denied any interest in running for the gavel. Paul is now reluctantly willing to reconsider leading up the House Republican caucus if he can be, “a unifying figure.”
Paul listed four conditions to accepting the job:
“Basically I made a few requests for what I think is necessary, and I asked to hear back by the end of the week.
First, we need to move from being an opposition party to a proposition party. Because we think the nation is on the wrong path, we have a duty to show the right one. Our next speaker needs to be a visionary one.
Second, we need to update our House rules so that everyone can be a more effective representative. This is, after all, the people’s house. But we need to do it as a team. And it needs to include fixes that ensure we don’t experience constant leadership challenges and crisis.
Third, we, as a conference, should unify now, and not after a divisive speaker election.
The last one is personal. I cannot and will not give up my family time. I may not be able to be on the road as much as previous speakers, but I pledged to make up for it with more time communicating our message.
What I told the members is, if you can agree to these requests, and I can truly be a unifying figure, then I will gladly serve. And, if I am not unifying, that is fine as well. I will be happy to stay where am, at the Ways and Means Committee.
The Wisconsin Representative went on to describe the challenges facing the next Speaker of the House and further addressed his personal concerns about being away from his children during their formative years:
“It is our duty to serve the people the way they deserve to be served. It is our duty to make the tough decisions this country needs to get back on track.
The challenges we face today are too difficult and demanding for us to turn our backs and walk away.
Global terror . . . wars on multiple fronts . . . a government grown unaccountable, unconstitutional, and out-of-touch . . . persistent poverty, a sluggish economy, flat wages and a sky-rocketing debt.
But we cannot take them on alone. Now, more than ever, we must work together.
All of us are representatives of the people—all the people. We have been entrusted by them to lead.
One thing I’ve learned from my upbringing in Janesville is that nothing is ever solved by blaming people. We can blame the president. We can blame the media. We can point fingers across the aisle. We can blame each other. We can dismiss our critics and criticism as unfair.
People don’t care about blame. They don’t care about effort. They care about results. Results that are meaningful. Results that are measurable. Results that make a difference in their daily lives.
I want to be clear about this. I still think we are an exceptional country with exceptional people and a republic clearly worth fighting for. It’s not too late to save the American idea, but we are running out of time.
Make no mistake: I believe that the ideas and principles of results-driven, common-sense conservatism are the keys to a better tomorrow—a tomorrow in which all of God’s children will be better off than they are today.
…I have shown my colleagues what I think success looks like, what it takes to unify and lead, and how my family commitments come first. I have left this decision in their hands, and should they agree with these requests, then I am happy and willing to get to work. Thank you.”
Several Congressional members who publicly considered running immediately after McCarthy’s withdrawal have thrown their support behind Ryan.
Several Rs who have floated spkr runs of their own — Chaffetz of Utah, as well as Texans Flores and Conaway — say they're backing Ryan.
— Robert Costa (@costareports) October 21, 2015
Aside from his Vice Presidential run in 2012, Ryan has a tendency to avoid the spotlight, keep his head down, and concentrate on his work for the House Ways and Means Committee.
Despite his popularity, Ryan’s previous tangles with immigration issues have some Republicans concerned. Speaking to the House Freedom Caucus, Ryan promised not to pursue immigration reform should he be elected speaker.
To date, there has emerged no other candidate for the gavel who is both 1) able to win, and 2) more conservative.
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Comments
Screw Ryan. F conservative rating. The next speaker must promise to never ever let comprehensive immigration reform see a floor vote. Ryan can’t be trusted and is no conservative.
Ryan needs to spend ALL his time with his family and get the hell out of the way.
For someone who claims he wants to unify the party he sure is going about it the wrong way by making demands and basically saying, “it’s my way or it’s my way.” Whatever happened to healthy dissent? We fought a war against just this kind of authoritarianism so why succumb to it again?
As Mssr. Artie d’Deal would tell you, it isn’t inherently wrong to set a high “anchor” when negotiating.
It WOULD be wrong for real conservatives to kow-tow to Mr. Ryan’s demands.
“Just say NO!”. It isn’t hard.
Since when is it authoritarian set conditions on accepting a job?
With respect to squabbling, the Republicans have done nothing but that. Ryan has said he will lead, but only if he can lead. He has no desire to listen to a thousand Monday-morning quarterbacks kvetching after the fact.
If I’m not mistaken there’s a job description for Speaker. He wants to set other conditions, great, he can do it and the House can either accept or reject them. I do hope they reject them.
Thank you, Nancy Pelosi.
No.
Paul is now reluctantly willing to reconsider leading up the House Republican caucus if he can be, “a dictatorial figure.” FIFY
If he can be a “unifying figure” when his demand is that the party unify before he even begins? If the party unifies first it no longer needs a unifying figure, ai-je raison, eh*?
*(French Canadian)
Henry, you’re screwing up their script. To them, it’s worse than passing gas in an crowded elevator.
