November 7, 2012

It's back to the House for Paul Ryan.

He ran for and won his House seat.

And what else? Do you see him as the frontrunner for the GOP nomination in 2016?

Oh! I don't want to talk about 2016 yet. It's time for a respite from campaign talk... isn't it?

62 comments:

Shouting Thomas said...

Yes, please give us a break.

Talk about the Old Dawgz! We are still in our right minds and every member of the band is still continent!

Chris Althouse Cohen said...

When's the last time a VP from a losing ticket became a strong candidate for president? Palin didn't run, Edwards was a failure, Lieberman wasn't taken seriously in 2004. If Paul Ryan runs, he won't win the nomination, or even come close. He should focus on his congressional career.

prairie wind said...

All the political chatter of the last four years and the intense political chatter of the last two years did not one lick of good that I can see. The only thing that happened was that the Republicans blew off an opportunity that should have been a cakewalk.

Anonymous said...

This was the high point of his career, unfortunately. It may be long, but forever in the US House of Representatives.

FleetUSA said...

Professor Ann,

Time for one of your beautiful pictures of nature and flowers.

Known Unknown said...

When's the last time a VP from a losing ticket became a strong candidate for president? Palin didn't run, Edwards was a failure, Lieberman wasn't taken seriously in 2004. If Paul Ryan runs, he won't win the nomination, or even come close. He should focus on his congressional career.

Agreed. He may run, but hugely doubt he gets close to the nom. House members aren't really Presidential timber. They get 2 year gigs. They're already running for re-election now.

ndspinelli said...

YES!

Anonymous said...

the existing campaign finance laws give a HUGE advantage to the incumbent to begin spending his general funds as soon as he wants, but the opponent must wait until they are the nominee. This gives too much time to the incumbent unless the challenger can raise enought primary cash to spend to counter before the convention.

somefeller said...

Jeb Bush's stock on the speaker circuit just went up.

Rusty said...

He's only going to be a bright ray of sunshine if congress refuses to fund the ACA.

David said...

Ryan was a dud as a campaigner, did not help the ticket and gave Romney no lift in Wisconsin. Back to housework for him.

Almost Ali said...

Finally, I can see AirForce-1 with a set of those big, flashy, spinner hubcaps.

Thanks, Gov. Christie.

Guildofcannonballs said...

Apoplectic and despondent.

Hatred is now allowed to grow without festering, which is comforting.

Known Unknown said...

The Dems best 2016 chance right now is probably Cuomo. He's been able to do Walker-eqsue things in New York without the strange qualities inhabited by his father.

The Reps best 2016 chance? That's tougher. I suppose Christie will throw his giant hat in. Kasich could run again,but was a dud the first time around. Rubio? Susana Martinez? Scott Walker himself?

Palladian said...

Finally, I can see AirForce-1 with a set of those big, flashy, spinner hubcaps.

Thanks, Gov. Christie.


I think a C-130 trailing behing AF1 is necessary if Christie wants to fly around with his buddy Barack.

Pettifogger said...

Eric Holder will assure the GOP will be irrelevant to presidential elections henceforth. It's Michelle Obama in 2016!

Known Unknown said...

I think a C-130 trailing behing AF1 is necessary if Christie wants to fly around with his buddy Barack.

We should elect Christie just so fat jokes can become cool again!

Bryan C said...

Ryan should stay where he is for a while. He's only 42, after all. The GOP needs to spend more time at the state level anyway.

Unknown said...

Hey, Wisconsonites.... It's not 2016 to think about.... there's a State Supreme Court election in the spring.

Roggensack needs to be reelected.

The endless elections continue.

Guildofcannonballs said...

You call Romney a racist bullshitting pig and you win.

You get it?

You call Romney a racist bullshitting pig and you win. Do you understand how the game is played, and that it is a mere game to be thought of only as such?

Thrice I will repeat, because you are stupid, ROMNEY IS A RACIST BULLSHITTING PIG WINS.

So fuck peace.

Let these ******* know it's on for life.

Grab your Glocks.

machine said...

