Posted on 12/14/2017 10:23:07 AM PST by Beave Meister
Spirits were high inside the House chamber on Thursday, November 16, when, in the early afternoon, the gavel fell and a measure to rewrite the American tax code passed on a partisan tally of 227 to 205. As the deciding votes were cast—recorded in green on the black digital scoreboard suspended above the floor—the speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, threw his head back and slammed his hands together. Soon he was engulfed in a sea of dark suits, every Republican lawmaker wanting to slap him on the shoulder and be a part of his moment.
Ryan was the man of the hour. Having spent a quarter-century in Washington—as an intern, waiter, junior think-tanker, Hill staffer and, since 1999, as a member of Congress—he had never wavered in his obsession with fixing what he viewed as the nation’s two fundamental weaknesses: its Byzantine tax system and ballooning entitlement state. Now, with House Republicans celebrating the once-in-a-generation achievement of a tax overhaul, Ryan was feeling both jubilant and relieved—and a little bit greedy. Reveling in the afterglow, Ryan remarked to several colleagues how this day had proven they could accomplish difficult things—and that next year, they should set their sights on an even tougher challenge: entitlement reform. The speaker has since gone public with this aspiration, suggesting that 2018 should be the year Washington finally tackles what he sees as the systemic problems with Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
He’s not the worst. Mitch is the worst of thew RINOS.
Maybe he too fondled someone- I’m think Bitch Mc.... maybe.
Gee, what an opportunity, maybe we can get ol’ Boner back.....
(Kidding, kidding, kidding, kidding.......)
From the article:
Less than an hour before the polls closed on November 8, 2016, Ryan made the phone call he’d been dreading. With a handful of staffers and family members lingering nearby, Ryan was patched through to senior officials at the RNC in Washington. They had been analyzing voting patterns and running turnout models throughout the day, and were prepared to share their projections with the speaker: Donald Trump was going to go down in flames, earning just 220 electoral votes. Republicans would lose nearly 20 House seats. Democrats would retake control of the United States Senate. Exactly the debacle Ryan had feared.
Stewing inside his team’s war room at the Holiday Inn in Janesville—the site of his own election night party—Ryan could not stomach the thought of working with President Hillary Clinton. That said, he wasn’t exactly thrilled about working with Trump, whose campaign—fueled by anger, resentment and nativism—was, in his view, a rejection of conservatism’s highest ideals. As disappointed as he was about Clinton’s apparent victory, the speaker saw a silver lining: He would seize the occasion of Trump’s defeat—beginning that night—to speak about a return to an inclusive, aspirational, Jack Kemp-inspired “happy warrior” conservatism, and a rejection of Trumpism.
But Ryan never got the chance. His own race had been called early, and attendees waited patiently in the ballroom for his victory speech. But the speaker was paralyzed in the war room, watching in disbelief as Trump surged past Clinton in the pivotal battlegrounds of Florida and North Carolina. The RNC’s numbers, his advisers told him, were garbage: the GOP’s Senate majority appeared safe, only a handful of House Republicans were losing, and if the current trends held, Trump was going to win the biggest upset in presidential history.
On election night, the RNC was predicting a Clinton landslide and a Democrat takeover of the Senate.
Please explain
What a loser.
I don’t know why I hadn’t even considered that.
Mitt obviously wants back in the game, so if Orrin Hatch is really staying (at Trump’s personal behest), Mitt may see the Speakership as the only Brass Ring now available for someone at his stage in life. “I’ll take it!”
“That said, he wasn’t exactly thrilled about working with Trump, whose campaign—fueled by anger, resentment and nativism—was, in his view, a rejection of conservatism’s highest ideals”
Conservatism’s highest ideals? Like being a punching bag and bending over for the MSM, Dems and their name calling globalist agenda?
[Mitt may see the Speakership as the only Brass Ring now available]
MITT still has his eye on the PRESIDENCY.
Sarah just said in the press briefing that Ryan is not resigning and has spoken with the president about the rumor being a surprise to him.
https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2010/03/the-retirement-announcement-la/
basically they set up a super PAC then retire and pay themselves a hefty salary...
Could we really get that lucky?
Get the HELL out!!
#piewhisperer
What happened to Wiener Mobile driver?
Wasn’t that his only private sector job?
Good. I always thought that he wasn’t ready to be either the Veep or the Speaker - regardless of his politics or smarmyness. I really hope that he goes, and is replaced by someone who actually helps Trump.
