I never bought into Ryan as anything other than an empty vessel. A politician who poses for glamour shots showing off his cut physique is not my idea of a serious person. Also, anyone who hasn’t moved on from Ayn Rand’s horseshit has the depth of the kiddie pool.
There are probably two factors at play here when it comes to the Paul Ryans of the world. One is, as Charlie puts it, "moral cowardice," and the other is, as Murdoch puts it, neither blue nor red, but green. Ryan not blowing the whistle to stay relevant may seem virtuous to him, but it reeks of Omerta to me.
Ryan thinks Fox, which is clearly at the root of the problem, needs to be a part of the solution. I have a hypothetical scenario for him. He wanted Fox to lay out all of the known fraud claims, then lay out the evidence for them and against them, presumably assuming the result that this might stop the gas lighting of their audience. Let's say Paul Ryan wanted to speak up and say the election was fair, and Biden won and Trump lost, and the claims coming from the Trump camp were baseless. Where would he be able to go and say this? Not on Tucker. Not on Hannity. He could go to MSNBC. He could go to CNN. But he wouldn't be allowed to do it on Fox. And if he can't say it on Fox, then that's why Fox is the problem, and that problem isn't getting fixed. It's not even enough to blow the whistle. You have to blow the whistle at 8pm weeknights on Fox, repeatedly, which means you have to turn Fox into something other than what it is.
There is also the need to protect the "brand" - the Conservative Movement. What has Conservatism had to offer people since Reagan? (Who himself pushed the formula: 1) I was born American. 2) Because I was born American I have innate virtues, such as boldness, daring, and toughness, above all, toughness. 3) Because I have these virtues, I DESERVE prosperity and benefits. 4) The reason I don't have these benefits is that Evil People (liberals, environmentalists, minorities) are keeping me from them. THAT was Reagan's appeal.
Anyway, what has Conservatism had to offer the average American in the past 50 years? It has fought worker safety, environmental improvements, health care provisions, better wages and benefits, etc. etc. It has offered tax cuts - which hardly benefit average Americans (and it was Paul Ryan, remember, who in shame deleted his previously proud tweet about how his tax cut had enabled a poor woman to buy a Costco membership).
What Conservatism HAS been able to offer the average American is variations on Reagan's formula above. Donald Trump appears to have dispensed with #2, about having virtues. How could Ryan jettison all of that and say, "We were wrong. Obamacare was needed. Higher minimum wages have not sunk the economy. Environmental costs are already being incurred. The Democrats are the only party dealing with the real world."
If Ryan had gone public, he would be in the position of having disowned most of his life and being silenced for the rest of it.
Again, Ryan epitomizes the worst ethos of the pre-Trump GOP: selfishness and self desire, including preferred ideological outcomes, are more important than the safety, rights, and health of your fellow citizens and even the American system of government itself.
His personal affinity for the “conservative moment” clearly means much, much, much more to him than the liberal democratic project he professes to revere. Like Jeb!, he’s another of one Hitler’s ambivalent executioners.
In short, paul Ryan is a shallow and empty suit with an inflated sense of self who passes for a moral actor in the degraded precincts of the gop. Fine. Can we please stop talking about this phony jackass?
The one thing that rings true is that Paul Ryan is an unreconciled mess of contradictions starting in his teens when he took advantage of Social Security benefits that he now wants to 'reform'. His argument is that government is too big and spending out of control; rich, coming from a guy who had one private sector job (driving the Wiener Mobile) before putting himself on government payroll and benefits for majority of his adult life. We Democrats could not figure why Republicans thought he was some big brain intellectual. He ran around the country studying poverty without learning anything. His final conclusion was his opening premise. A social safety net creates 'moral hazard' for the poor. He didn't stop anything by 'being in the room. He knew about Russia's election interference. Did nothing. And he's doing the same on the FOX board. Nothing.
Staying in the room worked for Paul Ryan, even if it didn't work out so well for the country. Because now he has a chance to be in the room again, as, say, Treasury Secretary in the DeSantis administration or some such. Ryan has too much ambition, too little principle and is way too young to self-immolate his political career.
Ryan's spinelessness, along with that 90% of the rest of the GOP (Cheney, Kinzinger, and a few others excepted), is truly nauseating. He was a noodle when he was in the House, and even more useless on the board of Fox "News." There were thousands of Germans just like him in 1935.
Blame Canada indeed!! I am a proud Canadian Bulwark subscriber and even with our shortcomings (no country can be perfect) I have grown more proud of the socially caring country I live in as I watch your proud country flail during this time in its “experiment.” But also proud of you all at the Bulwark. You’ve kept me sane as I watch from the great white north. As Tim would say, peace out.
