Althouse: "Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan said he is 'ready and eager' to be speaker of the House..."

October 22, 2015

"Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan said he is 'ready and eager' to be speaker of the House..."

"... and he believes the beleaguered Republican Conference is "ready to move forward as one, united team."

43 comments:

mccullough said...: Couldn't be worse than Boehner; 10/22/15, 7:35 PM
traditionalguy said...: Oh no. Not more Wisconsin schtick with a sincerity of heart matched with a desire to please everybody about everything. This is not going to work out any better than the Arab Spring miracle did.; 10/22/15, 7:38 PM
Hagar said...: Don't believe either statement.; 10/22/15, 7:47 PM
Anonymous said...: mccullough: Couldn't be worse than Boehner

Could be and will be.; 10/22/15, 7:48 PM
mccullough said...: Ryan won't cry.; 10/22/15, 8:05 PM
Jaq said...: Buy real estate in his district, quick!; 10/22/15, 8:08 PM
Anonymous said...: mccullough: Ryan won't cry.

We will.; 10/22/15, 8:10 PM
Carnifex said...: Ryan the Rino bleeds amnesty from his pores. He should die the same disgraceful death that "Weepy" will incur. Shitting himself as his kidneys fail from years of alcoholism.; 10/22/15, 8:13 PM
mccullough said...: Why cry over who is Speaker? Without term limits, we're going to get career politicians who are mostly in it for themselves.; 10/22/15, 8:15 PM
mccullough said...: Ryan is for amnesty and against welfare. That's why he's a Republican.; 10/22/15, 8:21 PM
Mark said...: I feel sorry for Ryan. This likely caps his future office possibilities and he is young to take a position with a limited shelf life.

That said, it's good money in retirement.; 10/22/15, 8:25 PM
Bayoneteer said...: If Ryan turns out to be a less incompetent version of HastertBoehner the Reps will lose their HoR majority. Because why bother?; 10/22/15, 8:30 PM
mccullough said...: Ryan's got a rich wife and a lucrative career in lobbying to look forward to. This speaker gig will really help
feather his nest.; 10/22/15, 8:39 PM
Spiros Pappas said...: I admire how Mr. Ryan trolls economists. His nonsense budget proposals, his idiotic insistence that Obamacare has failed at reigning in costs, "the stimulus failed," how the FED is going to cause runaway inflation, etc. This man is always wrong. And he's a mean SOB too! Mr. Ryan desperately wants to cut social security benefits by raising the retirement age. Did you know that poor people tend to drop dead around 65 or 70?! So these losers never collect social security security! That's not fair.; 10/22/15, 8:40 PM
Anonymous said...: Spiros Pappas: ...his idiotic insistence that Obamacare has failed at reigning in costs...

I think in the end we will all agree that Obamacare succeeded in reigning in costs, indeed, in reigning supreme in costs.; 10/22/15, 9:25 PM
JackWayne said...: Who feels comfortable that Ryan wil be 2nd in line after the VP for the Presidency? He was rejected by the voters for the VP and now suddenly he is OK for 2nd?; 10/22/15, 9:38 PM
mccullough said...: Ryan would have beaten Biden in a straight up vote for VP. Biden is a moron.; 10/22/15, 9:46 PM
MadisonMan said...: Buy real estate in his district, quick!

That would be an interesting study: How do land values change in Speakers' districts relative to adjacent districts.

Anyway, farmland in southern WI is very productive and very expensive. Good corn and tobacco growing.

@Jack Wayne: I feel a lot more comfortable about Ryan being #2 than Boehnert.; 10/22/15, 10:06 PM
David said...: Mark said...
I feel sorry for Ryan. This likely caps his future office possibilities and he is young to take a position with a limited shelf life.

Once a top 3 power position in the entire government. How things change!; 10/22/15, 11:36 PM
chickelit said...: Jack Wayne said...
Who feels comfortable that Ryan wil be 2nd in line after the VP for the Presidency? He was rejected by the voters for the VP and now suddenly he is OK for 2nd?

So, you had no qualms about Pelosi being in the same?; 10/22/15, 11:55 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: Ryan's a good man. Tough to be speaker - herding a lot of cats. Hopefully, they keep a hefty majority, which makes things easier.; 10/23/15, 12:05 AM
Unknown said...: The darkest hour is that before the dawn
____________________________
I'll give you recommend a game: FIFA 16 Coins; 10/23/15, 12:52 AM
BN said...: I like Ryan, but as far as these comments go...

whatevs.

