There was an article on the Huffington Post just published about how a reason that Paul Ryan doesn't want to be Speaker of the House is because of his children. Please, folks, let's be serious. He doesn't want to be Speaker because he wants to be president one day, and the Speaker job will kill his chances. Look what it did to John Boehner. Look what happened to Kevin McCarthy. The GOP is dysfunctional at the moment, and the Speaker will get caught in the middle of that at best, and at worst be forced to move to the far right. Either will scar him for life in trying to president -- the former will make him anathema to the GOP, and the latter with the general public.
[Side Note: What does it say about a party's disarray when their Big Hope that so many people are begging for to bring vibrancy and leadership is a failed candidate for Vice President?] If Paul Ryan does accept the Speakership, and it's certainly "possible," though I would be utterly shocked ("Over my dead body" is a phrase I suspect is being tossed around a lot the last couple days), it will only be with some monumental backroom deal somehow guaranteeing him the GOP presidential nomination whenever he wants it and a guarantee that, as Speaker, when he says there's some issue that he insists be passed or backed off from, it will be done. Plus, unlimited use of the corporate jet, weekly insider-trading stock tips with a "get out of jail free" card just in case, and a lifetime family pass to Disneyland. Just don't tell me he doesn't want the job because of His Kids. He was willing to be Vice President of the United States, a heartbeat from the presidency, if elected, for goodness sake. Puh-lease.
2 Comments
Douglass Abramson
10/10/2015 11:32:10 am
God help us, Issa wants the job now.
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Robert Elisberg
10/10/2015 08:17:38 pm
Once upon a time, I cringed at the thought of someone awful becoming Speaker. And while I still do, I don't as much. At the moment, the House is so broken and little can pass that an awful Speaker isn't going to muck things up more -- but the job today is so thankless that it risks screwing up the person's career. True, the Speaker is third in line to the presidency, but I think the likelihood of that happening is pretty small. I don't want someone lousy in the job (whatever one's political persuasion), but in this case, what more could Darrell Issa do that's dysfunctional? Have another vote to defund Obamacare?
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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