Good point.
Many Freepers are happy to just criticize and bandwagon without any depth of thought. Which is fine if that is what people need to feel relevant nowadays.
I'm not suggesting Ryan should stay. He should go.
But his full story is not, AT ALL, what people here often claim. He certainly did NOT come to DC to be a liberal RINO or anything like that.
Though few here recall, Paul Ryan came to town as the Donald Trump of entitlement reform!
He tried and tried to do the right thing. If what he proposed back then was law today, America would be Great Again already by now.
Very briefly, he wanted to turn entitlements back to the states where they Constitutionally belong (if anywhere) and where they can be continued or killed closer to home. In the meantime, keeping the current SS/MC boondoggles for everyone over fifty (I think) and who still wanted them. And giving the younger folks a more private-ized option - like actually owning the money you put into SS, etc. Which would allow the accumulation of inter-generation wealth, break the poverty cycles, etc.
Then, along the way he soured. At least in the sense that he gradually quit fighting hard for the drastic and more simplistic (always better) changes we really need at the federal level.
Essentially a guy who dove head long into the swamp to save us, then treading swamp for some years and eventually, from our current perspective, giving up and actually patching leaks in the swamp.
Not many at FR will like to hear this, but Trump is FAR worse than Ryan on these issues. The Don came to town actually promising NOT to fix the only problem which is at least as big as the immigration problem - ballooning entitlements.
If those two egos could have just meshed instead of mashed, then there would be so much freaking winning by now we would not know what to ask for Christmas by next year. Because:
If we did to entitlements what Ryan originally wanted, then lots of illegals would stop coming here. Which helps A LOT on the entitlement side.
...and...
If we did everything Trump wanted, then we have less votes coming here that favor more entitlements.
A win/win MAGA/MAGA!
I don't care what Ryan says, he's leaving because of Trump.
Ryan's (and conservative/libertarian America's) dreams of entitlement reform were already sinking because most of the R side of the Hill were too wussy to back him up. Then came Obama for eight years. Then Trump. To Ryan and the dream of SS/MC reform, the Don is essentially the third term of Obama. And, despite what the establishment thought originally after the miracle of 2016, Ryan now knows Trump has a good chance of winning again.
Ryan should have been dethroned as speaker about 10 minutes into the job. But he would probably never lose his House seat - he is well liked in his district. However, that should be a warning. His district is NOT super conservative like where I live several districts North of him in WI. It could easily flip in 2018 with him out of the race. But that is not good enough reason to keep him, he is too swampy smelling for me now.
His story is a tragic one really. Rather than pile on, the Freepers and Republicans should learn from it. He came to town good and is leaving town tainted. The lesson I'd suggest the fools on the Hill to learn is this:
KISS. Keep it Simple Stupids.
By the time we get to Ryan's speaker years, his plans became so arrogantly complicated (wrongly trying please everybody and hurt nobody) they had to be designed in the secret bat cave and rushed to votes before they can be digested. The 3-part HC reform scam that some here wanted to pass for the insanely short-sighted reason of having a 'win' for Trump was the worst example. And, worse, Trump would have signed it for the same anti-MAGA / pro-ego reason.
That plan was total fiction, as hard to read as it would be to swallow its thousands of pages. Basically it was: take poison today, expect some bureaucratic band aids till 2018 and then pray the next Congress passes the antidote phase.
Trump is fabulous in many ways. Better than any of the other candidates would have been on immigration, global warming, pro-life issues, trade and more. But he is nowhere near a conservative on legislative matters. Let's hope our next speaker (if we hold the House) is a real leader. Because Trump's philosophy of just simply advocating a totally subjective concept of 'winning' can be used to the advantage of conservative legislation. I think he'd sign things he promised not to sign on the condition he can call it winning, which it would be if it was similar to what The Trump of Entitlement Reform came to town for in the first place 18 years ago.
The Don could become Ryan 2.0 by his second term if he is not more vigilant in that regard than was The Paul.
” He wouldn’t have to share the ballot with Trump again in 2020.”
I thought Pence was Vice President.
Is Ryan from NY? I thought he was from Wisconsin. Why would he share the ballot with Trump in NY or any of the other 48 states where he isn’t running.
What a STUPID statement! Just a way for the author to erroneously attack Trump.
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