Hah! BRings me to mind of a time in the 1980s when I visited one of my sisters at her workplace and to take her to lunch. As we were riding the elevator down, somebody, not me, I swear, nor my sister (women never poot but are often near a dog or man who might), let a particularly nasty one go, an SBD. The 6-8 people on the elevator were clearly discomfitted, some turning green. I couldn’t help myself and said, “Liz!”
Ryan is the Establishment’s “best hope” for the Speaker of the House. He will follow directly in Boehner’s footsteps.
Paul Ryan: “It is our duty to serve the people the way they deserve to be served.”
It takes a lot of damned nerve to say that after participating in the GOPe lies to their own party members about what they’d do if only they’d be given a Senate majority to go along with the House majority. I’d have more respect for him if he’d said, “Duty to serve the people is a fine thing, I suppose, but we’ve got quite a different agenda – and thank you very much suckers!”
“….serve the people the way they deserve to be served.”
Paraphrasing Mencken: I guess he wants to serve us good and hard.
Hah, love me some Mencken. One of my favorite HLM quotes sits on the website masthead at Ace Of Spades:
“Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.”
http://ace.mu.nu/
If raising his children during their formative years is so important to him, he’d best not even be a U.S. Representative. He needs to make up his mind which is more important, being the Speaker of the House, or being a dad during the formative years.
Even the typical low-level working-Sap type job, requires time away from home at some point or the other. It is difficult enough being a good dad to small/young/teen children even without being Speaker of the House.
At the end of our lives, I doubt many of us will be sitting on the front porch swing, on a late afternoon, wishing we’d spent more time at work
You’re right but I sure wish I had been more sensible with the money I made while I was working. Some of us have a lapful of regret over the stupid failures of our youth, now that youth is a memory.
Some? You are not alone, my brother. Far from it. There’s not enough bandwidth here for me to list all the mistakes I made before attaining age 30. As we speak I’m planning an Ex-Wives Convention in the hope I can five-finger discount a few credit cards and checkbooks when nobody’s looking. Get some of my mistakes back. Then there was my continental tour of American, Canadian, and Mexican drunk tanks…
I understand your laments. I too have copious errors, mistakes, stupidity, and sad memories. Alas, we move forward with a more steely determination, still making errors, but learning from them.
The Key: Learn from your mistakes!!
It’s a rare human being who took nothing but steps forward, never a step back, and should a man claim it I would call him a liar. If a woman claims it I would say, ‘well then, step over here….’.
Ryan is pro-Open Borders and Amnesty. Within a short period of time of his coronation as the Democrat-RINO Coalition Speaker of the House, there would be a new version of the Gang of 8 bill passed, sent to the Senate, passed there with McConnell’s help, and signed.
That is what voting for Ryan means.
Exactly. He’s way too friendly with that nutjob Gutierrez.
Ryan would be crazy to take it without some assurances the numb nuts won’t try to sabotage the debt ceiling vote and the CR.
“Return to regular order” would be great, but if Senate Democrats are intent on blocking it, what’s the point? Even using the nuclear option or budget reconciliation, Obama is going to veto and it won’t be overridden.
– –
The idea that forcing Obama to veto more stuff does something is fantasy. When we did muster enough Democrats to pass Keystone, he vetoed without hesitation or consequence.
Sadly, people whose only plan is a government shutdown in the face of every issue think their small minority should dictate policy.
What, no comment on changing a rule established by Thomas Jefferson?
If he doesn’t like how the House has been run for two centuries he should be in the Senate or not in Congress at all?
From the dictionary:
“Numb Nuts” – Liberty loving Americans
“Estragon” – anti-Liberty establishment Republican
The idea is not to get a veto for the sake of getting a veto; the idea is to make Zero veto it and then make him own it. Point out that Zero is the obstructionist. Hang that baby around his neck.
Not that I expect the GOPE to clearly convey that message, though ~
Truthfully? I say better the devil you know than the devil you don’t. What a disappointment.
Or, it could be him setting up impossible standards by which he’d be elected speaker, because he really never wanted the job anyway.
“Truthfully? I say better the devil you know than the devil you don’t. What a disappointment.”
Well, I didn’t realize until the recent publicity that Representative Ryan was so pro-open borders and amnesty. Hard to call him ‘the devil you know’.
“Work together” with the Social Democrats? Did Meade “work together” with Lee at Gettysburg? Did Washington “work together” with Rall at Trenton? Did Zhukov “work together” with von Paulus at Stalingrad? Jeeeeezzz…
What Ryan is spouting is unicorn-fart material. He may call it “working together” but the Social Democrats will call it “victory”. They will never cooperate on any project worth doing.
As it has been since the mid-19th century, the R’s job is to fight the destructive and disgusting policies of the D’s.
Ryan’s family looks nice. He should spend more time with them. A lot more.
When he says that the individual members need more ability to be heard and in the same breath says he won’t run unless the ability to remove the speaker is deleted from the House rules, tells me that the individual member will have zero chance of making a difference and the whole body cannot throw the bum out. This is Democracy at work?
I don’t seem to recall any instances of “constant leadership challenges and crisis” until the Orange Lush went all squishy with Democrats and took a hard line against any Republican who didn’t toe his line.