Please...please...please run him in 2016...please.

Baron Zemo said...

Show me a nice guy like Romney in losing and I will show you a loser.

He was the Rhinoest of Rhino's and it didn't mean squat. He wouldn't go for the jugular. He let Obama lie about him again and again and didn't fight back hard. And he lost.

Ryan is a spent force. He isn't tough enough. A VP is supposed to be an attack dog.

He was a piece of Shih Tzu.

edutcher said...

Ryan will be needed in the House.

Just as well.

Hagar said...

"When's the last time a VP from a losing ticket became a strong candidate for president?"

Well, there was FDR ...

Michael said...

I would like to Michigan Governor, Rick Snyder run in 2016. He has been effective here and he is a political moderate who could potentially win some key swing states.

bleh said...

I would say the logical next step for Ryan is governor, but the incumbent is Scott Walker, a Republican. The next available Senate seat is occupied by Ron Johnson, another Republican. There will not be a real opening for Ryan until Baldwin is up for reelection six years from now.

So it goes. For the next two years, at least, Ryan will be a congressman toiling away while a Democratic administration flails from one failure to the next. After that, his next opportunity is to run for president in 2016.

It will be Ryan-Rubio, or Christie-Rubio, or some such.

mccullough said...

Ryan will do well. He's likeable, which goes a long way in politics. He does a good job of making the conservative case. His budget knowledge and skills will be greatly needed and appreciated over the next decade.

Knowing that he lost, it's a shame that Romney didn't make this election about the looming fiscal crisis and educate voters about the specifics of entitlement spending and that we don't have enough wealth to pay for all of it. It's all about very tough choices now and Obama pretends that there is no problem.

Drago said...

machine: "Please...please...please run him in 2016...please."

Nobody "runs" a candidate.

Candidates self-select.

You have to really want to do it.

Think back on all the dems & reps that the party's base wanted to run but didn't.

There are too many to name them all but a few relatively recent ones would be Jack Kemp (in '96, although he was later brought aboard as the VP nominee) and Mario Cuomo (the Hamlet of Albany).

edutcher said...

BDNYC said...

It will be Ryan-Rubio, or Christie-Rubio, or some such.

Forget Christie, unless Axelrod is pick the R ticket.

Between his lousy handling of Sandy and his new BFF. he's toast.

Unless, of course, he changes parties.

TosaGuy said...

Ryan just needs to keep doing in the House what he was doing....clearly articulating the coming fiscal mess.

Known Unknown said...

Forget Christie, unless Axelrod is pick the R ticket.

He has an eternity to either re-invent himself, double down, switch parties or whatever.

Paul said...

Well Obama inherited this mess now from .. Obama! So maybe in 4 years people will finally be sick enough to want Ryan.

test said...

mccullough said...
Knowing that he lost, it's a shame that Romney didn't make this election about the looming fiscal crisis and educate voters about the specifics of entitlement spending and that we don't have enough wealth to pay for all of it. It's all about very tough choices now and Obama pretends that there is no problem.


Maybe you mean it would be better to have this as a higher profile issue, but this had zero chance of success. Frankly I don't think it matters how high profile it is even ignoring the electoral angle. Half the country believes they're entitled to be free of all economic effects. It doesn't matter how close a financial crisis is, they've internalized the fantasy that the money can always be soaked out of "the rich" or "corporations", or that somehow taking a position in government should innoculate you from life. We're in a fiscal crisis now and their expectation is not shared sacrifice, but rather how much more government can deliver to them.

The only people interested in addressing the problem were just defeated, and are routinely demonized by the victors. There is no objective fact to support the belief that we are going to do anything about our fiscal mess. The only solution offered anywhere on the left is vastly increased taxes, which will start a tax => economic downturn => tax spiral to nowhere.

Kevin said...

2016 will be too late.

Pragmatist said...