Y'all know there's no constitution anymore, right?; 10/23/15, 1:16 AM
walter said...: "God compels me to to look the other ways and means on illegal immigration. Don't like that? STFU!!!"; 10/23/15, 1:32 AM
walter said...: (I have kids.. You're not against kids are ya?"); 10/23/15, 1:35 AM
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MikeR said...: 'I admire how Mr. Ryan trolls economists. His nonsense budget proposals, his idiotic insistence that Obamacare has failed at reigning in costs, "the stimulus failed," how the FED is going to cause runaway inflation, etc. This man is always wrong.'
Interesting how you picked examples (aside from runaway inflation) where it is not really possible to determine right or wrong. -You don't seem to know that though.
While the Stimulus was being discussed, Greg Mankiw offered a challenge to the White House, or to any economist in favor, to give a set of benchmarks that would allow us to say if the stimulus succeeded or failed. No one answered, and no one could, because no one knows what would have happened if we didn't spend 3/4 of a trillion dollars. We still don't know, though all sorts of economists are willing to guess.
That Obamacare has failed at reigning in costs: did you count the fact that equivalent health care more than doubled in price in my state of Maryland next year? My $1600/month plan, it's equivalent in an Obamacare plan is more than $4,000. I never heard of a plan that expensive - till now! Are you counting the cost to the middle-class consumer?
His nonsense budget proposals - well, a little hard to answer that without any explanation, isn't it? Suffice it to say that lots of Americans think that what the Democrats have been doing recently is nonsense, and we'd like to give someone else a chance.; 10/23/15, 6:22 AM
Bob Ellison said...: Hey, if you hate Ryan, look on the bright side: this means he'll never be President.; 10/23/15, 6:29 AM
machine said...: he is ready...with a little help from gop extortion of course.; 10/23/15, 6:30 AM
William said...: Another republican disaster. This country has 2 big government parties sucking the rest of us dry.; 10/23/15, 7:14 AM
Spiros Pappas said...: Mike R is wrong. Europe tried austerity, it would have been better off with a stimulus. So we hgave real world proof that the stimulus, though too anemic and small to fill the gaping hole in aggregate demand caused by the Bush-Cheney financial crisis, did save us from a depression (i.e., what most of Europe is experiencing now).; 10/23/15, 8:37 AM
Tank said...: William said...

Another republican disaster. This country has 2 big government parties sucking the rest of us dry.

Bingo - another Shit Sandwich. Open wide.; 10/23/15, 8:40 AM
Rick said...: Carnifex said...
Ryan the Rino bleeds amnesty from his pores.

The word is that he agreed not to pursue immigration reform.; 10/23/15, 9:18 AM
Rick said...: Spiros Pappas said...
Mike R is wrong. Europe tried austerity, it would have been better off with a stimulus.

Both clauses of this statement are false. But it's interesting to see people still advocating the Greece Experience.; 10/23/15, 9:31 AM
Thorley Winston said...: The word is that he agreed not to pursue immigration reform.

That’s probably a wise idea, at least for the remainder of Obama’s term. Obama has been shown that he cannot be trusted to keep his word in any bargain and is more concerned with getting a media moment than actually putting forth constructive policies.

If Republicans take the White House and keep Congress, they should pass some form of immigration reform that (a) sets a policy based on our country’s anticipated future needs (rather than ones from several decades ago), (b) fixes the process that is so difficult and expensive for the people that are making a good faith effort to follow the law, (c) secures the border and is (d) enforceable.

There’s a lot of things Republicans can put forth that would improve our immigration system while avoiding both any form of general amnesty or being anti-immigrant.; 10/23/15, 9:47 AM
Rick said...: Thorley Winston said...
There’s a lot of things Republicans can put forth that would improve our immigration system while avoiding both any form of general amnesty or being anti-immigrant.

I agree with this completely. Frankly I'm stunned some candidate hasn't staked out a moderate position that simply takes legalization of anyone off the table. Americans are fine with many alternatives, they're just not willing to accept the open borders policy the left and the establishment right support. Rubio in particular would benefit greatly by publicizing a plan that leads by stating we're not legalizing anyone or hiding that fact by "creating a path" to legalization.; 10/23/15, 9:55 AM
Dr.D said...: He is a demonstrated loser, just the sort of fellow we DO NOT NEED! He should raise his demands higher to protect the public from himself.; 10/23/15, 10:19 AM
Thorley Winston said...: I agree with this completely. Frankly I'm stunned some candidate hasn't staked out a moderate position that simply takes legalization of anyone off the table. Americans are fine with many alternatives, they're just not willing to accept the open borders policy the left and the establishment right support. Rubio in particular would benefit greatly by publicizing a plan that leads by stating we're not legalizing anyone or hiding that fact by "creating a path" to legalization.

