Discussion: Former House GOP Leaders: Ryan Retirement Rumors Are 'Ludicrous'

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They are correct. He won’t retire. He will get thrown out in November by the good people of Wisconsin who realize he doesn’t represent their interests, but only his own.

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…and that of the Koch Bros.

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https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-03-27/paul-ryan-isn-t-safe-from-randy-bryce-challenge-in-november

https://www.randybryceforcongress.com/

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Let’s all hope Ryan doesn’t quit. It would be far more satisfying if he loses in November to Randy Bryce.

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I agree.

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Nothing says, “I’m here to exercise power, screw representing the interests of my constituents” like taking your ball home if you can’t be on the majority team.

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Ryan is sitting on a $10 million warchest, however. I don’t think he will go quietly into that night sitting on that type of cash.

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Cigarette/merlot breath Boehner says what?

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“Ludicrous” is a good name for a rapper.

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Has the Speaker filed for re-election in his Home district yet? Last I heard, the answer was, “No.”
These guys are just putting pressure on Ryan to go down with the gop ship.

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Another rumor, another kerfuffle, another conspiracy, another distraction: But there’s really nothing else for Republicans and movement conservatives generally to talk about any more is there? They ran out of ideas decades ago and even the ideas they said they had were mostly lies to cover the only idea they ever really had: finding and legalizing as many ways to distribute wealth and power upward as possible while stripping the weak and poor of every protection the New Deal and Great Society programs gave them.

Paul Krugman made the point in a tweet thread

So what does the GOP stand for? Upward redistribution of income: tax cuts for the rich, reduced aid to the poor. Oh, and deregulation that raises corporate profits. Everything else is a sales pitch, not a principle 5/

But the absence of principled thought goes much further than Republican politicians and policy makers, it goes all the way down to conservative pundits and ‘thinkers.’ Mike Konczal asks, Why Are There No Good Conservative Critiques of Trump’s Unified Government? and observes

…if you read conservatives you might be surprised to learn that they control the entire federal government …you’d have no clue that conservatives run anything, much less everything, since the coverage is just the rage-inducing culture war battle of the day. …a kind of entertainment industry that only is consequential to the extent it channels business interests or mass resentment.

Paul Ryan and Trump and the whole damned bunch are basically in the same business – reality media – with no authentic content or intent beyond conflict, venal profit, and the acquisition of ever more market share, the new substitute for brute power.

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I hate it when politicians run for office knowing that they’ll probably resign very quickly afterward. This happens all the time. It’s the ultimate insult to taxpayers and voter. In a congressional election, this costs local governments a few hundred thousand dollars, not to mention the inconvenience to tens of thousands of people and the drawback that the Special Election inevitably is decided by a fraction of turnout. They should be required to pay if they don’t complete their terms for any reason other than death or serious illness.

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It would be nice to see them essentially emasculate him into running

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If Trump is removed from office, possibly with Pence who appears to have his own Mueller problems, Ryan would be next in line for the job, right? Why retire now? All he has to do is survive November. …unless he has his own skeletons to worry about.

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"They’re beyond ludicrous. They’ve gone all the way to plaid!!

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The Post noted that both former House GOP leaders find the idea of Ryan resigning to be “blasphemy” largely due to “Ryan’s sense of duty”…

2016 secret recording of Mr. Sense-of-Duty that somebody leaked to WaPo:

"The Russians hacked the DNC and got the opposition research that they had on Trump,” McCarthy said with a laugh.

Ryan asked who the Russians “delivered” the opposition research to.

“There’s two people, I think, Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump,” McCarthy said, drawing some laughter.

“Swear to G-d,” McCarthy added.

“This is an off the record,” Ryan said.

Some lawmakers laughed at that.

“No leaks, alright?” Ryan said, adding: “This is how we know we’re a real family here.”

“That’s how you know that we’re tight,” Scalise said.

“What’s said in the family stays in the family,” Ryan added.

I trust Mr. Mueller is asking, "Duty to whom?"

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More “locker room guy talk,” then?

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The interesting thing about that item, really, is that to me it signals that the rumors (and this is the second or third round) aren’t definitely bogus, from back bencher nutters getting stabby or prospective rivals looking to move up. As readers, we don’t know the sources and can’t really make a judgement as to whether this is people in Ryan’s camp floating trial balloons or meaningless intra-GOP posturing. But putting it on the front page of The Post tells us that they’re at best unsure that it’s pure bullshit.

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Or would it follow the Republican playbook to win in Nov., lose the House, and then quit-thus forcing Walker to hold a special election?

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