“Those of us around him really helped to stop him from making bad decisions. All the time. We helped him make much better decisions, which were contrary to kind of what his knee-jerk reaction was. Now I think he’s making some of these knee-jerk reactions.” Thus former House Speaker Paul Ryan on Donald Trump, in…
Tag: Paul Ryan
Catherine Rampell is confused. I enlighten her.
WashPost columnist Catherine Rampell—Princeton Phi Bet and winner of the Weidenbaum Center Award for Evidence-Based Journalism—is struggling with the evidence: The real question is why congressional leaders, including [now former House Speaker Paul] Ryan,1 repeatedly cave to Trump’s latest tweets and fleeting fancies instead of writing him off as the flake that he is. Why…
John McCain, Paul Ryan, and the Myth of the Virtuous Republican
John McCain is one of those guys who, when he dies, people say “he was the last of a dying breed.” No one will ever say that about Paul Ryan. John McCain was a genuine war hero, a man who preferred to face hardship, torture, and even death rather than abandon his comrades. Paul Ryan…
Paul Ryan is a coward, Mickey Edwards explains
Former congressman Mickey Edwards, writing the New York Times, parses the shrunken role of Congress in the reign of Trump, noting how House Speaker Paul Ryan lets President Trump call the shots on Capitol Hill, as though the Congress were a subsidiary of the presidency rather than a separate branch of government—the legislative branch, as…
John Podhoretz, half right on Trump—okay, make that a quarter
Over at Commentary, definitely not one of my fave rave’s, Editor John Podhoretz has “A New Theory of Trump”, taking another crack at explaining the Donald. Podhoretz’s argument is stated rather elliptically—or perhaps obliquely—but what he’s getting at, basically, is that George W. Bush got a lot of things wrong, but Republicans were so obsessed…
House Speaker Paul Ryan: “I’m a Republican, not a legislator!”
Remember when newly minted House Speaker—and self-described policy wonk—Paul Ryan promised that “Our No. 1 goal for the next year is to put together a complete alternative to the left’s agenda”? Well, that was a whole month ago, and, you know, times change. Oh, they’ll have an agenda, definitely, like, you know, “progress” and “lower…
The “genius” of Paul Ryan: He gave Congress back its credit card!
Hey, that Paul Ryan is some operator, huh? The combined tax and spending package now careening through Congress–$1.1 trillion in spending and $600 billion in tax cuts, not a penny of them paid for–is passing with scarcely a whimper, much less a bang. Right-wingers who, a month or two before, were promising to fight to…
Hey, Paul! It isn’t the president the right wing doesn’t trust on immigration! It’s you!
Appearing on CNN, newly elected House Speaker Paul Ryan “explained” why he had promised conservative Republicans that he wouldn’t attempt to pass immigration reform legislation as long as Barack Obama is president. “Specifically on this issue, you cannot trust this president,” Ryan said, claiming that the president’s executive actions intended to improve the lot of…
Imaginary Conversations: John Boehner and Paul Ryan
Boehner: OK, I got BO to buy into that budget package you put together. I’ll announce it, you’ll denounce it, the freaks will bite, we’ll pass it anyway, and you’ll have smooth sailing until the election. Ryan: You’re a prince, JB, a prince! Boehner: I’ll remember that when I need a favor. If I ever…
Paul Ryan, taking more, giving less, aka More Gratuitous, Uninformed Political Speculation!
Consider yourselves warned, eh? Yes, Paul Ryan says he’ll take the job of Speaker of the House of Representatives, but only if the Republicans really, really love him. This means, among other things, that they all have to vote for him, that he gets his weekends off, that he doesn’t have to spend a lot…