Paul Ryan reminds me of lefty criticism of Democrats during the early W years. Time after time Democrats caved with the excuse that they were keeping their powder dry for future fights (that never seemed to come). At some point one has to be honest with oneself. What's the good of "dry powder" if one never uses it?
This article about Paul Ryan is exactly on point with the rest of the “sane” Republican congressional members. Their silence in order to “stay in the room” has led to complicity and allowed the louder voices “in the room” to invade and grow like a tumor. As a result, they have shown themselves to be cowards and only interested in self-preservation, not worthy of serving the American people.
You know what, the Carpet was in the room where it happened, and the carpet had exactly the same impact as Paul Ryan.
On a personal note, all of the dipshits take an oath of office, and back in the day, I took the oath of office, and many, many times, the officer administering the oath would pointed lecture about the oath was not to the Constitution not to a person. To this day, I'm stunned at how view people have lived the oaths they took.
I’d like to applaud Thursday Night Bulwark, esp Mona’s clip at CPAC and the follow-up story where she and Sarah Longwell dealt grief to Matt Schlapp and his minion. In the 00’s I worked for a Republican-leaning trade association that among other things evaluated candidates for financial support -- the GOP I remember was happy to exploit the support of its gay members, as long as they weren’t “too” gay. So good for Mona and Sarah for giving Schlapp a good rich slice of hell.
I listened to most of the Ryan interview. Clearly skilled at evasion, he represents the heart and soul of what Republicans stand for. Were he in office today he would gut Obamacare and Medicaid - and fuck everyone who cares (though he would never admit it).
Ryan and the rest of the GOP really still don't understand that the cost of society is higher than it was before the new deal. So the only thing to do if we want a decent America is raise the taxes needed to fund Social Security and health care.
This should be done prudently but continuing to believe we can just cut back and that a cost structure suitable to the rural South will make for a strong society is nonsense.
But Ryan is just not interested.
So he plugs on - and yes, loves the money he gets from FOX and from speaker fees where his message of pro-growth tax cut still satisfy legions of chamber of commerce types.
Ryan can't change his views - he still needs the money he earns standing pat.
Oh ... and he really does believe that the Trump tax cuts did not raise the debt.
I never bought into Ryan as anything other than an empty vessel. A politician who poses for glamour shots showing off his cut physique is not my idea of a serious person. Also, anyone who hasn’t moved on from Ayn Rand’s horseshit has the depth of the kiddie pool.
There are probably two factors at play here when it comes to the Paul Ryans of the world. One is, as Charlie puts it, "moral cowardice," and the other is, as Murdoch puts it, neither blue nor red, but green. Ryan not blowing the whistle to stay relevant may seem virtuous to him, but it reeks of Omerta to me.
Ryan thinks Fox, which is clearly at the root of the problem, needs to be a part of the solution. I have a hypothetical scenario for him. He wanted Fox to lay out all of the known fraud claims, then lay out the evidence for them and against them, presumably assuming the result that this might stop the gas lighting of their audience. Let's say Paul Ryan wanted to speak up and say the election was fair, and Biden won and Trump lost, and the claims coming from the Trump camp were baseless. Where would he be able to go and say this? Not on Tucker. Not on Hannity. He could go to MSNBC. He could go to CNN. But he wouldn't be allowed to do it on Fox. And if he can't say it on Fox, then that's why Fox is the problem, and that problem isn't getting fixed. It's not even enough to blow the whistle. You have to blow the whistle at 8pm weeknights on Fox, repeatedly, which means you have to turn Fox into something other than what it is.
There is also the need to protect the "brand" - the Conservative Movement. What has Conservatism had to offer people since Reagan? (Who himself pushed the formula: 1) I was born American. 2) Because I was born American I have innate virtues, such as boldness, daring, and toughness, above all, toughness. 3) Because I have these virtues, I DESERVE prosperity and benefits. 4) The reason I don't have these benefits is that Evil People (liberals, environmentalists, minorities) are keeping me from them. THAT was Reagan's appeal.
Anyway, what has Conservatism had to offer the average American in the past 50 years? It has fought worker safety, environmental improvements, health care provisions, better wages and benefits, etc. etc. It has offered tax cuts - which hardly benefit average Americans (and it was Paul Ryan, remember, who in shame deleted his previously proud tweet about how his tax cut had enabled a poor woman to buy a Costco membership).
What Conservatism HAS been able to offer the average American is variations on Reagan's formula above. Donald Trump appears to have dispensed with #2, about having virtues. How could Ryan jettison all of that and say, "We were wrong. Obamacare was needed. Higher minimum wages have not sunk the economy. Environmental costs are already being incurred. The Democrats are the only party dealing with the real world."
If Ryan had gone public, he would be in the position of having disowned most of his life and being silenced for the rest of it.
