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Friday, January 4, 2013

2016 / Politics ...And That Was the Last Anyone Ever Heard of Paul Ryan

Posted by Paul Constant on Fri, Jan 4, 2013 at 10:19 AM

The Republican Party operates in an orderly fashion when it comes time to pick their next presidential candidate. John McCain was second to George W. Bush in the 2000 primaries, so he became the nominee in 2008. Because Sarah Palin was obviously not fit for the job, the nomination in 2012 went to the second vote-getter in the 2008 primaries, Mitt Romney. That would leave Paul Ryan as the logical nominee for 2016 (especially since Rick Santorum, the second most popular candidate in the 2012 primaries, is never, ever going to get the nomination). But it looks like Ryan is doing his damnedest to sabotage his chances for the presidency. Talking Points Memo noticed a talk radio appearance by Ryan where he tried to explain why he voted for the bill to avert the fiscal cliff:

“We had been hit with a $4.4 trillion dollar tax increase yesterday, and I had the opportunity to knock it down by $3.8 trillion dollars,” Ryan told radio host Hugh Hewitt Wednesday. Since tax rates had already reverted back to Clinton-era levels for everyone once the vote took place January 1, he argued, he was actually voting to cut taxes.

That's some awful bullshit right there. That's double-backflip tortured thinking that will get Ryan plastered in every Republican debate for the next twenty years. So what's the next thing that Ryan does? Today, he voted against the Sandy relief bill. So if he was somehow able to get past the Republican primaries, Ryan would get plastered in the general election for voting against federal funding for hurricane victims. This is not the voting record of a man who's going to be his party's presidential nominee in 2016. Honestly, I don't think Ryan is even interested in running next time.

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@8 - Who needs political memory when you can remind voters of what a douche this guy has been with a barrage of negative ads?

Plus, the Republican primary - which is sure to be another "who can be the most cold-hearted conservative" contest - will create brand new memories. Hell, he'll probably remind us of this vote himself to firm up his cred.

Posted by Free Lunch on January 4, 2013 at 8:20 PM

Ryan, like many politiicians is probably more interested in a sweet, highly remunerative berth in a think tank or lobbying firm. He's just toppingup his his ultra-con cred so he can bail and never have to fund-raise again.

Posted by thatsnotright on January 4, 2013 at 2:18 PM

@14 Weak parallel. The half-governor was picked for VP solely because she's a MILF, and failed because she can't go five minutes without saying something that even a low-info voter can see is stupid.

Ryan, OTOH, has a better developed political career, really believes all the things beloved by the right-wing MOTU, and is able to talk about them in front of a camera without sounding like he's just done three lines of coke and four shots of tequila. In two or four years, he'll have no problem saying that he voted here for a tax cut, and sticking to that talking point.

Posted by ScrawnyKayaker on January 4, 2013 at 2:15 PM

What @12 said. How do you figure "second place gets the nod, then second place gets the nod, then second pla...wait, the failed VP gets the nod" is a logical formula?

Sure, Frothy's a corrupt douche, but that won't stop him from believing he's the Catholic Reagan, and that 2012 was his 1976. What else is he going to do, get a real job? I'd bet a dollar we'll see him and Ryan back at it in 2016.

Posted by ScrawnyKayaker on January 4, 2013 at 2:04 PM

@11 Good on ya, mate. To be fair, I can see why Paul C. might not have been reading the comments to a NYE Goldy post, but he should have figured it out somewhere along the way.

Posted by Sir Vic on January 4, 2013 at 12:50 PM

You wanna know the status Ryan will have in national politics in four years? Hmmm... where is that Sarah Palin, anyway?

Posted by tkc on January 4, 2013 at 12:43 PM

If Ryan wasn't looking to run in 2016, he would probably have voted against the fiscal-cliff bill and run for Speaker of the House.

Posted by Marooner on January 4, 2013 at 12:21 PM

By your logic Rick Santorum, not Paul Ryan, would be next in line for the Republican nomination.

Posted by Josh Bis

on January 4, 2013 at 12:00 PM

Called it.

(I know, so did a lot of other people; but I came up with that out of my own tiny brain so I'm pretending it was my idea first.)

Posted by Banna

on January 4, 2013 at 11:50 AM

>So what's the next thing that Ryan does? Today,
>he voted against the Sandy relief bill.

Well, maybe he's trying to say, 'Yes, we might tax you more, but at least we won't use the money to help out New Yorkers and New Jerseyites.' That might be of some consolation.

Posted by Gerald Fnord on January 4, 2013 at 11:41 AM

Not exactly sure why I saw fit to insert "not" after "no Republican will"...

Posted by Jizzlobber on January 4, 2013 at 11:16 AM

In four years no Republican will not remember anything Paul Ryan has done recently. Political memory is so short that re-branding a golden turd like Ryan is actually quite easy.

Posted by Jizzlobber on January 4, 2013 at 11:14 AM

What everybody else said. This is not a Ryan original, and is the spin GOP has been putting on a post-cliff vote since before the new year. Not a primary-debate liability in the slightest. And in a general election, it's all just a set up for the typical "Dems did x and we did y" / "Nuh uh, that's not really how it happened" / "Yeah huh, that's literally how it happened" neener neener bullshit. How. Depressing.

Posted by JSilver on January 4, 2013 at 11:13 AM

Like anyone will remember this come 2016 anyway.

But like those above, I am unsure why you think this kind of fact twisting and lying would be a liablity with the republican base.

Posted by Theodore Gorath on January 4, 2013 at 11:09 AM

If reputation, facts, and integrity mattered to the GOP, there would not have been a Romney nomination by the RNC. If any of that mattered to much of the American voting population, there wouldn't have been a second term for George W Bush, either.

Posted by Knat on January 4, 2013 at 10:58 AM

Also, Ryan is the 1%er's poster boy - they love him with a passion that will not be denied, and will go to extreme lengths to continue to prop him up as their mouthpiece as long as they are able.

Posted by Geocrackr on January 4, 2013 at 10:53 AM

It is rather obvious that this was the GOP plan all along. Let the Bush cuts expire, so they could say that Obama raised taxes. Then, before the expiration would even matter, vote to extend most of them again, so they could say the GOP cut taxes.

It's all about spin, and there were several clues offered in the past month about this GOP strategy. Disappointing that Constant didn't pick up on it, as it was pretty hard to miss.

Posted by Sir Vic on January 4, 2013 at 10:39 AM

I don't understand why you think this will be a liability with Republicans. This spin was well anticipated, and I can see Democrats making a lot of hay with it should he be nominated in 2016, but I fail to see the average deluded Joe Teabagger having a problem with this.

Posted by Matt from Denver on January 4, 2013 at 10:35 AM