“Paul Ryan told a predominantly Hispanic audience that the job of a U.S. lawmaker is to put oneself in the shoes of foreign nationals who want to come to the United States, then work to discover solutions to make their lives better.”
http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2015/10/paul-ryan-doesn-believe-in-borders-or.html
Really Ryan? I though the duty of a U.S. lawmaker is to work for the citizens who voted for him.
I thought I was listening to the reincarnation of Barack Obama, not a Republican member of the People’s House of Representatives. Dictatorial and fascist come to mind. He doesn’t want the GOP to be an “opposition” Party, then he’s been lying all along to the people of his District and when he ran for VP in 2012.
It is the purpose of different political parties to be at odds, that’s why we have them…
With the US Senate considering allowing the President to raise the debt limit at his own discretion without Senate consent, and the House being asked to eliminate motions to vacate the post of Speaker, serious people should begin asking what constitutional and democratic purpose remains in having a Congress to begin with. This isn’t about Republicans alone either. If the institutions are going to give up their power, why have them?
Ryan’s even worse than Boehner . . . hard to conceive, but true.
Luis Gutiérrez is more than enough proof.
Back to the drawing board.
Or keep Boehner . . . like SallyMJ above said: ‘the devil you know’.
Reading all the pissing & moaning in this thread I can understand why the man views the job with disfavor.
If he views it with disfavor, why apply? A “savior” complex, perhaps? No thank you. The idea is for all reps to have input that reflects what the people who put them in their jobs want, not for someone who thinks of himself as the leader telling us what to do because he supposedly knows better. A leader develops consensus by convincing his co-workers of the validity and correctness of his position, not by imposing his will!
I’m fairly sure that no one in this thread is a member of the US House, and pretty sure that Mr. Ryan is too busy these days to have read it. Ryan, a top leader in the US House as Ways & Means chairman and a former VP candidate, contributed mightily to the polarization within the GOP House caucus. The ‘pissing and moaning’ ought to be ten times louder than it is, given Ryan’s and the GOPe’s poor performance and outright lying to the pissers and moaners. Conversely, some people apparently like being lied to and played for chumps. Tolerating that kind of treatment ensures it continues. In retrospect, there is only one post that satisfies the label of pissing and moaning, and that is yours.
There’s only one honorable thing to do, then.
Withdraw uncatagorically from consideration. Ryan should take the ‘high road’.
Ryan – F grade. Should be no surprise the cry baby likes him. Neither is a conservative. Both are sellouts.
Ryan just oozes self-entitlement and more surrender. How is this guy still in office?
Boot this loser immediately.
Nope, nope, nope.
But, but, but… Ryan has the endorsement of Luis Gutierrez (D-IL)! And Mark Warner (D-VA)! And Harry Reid (A-NV)!
And here’s a video of Gutierrez and Ryan, side by side, arm in arm, on stage and advocating for unlimited immigration. This is exactly the kind of bipartisan cooperation our country needs, right? Right?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_oedTEOgT4&feature=youtu.be&t=1s
A divorced waitress at my favorite place has a 5 year old daughter. She was bringing her home from her ex husbands place one day.
She was trying to let a guy in the right lane pass her by so she could over mumbling at the guy to hurry up.
Her daughter hearing the mumbling asked Mom what she was saying. So Mom told her she was trying to let the guy go by so she could move over a lane.
Daughter, with her new found words from the ex’s family then repeated over and over –
“Move on M*th*rf*ck*r”.
I think the daughter should talk to Paul Ryan.
Freedom Caucus met today to discuss Ryan’s candidacy for Speaker. They’ll “support” him, but not endorse him. Huh? Apparently a majority of the FC accepts Ryan, but not the 80% required for bloc endorsement.
Well, that’s just lovely.
The republican party is full of pussies that bend whenever someone threatens them. the only thing they’ve done since oboma was elected is bend over. One might get the idea they like it.
That’s not MY experience with pussies. Most of the ones I know stand their ground and snap at anyone who threatens their ground.
“Third, we, as a conference, should unify now, and not after a divisive speaker election.”
Translation: Shut up and do what you’re told!
I’m thinking Ryan’s not the guy.
Calm down, kids. Try to act like adults here.
Paul Ryan has been a fairly conservative Representative, and has pushed reforms and bills that the GOPe hates, as well as voted for a number of trigger-warning like bills that the conservatives hate. Romney picked him for Veep, for crying out loud, so he deserves at least serious consideration of his ability to represent the entire Republican party before you start shouting and throwing things.
We’ll leave that kind of behavior for the Democrats.
Put what he has done on one side of the scale and what he espouses on the other and lets see which way it tilts. Oh, and Romney/Ryan lost.
Spoken like a true GOPe guy – with condescension and ridicule.
“Try to act like adults here.”
Gee whiz thanks georgie. We’ll try harder. Maybe we can become adults by supporting more left wing republicans.
The Trump vote machine marches on.
“…serve the people…” The politically correct title of the old cookbook, “To Serve Man”
“Soylent Green is sheeple! SOYLENT GREEN IS SHEEPLE!”