JACK RYAN'S REMARKS UPON RELEASE OF CUSTODY RECORDS

Jack Ryan for US Senate ^

[SpyderTim]

Thank you, everybody, for being here today. I'm very grateful you came out today to listen to me and hear my thoughts.

We just spent a weekend in this country thinking about fatherhood. I couldn't be with my son this weekend, but he sent me the most beautiful picture. It's a picture of him in a James Bond costume. He's got an oversized tuxedo on, and he's got a hat that is way too big, and kind of askew. He's got this look on his face, and I think he's trying to be cunning, but he looks a little bit sad. It's the most adorable picture that a Dad could ever want. And, of course, he writes this "I love you" note in large handwriting that's kind of shaky.

I know it's on days like yesterday, when we want to be with the ones that we love the most, especially when we have Father's Day, and we cannot be with them, that we think about them the most. I thought a lot about my son this weekend, and I thought a lot about being a father, and about being a Dad, and what does it mean to be a Dad. What is the responsibility of being a Dad? And I thought, well, the first job of a Dad, of any parent, a Mom, a Dad, is to protect your children. That's what we want for our children, is to protect them. And it's so hard today.

The culture impinges on them. The media impinges upon them. The world sometimes seems to want to hurt them. So we all want our children close to us, and to protect them from anything that might come their way. I know that every parent out there feels the exact same way I do.

I also think about how Jeri Lynn and I have tried to protect Alex. We have tried to provide for him a nurturing home, and people around him who love him and comfort him at all times. And I think we do a good job of that. But Alex was born with many challenges - more than most children are born with, and as most of you know, he's a special needs child.

It's also become hard today when parents think about careers because you know that your first obligation is to your child, but you also know at times you are called to do things for a higher purpose. You have an obligation to your family, but it's also your calling to do things beyond your family, to help those beyond your immediate family, and also to add security to your family and make sure that you are doing the right things for the family.

It's not always easy to know what career you need to choose. What's the right career to fulfill your responsibility as a human, to be able to fulfill your responsibility to help the less fortunate, while always fulfilling your primary responsibility to your child? A lot of people have said to me in the last three months that it's politically damaging to keep these files sealed, so I should just release these files. But what Dad wouldn't do the same thing that I did?

What Dad would not try to keep information about your child that might cause them harm away from their eyes? And even the things that Moms and Dads say to each other about each other … these things should be kept away from children.

As parents, I think we all try to keep disagreements between each other away from our children. So what parents wouldn't try to do what Jeri Lynn and I tried to do?

So as I think about trying so hard with Jeri Lynn's help to keep these documents sealed … if I could say one thing to Alex I'd say I'm sorry. I tried the best I could. I wish I could have done better. To Jeri Lynn I'd say, thank you. While we worked together these past months to safeguard our son, she has been so supportive, and she has always been a great Mom.

Through adversity and failure and disappointment - and I have had my fair share of that in my life - I think God is trying to teach me a lesson. One lesson I know I keep getting is to persevere and to remember. The second lesson I always get is to stick by your principles, stick by your priorities, and stand up for those things that you think are right, that you know are right. The last thing, of course, is when you fail, get up and recommit to do better.

I will answer any question that any of you want to talk about.

[SpyderTim]

In his own words.

[Cubs Fan]

Too bad, the public has a right to know he is a terrible wicked man.

BTW that thing with clinton where he harassed a woman and lied about it under oath and raped a woman. Yeah that was his private life sand nobody's business.

/liberal double standard

[corkoman]

tell us what you really think

There is a funny thing about stuff generated in a divorce struggle - a lot of it turns out to be less than what it first was made to appear.

[satchmodog9]

He's an idiot. He sounds like a rat.

[Huck]

If he really wants to protect the kid, he should drop out.

[TheRightGuy]

Hastert, Edgar, Judas, 'hood ... traitors one and all.

It just tore their butts up when the top three finishers in the GOP Senate primary were all conservatives ... they are plotting a power grab, pure and simple.

They will try to install either Jim Edgar or Andy "Combine" McKenna as a the establishment replacement for Ryan.

Whether you like Ryan, or whether you don't (and I have never been a big fan of his), I think we conservatives need to band together to stop the US Senate slot from being hijacked from us.

[damncat]

"Too bad, the public has a right to know he is a terrible wicked man."

No, they do not.
One of your Illinois liberal judicial activist judges released sealed court records to slander Ryan in his bid for office. The judge deserves to be impeached for his action. The ones who really suffer in this case are the children. That is why the case was sealed to begin with, because minors where involved.