Again, Ryan epitomizes the worst ethos of the pre-Trump GOP: selfishness and self desire, including preferred ideological outcomes, are more important than the safety, rights, and health of your fellow citizens and even the American system of government itself.
His personal affinity for the “conservative moment” clearly means much, much, much more to him than the liberal democratic project he professes to revere. Like Jeb!, he’s another of one Hitler’s ambivalent executioners.
In short, paul Ryan is a shallow and empty suit with an inflated sense of self who passes for a moral actor in the degraded precincts of the gop. Fine. Can we please stop talking about this phony jackass?
The one thing that rings true is that Paul Ryan is an unreconciled mess of contradictions starting in his teens when he took advantage of Social Security benefits that he now wants to 'reform'. His argument is that government is too big and spending out of control; rich, coming from a guy who had one private sector job (driving the Wiener Mobile) before putting himself on government payroll and benefits for majority of his adult life. We Democrats could not figure why Republicans thought he was some big brain intellectual. He ran around the country studying poverty without learning anything. His final conclusion was his opening premise. A social safety net creates 'moral hazard' for the poor. He didn't stop anything by 'being in the room. He knew about Russia's election interference. Did nothing. And he's doing the same on the FOX board. Nothing.
Thursday Night Bulwark was fantastic. I hadn’t heard that clip of Mona at CPAC. God bless her for that.
Paul Ryan is no Mona Charen.
Staying in the room worked for Paul Ryan, even if it didn't work out so well for the country. Because now he has a chance to be in the room again, as, say, Treasury Secretary in the DeSantis administration or some such. Ryan has too much ambition, too little principle and is way too young to self-immolate his political career.
Ryan's spinelessness, along with that 90% of the rest of the GOP (Cheney, Kinzinger, and a few others excepted), is truly nauseating. He was a noodle when he was in the House, and even more useless on the board of Fox "News." There were thousands of Germans just like him in 1935.
Blame Canada indeed!! I am a proud Canadian Bulwark subscriber and even with our shortcomings (no country can be perfect) I have grown more proud of the socially caring country I live in as I watch your proud country flail during this time in its “experiment.” But also proud of you all at the Bulwark. You’ve kept me sane as I watch from the great white north. As Tim would say, peace out.
Paul Ryan reminds me of lefty criticism of Democrats during the early W years. Time after time Democrats caved with the excuse that they were keeping their powder dry for future fights (that never seemed to come). At some point one has to be honest with oneself. What's the good of "dry powder" if one never uses it?
This article about Paul Ryan is exactly on point with the rest of the “sane” Republican congressional members. Their silence in order to “stay in the room” has led to complicity and allowed the louder voices “in the room” to invade and grow like a tumor. As a result, they have shown themselves to be cowards and only interested in self-preservation, not worthy of serving the American people.
"In the room where it happened."
You know what, the Carpet was in the room where it happened, and the carpet had exactly the same impact as Paul Ryan.
On a personal note, all of the dipshits take an oath of office, and back in the day, I took the oath of office, and many, many times, the officer administering the oath would pointed lecture about the oath was not to the Constitution not to a person. To this day, I'm stunned at how view people have lived the oaths they took.
I’d like to applaud Thursday Night Bulwark, esp Mona’s clip at CPAC and the follow-up story where she and Sarah Longwell dealt grief to Matt Schlapp and his minion. In the 00’s I worked for a Republican-leaning trade association that among other things evaluated candidates for financial support -- the GOP I remember was happy to exploit the support of its gay members, as long as they weren’t “too” gay. So good for Mona and Sarah for giving Schlapp a good rich slice of hell.
I listened to most of the Ryan interview. Clearly skilled at evasion, he represents the heart and soul of what Republicans stand for. Were he in office today he would gut Obamacare and Medicaid - and fuck everyone who cares (though he would never admit it).
Ryan and the rest of the GOP really still don't understand that the cost of society is higher than it was before the new deal. So the only thing to do if we want a decent America is raise the taxes needed to fund Social Security and health care.
This should be done prudently but continuing to believe we can just cut back and that a cost structure suitable to the rural South will make for a strong society is nonsense.
But Ryan is just not interested.
So he plugs on - and yes, loves the money he gets from FOX and from speaker fees where his message of pro-growth tax cut still satisfy legions of chamber of commerce types.
Ryan can't change his views - he still needs the money he earns standing pat.
Oh ... and he really does believe that the Trump tax cuts did not raise the debt.
Thank you, Charlie, as always. Wish I could be at the Principles conference. Today’s R’s have none, zero!
In the words of Liz Cheney, “Trump will be gone, but their dishonor will remain.” I will never vote for another R like all of these again—ever.
“What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul?”