Discussion: 5 Points On The Nightmare Paul Ryan Faces Even If The GOP Keeps The House

[scottlumry]

I would like to know if I may pass this along to our local newspaper, the Natchitoches Crimes, to see if it could be published. They will want a bit more info for contact and verification however.

Or, I could send it with my contact info quoting you at length.

Our little rural town has a university, to its credit, but the wider part of upstate Louisiana has prolonged the tea party constipation, and, perhaps such a letter to the editor will begin a healthy bowel movement.

And a heartfelt thank you for taking the time and harnessing the energy to put that together.

[randyabraham]

Thank you for the compliment, and yes, I will be happy to cooperate with your local newspaper if they choose to run my letter. If they have questions or need to contact me directly, you may feel free to contact me by private messaging via this site. Just click on my name or avatar and you will see a tab that you can click on to send me a private message.

Thanks again for the compliment.

[barblzz]

For Ryan this could be a real taste of what the President has had to deal with for eight years.

[humpback]

I’m lately thinking a lot of Republicans will hold their nose and vote Hillary, but vote R in all congressional seats thinking it will keep her in check.

That’s not the 21st century norm. “Split ticket” voting is less common. So I am hoping that Trump will bring an attitude of “not worth going to vote at all”.

Plus, remember that the extreme gerrymandering the GOP did to get its out-sized majority was based on a lot of districts that were “safe” GOP by only a few points. So a landslide for Dems puts a lot of districts into play.

[chlarry]

I had hoped GOP obstructionism would have been a big issue in THIS election.
And it should also be featured in the second GOP autopsy.

[muddylee]

Excellent. Thanks. Many people should get to see this - maybe in 2 parts? It’s long - especially for those
used to sound bites and commercial interruptions.

[randyabraham]

I agree on the ticket-splitting thing. And I cannot imagine the thinking that goes, “I can’'t vote for Trump, but I will give him a Republican Congress to work with.”

[mantan]

A Republican Congress means Putin and China have won this critical round…

[daveyjones64]

That’s not the 21st century norm. “Split ticket” voting is less common.

That’s true. However, most polling bears out what @dickweed is putting forth. Hillary is out performing the Senate candidates in every state. That’s a pretty good sign that people are planning on voting Hillary (or not vote Trump) and still voting republican down ticket. I think there is a very good probability that we will see that happening this year contrary to the “norm”.

[randyabraham]

I agree, and I did struggle with the length when I wrote it over the weekend.

One part that I left out, but which compelled me to write this, was something I saw on TV Thursday night. On August 24, ultra-conservative broadcaster Glenn Beck shared his fear of a Trump presidency with MSNBC commentator Lawrence O’Donnell and expressed his hope that conservatives and liberals could get together to stave off this horrifying prospect.

Consider that Glenn Beck – a man who served as a shock troop to galvanize the reactionary Tea Party movement – who traced modern Democratic policies to eugenicists and “cultural Marxists” and who said that President Obama hates white people, white culture – now recoils in horror over the prospect of its latest iteration, its culmination.

Glenn Beck is the canary in the coal mine. Because something has gone terribly wrong for the reactionary far-right’s most ardent cheerleader to now recoil in horror at its latest embodiment and plead to make common cause with liberals.

[azjude]

Good!

Suffer worthless fool.

[daveyjones64]

The only problem I have with this analysis is…

…its not covering the much closer problem Ryan faces as Speaker. Namely, that he has to get a budget passed in the next 2 months. And has be unable to pass any of the various budgets that were required under the framework agreed to last year. So, assuming that “Oh, there is a framework in place” is ludicrous.

Furthermore, Ryan gave away all of the tools that a Speaker can use to whip up the votes to pass anything, in his first weeks. He no longer controls who gets on what committee, he no longer controls whose bills get heard on the floor, he isn’t even the kingpin of fundraising, so he doesn’t control who gets what money for their campaigns as effectively as it has always been done.

And its coming up in the heat of the election cycle.

We have a great big shutdown problem barreling along at us full speed, and nobody seems to be looking up from election coverage to notice it.

[mantan]

Consider that certain Republicans urging the Hillary vote are doing so precisely to attempt to stanch the wound among Republicans to prevent downticket losses on their side of the ballot.
A huge Democratic turnout will sour that hope…

[meri]

Ryan could be gut shut and lying in a pool of acid and I still wouldn’t be able to find the tiniest bit of sympathy for him.

[dnl]

Plumbing the depths of depravity in the TeaPub infested Congress is akin to scuba diving in a septic tank.

[dickweed]

Oh I’m hoping for a landslide of Ds.

D president and R everthing else just occurred to me today as I was typing that comment. As Davey says it might not be the norm, but Trump ain’t a normal R candidate so who knows?

[meri]

But…but…comity! Comity is far more important than getting anything accomplished!

[badabingo]

I could never understand how Ryan became to be known as a policy wonk. He is a fraud that fell into that proverbial pile of feces and emerged to smell like a rose. With luck, there will be a giant GOP circular firing squad in Congress and Ryan will get the beat-down he deserves for being feckless.

[meri]

Good. Remember the last government shutdown? I do. It was a disaster for the GOTP, and it happened far enough out from the election that all the mouth breathers had managed to forget about it by the time the election had rolled around.

That’s not going to happen with this one.

[hquain]

“The 21st century norm” is not the 20th century norm. Norms change. That means they can change again.LIke now.