Of course it's now time for Ryan to retire for the good of the party. Even though ones personal kinks are no one else's business. It's an unfortunate circumstance for everyone , the party, his supporters, and all the citizens of Illinois who can't seem to fine an honest politicians in the state.

[jbstrick]

"No, they do not"

Actually, As a PUBLIC official. He dosen't have much privacy. It appears this guy was talking out of both sides of his mouth.

[SpyderTim]

The judge is from California.

[ServesURight]

Every time I see a Jack Ryan thread the pulsating beat of the clock from the TV show "24" comes to mind.

[Bernard]

1. If the worst thing his ex-wife can say about him in a divorce filing is that he wanted to have sex with his wife, he's obviously unqualified to be a Democrat. He just acts like one.

2. None of the local coverage in the Chicago area connects the dots that this happened before he gave up the corporate life and became a teacher. That would make a Republican look human, and we can't have that.

3. This really was about sex.

4. The worst part of this is that he married a woman who would be willing to put that stuff in writing. Her adultery before and during the divorce is briefly mentioned, but certainly not prominent.

5. A local politician in McHenry County was smeared with a child-abuse rumor just before an election a few years ago. I still have the mailing in my files, as a reminder of what the Democrats are like.

Last - looks like 6 years of a muslim name in the Senate from Illinois. Very unfortunate.

[spintreebob]

Thanks for the correct title: Custody records. These are not divorce records, as most of the media erroneously print. Such little embellishments of the facts are used to spin the story a certain direction.

Jeri Ryan and her parents say Jack is a great father, a great person, and should be US Senator. (Even though I don't expect her to say that she perjured herself in the custody case.)

[spintreebob]

The divorce and custody cases were in California. It was a Californika judge that released the records over the objections of both Jeri and Jack Ryan, and over the objections of the expert appointed by the court to make a recommendation.

and remember. These are custody records. Not divorce records.

Did Jack break any law? Did Jack break any of the 10 commandments? He didn't commit adultery with someone not his wife. He didn't commit envy/lust with someone not his wife (She ain't no Hilary.)

He did do something stupid considering he knew he wanted to be a political candidate. He did handle the public relations situation ineptly. He apparently has lousy advisors. That is true of most conservative politicians I know. They handle public relations ineptly.

[Brilliant]

I hate to say it, but I don't want Ryan representing my party. He may or may not be guilty of that which they accuse him of, but what on earth possesses a man who goes thru a nasty divorce like that to run for office? You've got to do better than that if you want to be a Republican. Let the Dems have the dirtbags on their ticket.

[Pit1]

Get the hook. This guy is damaged goods. Replace him now.

[Mr. Jazzy]

You mean an ex-wife actually might not tell the 100% truth in custody papers?

Are you serious?

I speak from experience, that a woman, determined to hurt her ex-husband, is capable of practically ANY vile and scandalous lie the sinful human mind can conceive!

Without any evidence or other testimony, I would be more than willing to give this guy the BENIFIT of the doubt!

And you are going to believe every word this woman says? SHE IS A PAID LIAR!!! She ACTS for a living! She uses emotions and the emotions of others to make people believe that she is not herself, but the character she is portraying!!!

What is wrong with us!?!

[Milligan]

I 100% agree with you. People think they are on Titanic! They are jumping off the ship like lemmings and the ship isn't sinking yet. They are swimming away because their guy is not 100% perfect. By the time common sense takes over 100% of vote will go to Obama!

[Barnacle]

From: http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/06/22/ryan.divorce/

Jeri Ryan said her then-husband took her on three "surprise trips" in the spring of 1998 to New Orleans, New York and Paris, during which he took her to sex clubs. She said she refused to go in the first and went into the second at his insistence.

"It was a bizarre club with cages, whips and other apparatus hanging from the ceiling," she said in the court document, adding that her husband "wanted me to have sex with him there, with another couple watching. I refused."

She said on arriving at the third club, in Paris, "people were having sex everywhere. I cried. I was physically ill. [He] became very upset with me and said it was not a 'turn on' for me to cry."

Jack Ryan at today’s news conference.

Ping.

(If you want on my Illinois ping list, please send me a FReepmail)

[stainlessbanner]

stick by your principles, stick by your priorities

Stick it in your ear, Jack. Don't drag children and God into this.

[Barnacle]

Did Jack break any law? Did Jack break any of the 10 commandments? He didn't commit adultery with someone not his wife.

Right on!
And, I did not have sex with that woman...
Monica Lewinski.