Paul Ryan: He May Not be Fighting That Fight, But He's Certainly Fighting This One
Ricochet's buddies on the staff of Congressman Paul Ryan know what happened when I put up a Ryan video a couple of days ago: Instead of saying, "Bless you, Paul, for putting together another brilliant GOP budget," the Ricochetoise said, "Curse you, Paul, for refusing to run for president." (Our own Paul Rahe put up a post explaining that the Ricochet code of conduct prevented him from saying quite what he felt.) As I say, our buddies in Ryan's office know all that. They read Ricochet all the time.
Below, the newest Ryan video.
If he keeps at it, Paul Ryan and our buddies on his staff are hoping, then sooner or later we'll all forgive him for declining to run for president--and help him in the campaign he has taken on. Which is--and who among us believes the good Congressman is overstating this?--the campaign to save the country.
Sign me up, Congressman. Whether our nominee is Mitt Romney or Rick Santorum, the day after he gives his acceptance speech he's going to find himself scratch his head, trying to figure out what to do next. And there your budget will be, sitting right there on his desk.
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Jun '10
Re: Paul Ryan: He May Not be Fighting That Fight, But He's Certainly Fighting This One
Ryan knows, a new Republican President will be dead in the water without a Republican Congress. That's the part Ryan's working on here, and doing a damn fine job.
Dec '10
Re: Paul Ryan: He May Not be Fighting That Fight, But He's Certainly Fighting This One
Was I terribly disappointed that Ryan declined to run for President? Certainly. Am I thrilled that he's still leading the charge from Congress? Darn right!
Do I wish that somehow my own deep navy blue state could find and elect someone as capable? Hey! My fantasies can only go so far.
Edited on March 20, 2012 at 3:04pmRe: Paul Ryan: He May Not be Fighting That Fight, But He's Certainly Fighting This One
I loved the budget video but was disappointed to read that Republican operatives are fighting against Ryan. Again.
Jan '11
Re: Paul Ryan: He May Not be Fighting That Fight, But He's Certainly Fighting This One
From the Cilizza article that Mollie references above: "What both sides in this Republican argument can agree on is that Democrats are likely to go at the new Ryan plan hard, and that if the party handles it as poorly as it did last year, it could be in serious trouble."
The people whining about how it wasn't handled properly are the people who are paid to handle these things. Answering attacks from Democrats is their job. And as usual, when they failed, they're trying to shift the blame. They are (literally) saying here that Ryan's attempt to be responsible makes their job harder ... so Ryan shouldn't act responsibly.
Jan '11
Re: Paul Ryan: He May Not be Fighting That Fight, But He's Certainly Fighting This One
Ryan, along with Mitch Daniels, have convinced me their decisions are in the best interests of us all. A stay in your lane approach. Indiana, along with Scott Walker in Wisconsin, could help lead the other Lake Michigan states (Illinois and Michigan) back to fiscal reality.
Ryan can devote more of his particular skills to an important thing, the budget, if he stays where he is. The next president wont have time for that work and other coalition building could dilute budget reforms proposed by a president Ryan.
Congressman Ryan should push that budget as far right as possible. Give the next president some room to maneuver.
Apr '11
Re: Paul Ryan: He May Not be Fighting That Fight, But He's Certainly Fighting This One
While I love the Ryan plan and respect and support his actions in Congress immensely, I am not overly disappointed in his not running for the Presidency. Ryan is right when he thinks he can do more in Congress. He is young, has no executive experience (and while I hesitate to compare him with Obama, we are experiencing what happens when someone with no executive experience is in office), and while we conservatives love the ideas he is pitching, do any of us here think you are going to win a nationwide campaign on "here is what I am going to cut and take away" when over half the people in the country do not pay taxes and are the beneficiaries of "government largesse"? It would be very difficult to win a nationwide election in that way and I think Ryan realized that. He can do better work in Congress and like Peter said, the budget can be on the President's desk and with a Republican senate, it won't be dead on arrival.
Dec '11
Re: Paul Ryan: He May Not be Fighting That Fight, But He's Certainly Fighting This One
Ryan was wise to skip this election cycle. He is in the right place at the right time. The debt is not only a fiscal issue it is a moral issue. My fear is that hyper-inflation is in the future because the world will devalue the dollar.
Not worth a continental will be replaced by not worth an Obama Buck.
Ryan's plan of Hope can lead to the Change of Obama if people wake up to the reality of the situation.
Dec '10
Re: Paul Ryan: He May Not be Fighting That Fight, But He's Certainly Fighting This One
Yes, this is exactly what we needed. Anything to get the "social conservatism" stuff out of the news cycle of focus the discussion on spending, debt, and defense where we can win.
Now lets see if Romney or Santorum can step up to the plate.
Jun '10
Re: Paul Ryan: He May Not be Fighting That Fight, But He's Certainly Fighting This One
Everything I see and hear from Mr. Obama informs me that he doesn't care how congressional elections pan out. If the president is reelected, he intends to rule this nation by executive fiat. He will provoke a constitutional crisis if that's what it takes to retain power. We face dark and uncertain times ahead. God save the republic!
Jan '12
Re: Paul Ryan: He May Not be Fighting That Fight, But He's Certainly Fighting This One
I am very impressed with the videos. Not only does it treat American citizens as adults who are capable of understanding these complex issues, but the video is also very snazzy. Hopefully with the growth of social media and YouTube politicians, especially conservatives, can break through the main stream media's death grip on conventional wisdom. There are some negatives to new technology, but the way Paul Ryan is using it has to be a positive.
