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Speaker Ryan’s Conditions
National Review ^ | 10/20/15 7:56PM | Alexis Levinson, Eliana Johnson & Elaina Plott

Posted on 10/21/2015 4:26:36 AM PDT by 1010RD

It looks like Paul Ryan will do the job, but he’ll do it on his own terms.

He laid them out at a Republican-conference meeting on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, telling his colleagues he wants the bickering to end. That means, Republicans said as they exited the meeting, he wants universal endorsements from the various caucuses, specifically from the conservative Freedom Caucus, the Republican Study Committee, and the more moderate Tuesday Group. He gave members until Friday to let him know if they could rally behind him, so that he could make preparations or give other candidates the opportunity to do so.

“If I can truly be a unifying figure, then I will gladly serve,” Ryan reiterated to reporters later. If not, he said, “I’ll be happy to stay where I am at the Ways and Means Committee.” Ryan told reporters the next speaker should be “a visionary one,” and said he told colleagues “we need to update our House rules so that everyone can be a more effective representative,” and to do so in a way that brought an end to the constant “crises.”

But he emphasized that he had grave concerns about the toll this would take on his family, especially his young children, and told members he would not be giving up weekends, or traveling as often as Boehner has done in the role. “He said he had to make it home on weekends for his oxygen, which included his family, his church, and a deer stand,” Representative Ann Wagner, of Missouri, tells National Review.

Ryan opened the speech by telling his colleagues he had written his remarks in a deer stand. The speaker has traditionally taken on heavy fundraising duties, helping to elect Republicans to the House. Wagner, who serves as finance chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, says the committee is fine with Ryan’s proposal and is working on a plan to ensure the committee’s fundraising remains in good shape. She says she was also heartened by his statement that when he did travel to help Republicans campaign, he would focus not just on fundraising but on communication, and would do more local press and grassroots events – activities past speakers have not usually engaged in.

The response to the speech, which Wagner describes as “uplifting” and “visionary,” was hugely positive. “Overwhelming applause,” said Representative Darrel Issa, of California, as he was leaving the meeting.

Ryan was the only one to speak at the meeting, Wagner says. She says that when Boehner introduced him, he said, “he’s been in the witness protection program now for a week, and we’re gonna hear from him.”

Though it wasn’t a night in which Ryan was making many concessions — aside from a nod that he was seriously considering taking a job he has said publicly he does not want — he also hinted strongly that he will not bring an immigration bill to the House floor. He told his colleagues the issue was simply “too divisive” and he wanted to focus on the things on which the conference is in agreement, like border security and internal enforcement, as opposed to a comprehensive bill.

Whether Ryan’s proposals will be enough to placate conservatives who have been clamoring for broader institutional reforms that would democratize the House remains to be seen.

Issa and Wagner say they did not see any opposition when Ryan concluded his speech, but in a conversation with National Review, Representative Tim Huelskamp, of Kansas, says he and others were “put off” by the “list of unmeetable conditions” Ryan had put forth, specifically his demand to repeal Thomas Jefferson’s motion to vacate the chair, which gives representatives the power to oust a sitting Speaker, as they did with Boehner.

“It was my understanding that Thomas Jefferson thought that was good for the House,” Huelskamp says, “and Paul Ryan thinks he doesn’t have to live by that?” Boehner’s failure, Huelskamp adds, was in his desire to “consolidate power,” and based on Ryan’s message, it seems he’s interested in doing the same thing.

“What Paul Ryan is asking for is even more power and less responsibility.” For Huelskamp, Ryan’s conditions, which also included “not traveling on weekends” and “not campaigning,” were “baffling.”

“The best thing I can assume is that he really doesn’t want the job,” he says. “You put forth a list of conditions that nobody is going to throw their weight behind, and force people to tell you ‘no,’ rather than the other way around . . . that’s the only thing that makes sense to me.”

Wagner saw it differently. Ryan seemed excited, not reluctant, she says, and said if he won the speakership, he would fully embrace the role.

“He said, ‘Hey, I’m in for a dime, I’m in for a dollar. I’m all in,’” she recounts.


TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: loserryanreturns; pompousryan; rinoryan; ryan4king
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To: McGruff

Conditions? When you buy a car do you accept the dealer’s conditions? That one word alone tells me to tell him to go to h*ll.


I think he should feel honored to take the position...He shows his entitlement mentality and his ego.


61 posted on 10/21/2015 8:19:41 AM PDT by chasio649 (The GOPe can never seem to remember who brought them to the dance)
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To: headstamp 2

Exactly!


62 posted on 10/21/2015 8:29:03 AM PDT by chasio649 (The GOPe can never seem to remember who brought them to the dance)
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To: 1010RD

Here’s flip-flopper Paul Ryan in all his glory...

The 2011 National Journal Vote Ratings rated Paul Ryan 68.2 on the conservative scale, being more conservative than 68% of the full House, and ranked as the 150th most conservative member based on roll-call votes.[91]

Here’s Mr “I have no core values” Ryan in all his glory:

Before he signed on to be Romney’s running mate he claimed his views on abortion were the same as the Catholic Church, of which he belongs. No abortion for any reason and that includes rape, incest and “life of the mother.”