So long as he is a Ayn Rand, lets get rid of the safety net in the middle of a slow economy, Right Winger he will not fare any better. It was the message that lost also....here is a prescription for Republican Victory in 2016: quit purging moderates from the party, quit demonizing immigrants, quit making "tax cuts" the end all and say all of your economic philosophy, make the racist elements in the Tea Party NOT welcome in the party, keep your culture wars local, go back to true conservative principles of fiscal responsiblity (not the same thing as tax cuts), tell Grover to shut up, find some cajones, quit making bipartisan a bad word, show the country that you want to work with the other side but they don't....and come up with new ideas that do not revolve around shifting the burden of government from those that can afford to pay to those that cannot. Simple. Will it happen? Probably not.

Anonymous said...

true conservative principles of fiscal responsiblity (not the same thing as tax cuts)

Oh, of course not. They're the same thing as tax increases.

Real American said...

The GOP usually nominates the guy who ran for the nom and lost the last time (Reagan, Bush 41, Dole, McCain, Romney), but there doesn't seem to be a clear answer who that would be (Santorum? Perry? Gingrich? Cain? - none of those guys will win the 2016 nomination.)

2016 has quite a few possibilities for new faces - Jindal, Walker, Christie (fat chance!) Snyder, Pence, Susana Martinez).

My money is on a Bob McDonnell-Marco Rubio ticket. Hopefully, the GOP will elect reals conservative this time instead of another establishment retread.

test said...

Revealing that virtually all of "Pragmatist"'s advice was followed by George Bush. The parts that aren't nonsense anyway. I must have missed the resulting "Pragmatist" love fest though.

The bottom line is: the left's hate campaign is winning. And while they have idiots claiming Republicans are anti-contraception and ready to enforce the Handmaid's Tale in America they're ruining the country economically. And we deserve it for choosing to believe in the Government Fairy.

We know the Government Fairy doesn't exist, but we lie to ourselves that we're only making these short term choices because it's a crisis, and we'll make up for it when times are better. And when times are better we not only spend the extra we should be using to pay down our debt, we borrow against unrealistic expectations of future income and spend that too.

And we just signed up to jump another irrevocable step down that path.

Dave said...

Ryan was a brilliant choice... since Mitt knew that he wouldn't win "his" state(s) (Mass. & Michigan); he chose Ryan who also couldn't win in his home state. Hell - Ryan didn't even carry his home county in either race (congress or pres.)!

An interesting contrast to Obama/Biden who won in their multiple "home" states.

heyboom said...

@Marshal

Couldn't agree more. Here in California we saw our car headed for the fiscal cliff, and instead of hitting the brake we pushed down on the accelerator. The impending crash will be jarring and may well just total this state once and for all. Although I'm not sure that's such a bad thing, though.

test said...

Real American said...My money is on a Bob McDonnell-Marco Rubio ticket. Hopefully, the GOP will elect reals conservative this time instead of another establishment retread.

Rubio would be an interesting possibility. I think Christie's hurt his chances, but he can be NJ Governor for a long time. Jindal's got the exorcism baggage, so the left's scare tactics become a serious limitation for him.

I wonder if Mitch Daniels could have won if he'd kept his "truce on social matters" to himself. It's one thing to prioritize economic issues, or even to believe the social status quo is fine. But the left is never going to stop the culture wars, so pretending you have a truce is really a surrender.

Every one of the Rep primary candidates had his chance before the nomination settled on Mitt. It seems he would have gotten an opportunity, and I don't know of anything that would have disqualified him among primary voters absent the truce comment. He was easily my favorite potential candidate.

mccullough said...

Marshal,

I agree focusing on the looming issue of Medicare growth (and other entitlements) would not have been a successful campaign strategy, but given that Romney lost and would have been an important issue to bring to the country's attention.

I thought Ross Perot brought a lot to the 1992 campaign because he focused a lot on the deficits.

I think it would have been great if Romney brought to the voters attention that California, Illinois, and New York, along with a lot of cities like Chicago, are going to be bankrupt within a decade as a result of eriously flawed policies and tied that in to the U.S. government's fiscal situation.

Sometimes people need to be scared shitless with the truth. Dems keep talking about climate change and doomsday scenarios but the country will be broke long before that.

I Callahan said...