From what I’ve heard Rubio say on immigration, he seems to be at the place where he realizes that before we can have a constructive conversation and put forth a workable policy on what to do about the millions of people in our country illegally, we need to have secured the border and fixed the bottlenecks in the system for the people who are trying to follow the laws like we say we want people to do. I think doing those two things takes a lot (not all) of the heat out of the debate. People who are concerned about amnesty are largely concerned about a repeat of 1987 where they were promised enforcement in exchange for amnesty, didn’t get the enforcement and now are expected to grant amnesty for an even greater number of illegal aliens. On the other side, people who are concerned about people “living in the shadows” would probably be more pro-enforcement if the system we had in place that we expect people to follow wasn’t seen as so broken. Much as I’d like to have someone put forth my ideal immigration system NOW, the reality is we’re very divided as a country and many people are personally conflicted on this issue. Dealing with the enforcement and bottleneck issue might be the best way to get us to the point where we can find some workable plan for dealing with the more contentious issue of the people here unlawfully. At least that’s my take on it.; 10/23/15, 11:04 AM
Anonymous said...: Rick: I agree with this completely. Frankly I'm stunned some candidate hasn't staked out a moderate position that simply takes legalization of anyone off the table.

I'm stunned that you're stunned. Why is it that only the self-funded candidate puts out policy proposals that seriously challenge "the open borders policy the left and establishment right support"? It's a puzzler, it is.

Rubio in particular would benefit greatly by publicizing a plan that leads by stating we're not legalizing anyone or hiding that fact by "creating a path" to legalization.

1) Voters wouldn't believe he meant it. (Remember, the guy has form in this area.)

2) His funding would dry up if donors believed he meant it.

Americans are fine with many alternatives...

Why should ordinary Americans have any say in American immigration policy? What are you, some kind of populist xenophobe?; 10/23/15, 11:10 AM
Rick said...: Thorley Winston said...Dealing with the enforcement and bottleneck issue might be the best way to get us to the point where we can find some workable plan for dealing with the more contentious issue of the people here unlawfully. At least that’s my take on it.

Right, the roadblock is that any bill including amnesty or a path to amnesty is a non-starter due to Democratic duplicity. But if the plan takes care of the things Democrats are pretending to offer in exchange for amnesty (but will oppose and undermine during execution) then the entire issue can be discussed as any issue can. Democrats won't go for this because their only interest is amnesty for nothing, but there's no reason for Republicans to be locked into the mindset that amnesty must be included in any reform deal.

I think they're scared off by Trump's support and believe that anything less than full support for deportation will hurt them. What they don't realize is that many people support Trump's position because the only other publicly discussed alternative is amnesty and open borders.; 10/23/15, 11:34 AM
Rick said...: Anglelyne said...
I'm stunned that you're stunned.

I think you're too harsh. I think the candidates are locked in by conventional wisdom and while those who create that know a lot about inside-Washignton politics they don't know nearly as much about Americans.

1) Voters wouldn't believe he meant it.

Compare this to the current circumstance, where he wants them to believe it without even saying it. It's hard to believe it could be less effective. Right now people don't trust him on immigration because he isn't distancing himself from their fears.

2) His funding would dry up if donors believed he meant it.

This money's mostly with Jeb. Rubio might lose some but I doubt it's material. If he's the nomineee he'll have plenty of money when he needs it.

What are you, some kind of populist xenophobe?

I'm either a populist xenophobe or a traitorous anti-American. It depends who you ask.; 10/23/15, 11:42 AM
Jaq said...: Mike R is wrong. Europe tried austerity, it would have been better off with a stimulus. So we hgave real world proof that the stimulus, though too anemic and small to fill the gaping hole in aggregate demand caused by the Bush-Cheney financial crisis, did save us from a depression (i.e., what most of Europe is experiencing now).

The profligate parts of Europe are facing a depression, the rest, who could control the constant desire to spend more money on themselves, their children be damned, are doing OK.

The US is enjoying a moment in time where we are the major producer of oil and natural gas. I just bought a tank of heating oil for just a little over half of what I was paying not too long ago.

That is certainly stimulating to the economy, but it doesn't come from printing money with nothing to back it.

There is an old saying "Beware of Greeks bearing economic advice."; 10/23/15, 12:41 PM
Anonymous said...: Rick: Compare this to the current circumstance, where he wants them to believe it without even saying it. It's hard to believe it could be less effective. Right now people don't trust him on immigration because he isn't distancing himself from their fears.

Yeah, yeah, that's it. He just needs to distance himself from their fears. That's all they're waiting for, that reassurance. Yeah, that's the ticket.

It's been signaling for a while, but I think the Stupid Party clownmobile has finally taken the exit to Crazy Town.; 10/23/15, 2:28 PM