Within days after Romney chosen him he was going on all the news shows and when asked what his position was on abortion, started saying “my views are the same as Governor Romney, I am pro-life except in cases of rape, incest and life of the mother.”

In other words he threw his faith under the bus the minute Romney told him to.

A check of his abortion views now are.......

He believes all abortions should be illegal, including those resulting from rape or incest, and only makes an exception for cases where the woman’s life is at risk.[177][178]

So the minute Romney lost Ryan switched back to his original position on abortion. But he still throws his faith under the bus with the “life of the mother” exception. He can’t appear that “extreme”, where he would let a woman die in childbirth and the baby live. He needs to read the Catechism of the Catholic Church.


63 posted on 10/21/2015 8:31:46 AM PDT by NKP_Vet (In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle,stand like a rock ~ T, Jefferson)
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To: 1010RD

I just checked in to see what condition his conditions are in.


64 posted on 10/21/2015 9:19:46 AM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: Hawthorn
Though it wasn’t a night in which Ryan was making many concessions — aside from a nod that he was seriously considering taking a job he has said publicly he does not want — he also hinted strongly that he will not bring an immigration bill to the House floor. He told his colleagues the issue was simply “too divisive” and he wanted to focus on the things on which the conference is in agreement, like border security and internal enforcement, as opposed to a comprehensive bill.

Where's the legislation detailing effective border fence complete with guarding, heavy and meaningful penalties for employers hiring illegals, etc. that backs this up? Maybe I'm dense. I can't find it.

Ryan may be negotiating with the House, but the GOP is negotiating with US. We have a poison pill too.

65 posted on 10/21/2015 9:19:46 AM PDT by Read Write Repeat (Not one convinced me they want the job yet)
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To: DoodleDawg

“Because they couldn’t get more than 40 votes. They can prevent someone from being elected speaker but they can’t get one of their own elected.”

The common strategy is to block, block, block, block, block, until finally your opponents capitulate.

Stupid Party Congresspukes seem to favor pre-emptive surrender.


66 posted on 10/21/2015 9:49:47 AM PDT by dsc (Any attempt to move a government to the left is a crime against humanity.)
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To: Personal Responsibility

““If I can truly be a unifying figure, then I will gladly serve,””

Screw you, politician, and “unifying” with you. I don’t want to be “unified” with the forces of evil; I want them hammered into the dust, humiliated, discredited, driven completely out of public life—preferably via a perp walk.


67 posted on 10/21/2015 9:52:43 AM PDT by dsc (Any attempt to move a government to the left is a crime against humanity.)
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To: 1010RD

This is The Test for the Freedom Caucus. I fear they’re going to fail and give in to Ryan’s demands.


68 posted on 10/21/2015 10:14:23 AM PDT by FourPeas ("Maladjusted and wigging out is no way to go through life, son." -hg)
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To: 1010RD

Get lost Ryan!


69 posted on 10/21/2015 11:22:36 AM PDT by Boardwalk
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To: 1010RD

My offer is this, nothing.


70 posted on 10/21/2015 11:24:12 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: FourPeas
This is The Test for the Freedom Caucus. I fear they’re going to fail and give in to Ryan’s demands.

I have the same fear.

And I am appalled at Ryan's demands. No one could even MAKE those demands unless they are a totalitarian at heart.

71 posted on 10/21/2015 12:44:36 PM PDT by EternalHope (Something wicked this way comes. Be ready.)
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To: Gaffer

Sounds like Ryan has the potential to be worse than Boehner.


72 posted on 10/21/2015 2:56:12 PM PDT by Theodore R. (Liberals keep winning; so the American people must now be all-liberal all the time.)
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To: 1010RD

“he also hinted strongly that he will not bring an immigration bill to the House floor.”

Hinted strongly? WTF is that?

No “hints”, dumb-ox! Say, “Yes” or “No”, period!


73 posted on 10/21/2015 2:59:57 PM PDT by spel_grammer_an_punct_polise (Why does every totalitarian, political hack think that he knows how to run my life better than I?)
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To: Gaffer

A man that sets himself up as a dictator instead of a service person has no conscience as to being a representative of the people. If the Republicans acquiesce to one mans demands for power on his terms they, the Republicans, have no moral standing to represent any portion of the US population.


74 posted on 10/21/2015 4:59:15 PM PDT by noinfringers2
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To: xzins
Ryan is a non-starter. He loves illegals and hates veterans: active, retired, and honorably discharged.

Bingo.


75 posted on 10/22/2015 2:37:31 AM PDT by SkyPilot ("I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6)
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To: SoFloFreeper

>> rubber band man...

Reid didn’t endorse Ryan. He said Dems can work with him. To reject Ryan on that basis means admitting we oppose the idea of legislating. Most politicians don’t want to admit that.


76 posted on 10/22/2015 6:40:10 AM PDT by Lisbon1940 (No full-term governors)
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