So long as he is a Ayn Rand, lets get rid of the safety net in the middle of a slow economy, Right Winger he will not fare any better. It was the message that lost also....here is a prescription for Republican Victory in 2016: quit purging moderates from the party, quit demonizing immigrants, quit making "tax cuts" the end all and say all of your economic philosophy, make the racist elements in the Tea Party NOT welcome in the party, keep your culture wars local, go back to true conservative principles of fiscal responsiblity (not the same thing as tax cuts), tell Grover to shut up, find some cajones, quit making bipartisan a bad word, show the country that you want to work with the other side but they don't....and come up with new ideas that do not revolve around shifting the burden of government from those that can afford to pay to those that cannot.

I love how libs come onto the board and give advice. Basically, Pragmatist wants the republicans to become democrats.

Peter said...

I think Ryan's still in the running- for 2016, or 2020 or beyond.

People vote for the top of the ticket, not for the VP. That is, an awful choice for VP can sink the ticket, but an inspired choice seldom does much for it.

But no one's going to win on a platform of reducing (or even limiting) the national debt. Until/unless something catastrophic happens, it's all but invisible.

test said...

mccullough said...
I think it would have been great if Romney brought to the voters attention that California, Illinois, and New York, along with a lot of cities like Chicago, are going to be bankrupt within a decade as a result of eriously flawed policies and tied that in to the U.S. government's fiscal situation.


It would have been great if it could have driven a response, but I don't think it would have. The media wouldn't ask basic questions about a dead American Ambassador because it might effect the election, but they're going to push for answers on some vague future threat? You might as well have expected the media to ask tough questions about terrorism during the 2000 election. Their job is not to identify the issues facing America, their job is to ensure the public believes those issues are the fault of conservatives.

And those lefty critics who spent the campaign whining that Romney's 55 point plan wasn't a 2,765 point plan still never would have criticized Obama for ignoring the issue. Standards don't apply to the left. I see no difference, electoral or now.

The left will claim this election is a victory for leftist politics as usual, which it is. So we'll get more goodie giveaways, and hasten our economic deterioration.

lawyapalooza said...

Ryan can't win a state wide race in Wisconsin, let alone the country. His extreme views on abortion don't sit well with women. HIs extreme views on gays and lesbians do not sit well with the young (polls now show majority of Wisconsinites in favor of gay marriage). His immigration stance does not sit well with the largest growing demographic group.

He's done.

lawyapalooza said...

Ryan can't win a state wide race in Wisconsin, let alone the country. His extreme views on abortion don't sit well with women. HIs extreme views on gays and lesbians do not sit well with the young (polls now show majority of Wisconsinites in favor of gay marriage). His immigration stance does not sit well with the largest growing demographic group.

He's done.

I Callahan said...

Ryan can't win a state wide race in Wisconsin, let alone the country. His extreme views on abortion don't sit well with women. HIs extreme views on gays and lesbians do not sit well with the young (polls now show majority of Wisconsinites in favor of gay marriage). His immigration stance does not sit well with the largest growing demographic group.

This is the exact same talking points the Obama campaign used throughout. It worked. People were stupid enough to believe it.

I can't blame you Lawya. You gotta go with what got you there.

AlanKH said...

Jeb Bush's stock on the speaker circuit just went up.

No way in hell. Like I said before, the Republican base will always associate the name "Bush" with half-measure. (And business-as-usual, for that matter.)

lawyapalooza said...

Stupid enough to believe what? Ryan makes no secret about his extreme views on abortion. He believes rape victims should be compelled to carry the fetus unless a doctor says the mother's life is in danger. He said it, not me and not Obama. I know many women who crossed party lines because of that issue.

30yearProf said...

N Governor Christie took himself out of the running with his fawning over Obama.

Eliminating Christie was one smart choice Romney made (perhaps the only one).

Ryan in '16 !!!

test said...

heyboom said...

Here in California we saw our car headed for the fiscal cliff, and instead of hitting the brake we pushed down on the accelerator. The impending crash will be jarring and may well just total this state once and for all. Although I'm not sure that's such a bad thing, though.