Edited on March 20, 2012 at 4:49pmJan '11
Re: Paul Ryan: He May Not be Fighting That Fight, But He's Certainly Fighting This One
I think we have to get over our disappointment that our favourite people aren't running for President. It is important to have a deep roster with talent in the House, the Senate, and hopefully the Presidency. Ryan is excellent where he is. Christie is excellent where he is. It would be wonderful to see Allan West develop and mature with a larger public profile. Rubio can further emerge now. We have to get beyond thinking "if only [insert name] was running for president . . . .
Apr '11
Re: Paul Ryan: He May Not be Fighting That Fight, But He's Certainly Fighting This One
@Nyadnar17
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/19/us-usa-campaign-santorum-jobless-idUSBRE82I16O20120319
"I don't care what the unemployment rate is going to be. It doesn't matter to me. My campaign doesn't hinge on unemployment rates and growth rates,"-Rick Santorum.
This shows a staggering amount of political tone-deafness. When most polling shows that voters are concerned with economic issues and many people are facing hardship, he gives the left this softball. This is just another example of the lack of discipline in message and the poor planning of the Santorum campaign.
So much for focusing on debts and deficits.
Apr '11
Re: Paul Ryan: He May Not be Fighting That Fight, But He's Certainly Fighting This One
They got one Congressman (a Perry endorser, fwiw), one named hack, and a few anonymous hacks. Compared to that, the partial birth abortion ban act was divisive within the party. We're not going to get 100% of the party behind anything positive (we can get agreement on negative things, behind saying no to things, but not behind proposals for creative action).
Romney said that Ryan Plan 1.0 was good, but he didn't say it was his plan. Thank goodness, because when Ryan moved on to his bipartisan bill with Sen. Wyden, Romney would have looked like a chump. Endorsing Ryan's plans too closely would reduce Ryan's scope to negotiate new plans, and the point is not that everything in the current plan is sacred, or that anything is. The point is that the aggregation of details amounts to a budget that will not utterly doom us all. There's a lot of space for negotiation in that remit, so I expect Ryan's plan to be unendorsable (not unsupportable) until close to the election.
Mar '11
Re: Paul Ryan: He May Not be Fighting That Fight, But He's Certainly Fighting This One
The only slight problem with Mr Ryan putting forward great budgets is that they will all suffer the same fate as last year's, with Mr Obama in the White House.
If we had an equally impressive candidate running for President, I would have no problem with Mr Ryan staying where he is.
Oh, well, we shall have to hope for the best.
Apr '11
Re: Paul Ryan: He May Not be Fighting That Fight, But He's Certainly Fighting This One
Michael Kelly: @Nyadnar17
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/19/us-usa-campaign-santorum-jobless-idUSBRE82I16O20120319
"I don't care what the unemployment rate is going to be. It doesn't matter to me. My campaign doesn't hinge on unemployment rates and growth rates,"-Rick Santorum.
This shows a staggering amount of political tone-deafness.
Without context, this is not a fair hit. He was saying that it didn't matter to him electorally, not that he doesn't care about it substantively.
His "The issue in this race is not the economy" is a fairer hit, but is one on which Ricochet partly agrees with him; he was taking the Prof. Rahe point, as I understand it, although I'd be very open to correction, that it's more important to get freedom right than to get the budget right.
The unemployment quote is kind of similar, in that it is true that he's immune to the economy only to the extent that the economy isn't what he's running on; he means to say that it's less important to him than Romney, and even that is a kind of interesting admission.
Apr '11
Re: Paul Ryan: He May Not be Fighting That Fight, But He's Certainly Fighting This One
@ James of England
I agree that that is the point Santorum was making, but at the same time that kind of sound clip/quote is so easily used as an attack and will be used by the Democrats. The larger point I'm seeing with all this is that Santorum is sloppy in his comments and approach and that is definitely not a strength going into this campaign. He lacks a sense of discipline that will hurt in the general.
The race may not be the economy for him, but I'd be willing to wager that it is for most people and even to say it isn't important for his campaign shows that his focus may not be where we need it to be. I'm more worried about the economy than whether or not someone is watching porn, another comment that appeals to his base but makes him look like he is running a campaign from a bygone era.
Dec '10
Re: Paul Ryan: He May Not be Fighting That Fight, But He's Certainly Fighting This One
I read the article, and I didn't find that it backs your contention. Some GOP "strategists" were quoted saying that there would be negative reaction from Democrats, and that the Democrat position would be easy to demagogue.
Other, unnamed "professionals" are said to be against revealing any plan at all:
I'm certainly no political professional, but I am part of the American people and I would like to see some plans. I suspect I'm not alone. But still, stating this belief doesn't rise to the level of actively fighting Ryan.
Whining is not fighting.
Dec '10
Re: Paul Ryan: He May Not be Fighting That Fight, But He's Certainly Fighting This One
My guy did run for president, and he turned out to be a boob, so be careful what you wish for.
I've been wondering lately what it would be like if our government worked as designed and intended, and Paul Ryan and his budget committee are doing just that. It's a little scary to imagine a nation led by the congress, but at this juncture it's a risk I'm willing to take. It's time congress stepped up to the plate and put a little co-equal smack-down on Obama. Ryan is leading the way; many others in elected office should follow his example.
Nov '10
Re: Paul Ryan: He May Not be Fighting That Fight, But He's Certainly Fighting This One
Let's see which candidate(s) wholeheartedly endorse Ryan's agenda. That may be the most important piece of information we can glean from the current run-up.
May '10
Re: Paul Ryan: He May Not be Fighting That Fight, But He's Certainly Fighting This One
Ryan elicits the kind of excitement and support I wish we could have for our presidential nominee, but I join with many others in my suspicion that he's right where the good Lord (and GOP) needs him to be. Let's give him all support possible so, seeing that, the rest of Congressional GOP finally SPEAK UP in the same manner. The hue and cry should be rising to a deafening level by about November 6.