Unfortunately a poor example won't stop the trend. Dems are going to bail out any state facing bankruptcy due to pensions. Ultimately they want to move fiscal matters to the federal level. First because federal income taxation is far more progressive than any other tax, so they can increase taxes without the political impact by changing the tax type. And second they want to deny voters the clear evidence of performance distinction between Texas and California. So I rather suspect the first major bankruptcy will be used to start a movement to nationalize state government pensions for "equity" reasons.

Anyone who objects is a racist, so there'll be wins all around.

MDIJim said...

The GOP bitter-enders have a deaath wish both for their party and for the country.

If your state is hurting the way NJ is after Sandy, the governor's responsibility is to do whatever it takes to ease the pain even if it means saying something nice about the president from the other party who just happens to control some real resources that could help your people.

Christie would be an ideal candidate to save our country from the fiscal doom that is coming. Unfortunately he will never get past the racist, homophobic cretins who vote in GOP primaries. Even if he did, the media would savage him for being hefty.

Wouldn't it be nice to have a presidential candidate who talks to people like they are adults, one who is not afraid to take on sacred cows? Christie has done it over and over again in NJ. Too bad for our country that he will never make it past the christian taliban in the Iowa caucuses or the mouth-breathing racists in the South Carolina primary.

WE ARE DOOMED! GREECE WILL LOOK LIKE SWITZERLAND WHEN THE FISCAL CRISIS HITS US.

David said...

" the mouth-breathing racists in the South Carolina primary."

What orifice do you breathe through, you bigoted slime ball. When were you last in SC?

jr565 said...

Corkage e wrote:
Christie would be an ideal candidate to save our country from the fiscal doom that is coming. Unfortunately he will never get past the racist, homophobic cretins who vote in GOP primaries. Even if he did, the media would savage him for being hefty.

even if he is the moderate you say, when he ran as a republican he would be tarred and fathered by the dems as that same racist, homophobic cretin that you say he is different from.

jr565 said...

EMD wrote:
The Dems best 2016 chance right now is probably Cuomo. He's been able to do Walker-eqsue things in New York without the strange qualities inhabited by his father.

have you ever seen him talk in public? He's terrible!negative charisma. Even Iif he's capable he'll be like one of those repubs who were popular for the equivalent of one poll.here today, gone tomorrow.
I'm not sure who will be the dems 2016 candidate.i thought maybe Hillary, but she's actually retiring in January. Will her being out of contention for 4 years make her a serious candidate at all?
How about Biden? Ha ha ha. Tat would be ilarious but no it would have to be someone new. I don't see that many dems now who really stick out

Known Unknown said...

have you ever seen him talk in public? He's terrible!negative charisma.

He has time to work on that, I suppose.

Orion said...

*snort*

2016? That will be President Hillary Clinton for 2 terms.

In 2024, it will be whoever the Democrats tell us it will be. They own the place lock, stock, and barrel and threw that in our faces on Tuesday. I was shocked at how blatant they were about their electoral fraud. The workers in Obama garb and the polling places with giant posters of His Majesty were a nice touch to really drive the point home.

but you have to give them points, they took the whole 'I'm your King, you are my serfs' theme and really ran with it.

Orion

rhhardin said...

They ought to vote him the new speaker of the house.

Nobody out here trusts Boehner.

Opus One Media said...

Peter Principle.

Opus One Media said...

I was at the airport last night and there was Karl Rove. I must say how proud you all should be that I didn't pull his tail.

And why not Ryan for Pres I wanted to shout at him?

I mean, the GOP continually dips from the top of the piss bucket......

Gospace said...

"If your state is hurting the way NJ is after Sandy, the governor's responsibility is to do whatever it takes to ease the pain even if it means saying something nice about the president from the other party who just happens to control some real resources that could help your people."

And what has the federal government done so far? Nothing. New Jersey turned away non-union lineworkers. Neither Christie not Obama intervened to have then work in the state. Explain how that helps hurting New Jersey citizens without power.

Your argument is full of crap.