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Why Would Paul Ryan Want to Be Speaker?

Ruth Marcus on

WASHINGTON -- House Republicans face a fateful choice -- and not just over who will be their speaker. It is a choice about whether they want to be a realistic, governing entity or a bomb-throwing band of purists that will, inevitably, hurt the party's prospects not only for retaining the current GOP majorities in the House and Senate but for retaking the White House as well.

Based on the current evidence, the answer may well be the latter: bomb-throwing purists, at least among enough of the majority to prevent Republicans from functioning.

The ultimate manifestation of this craziness isn't the departure of Speaker John Boehner or the pre-emptive dethroning of Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy. It's the jaw-dropping notion that Paul Ryan is insufficiently conservative to be entrusted with the speakership.

The Wisconsin Republican, chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, is a serious and creative -- albeit, from my point of view, wrongheaded -- thinker about the country's budgetary challenges. He is the intellectual leader of the House, if not the party.

One indication of that intellect: He doesn't want the job.

One indication of why he doesn't: The ultra-conservative faction -- actually, conservative is not an accurate adjective for this crowd -- is mounting a campaign against him.

 

"Paul Ryan is a Dangerous Pick for Conservatives," warned RedState.com's Erick Erickson. He ticked off the evidence of Ryan's perfidy: "While in Congress, he voted for No Child Left Behind, the Prescription Drug Benefit, TARP, caps on CEO pay, the AIG bill, the GM bailout, the debt ceiling, and now the fiscal cliff."

Consider, No Child Left Behind is the signature education measure pushed by ... Republican President George W. Bush. Adding prescription drug coverage to Medicare is the signature health measure pushed by ... Bush. TARP, the Troubled Asset Relief Program, was the bailout package pushed by ... well, you know.

More troubling to the Ericksons of the world have been Ryan's dogged efforts to prevent economic calamity -- and, by the way, damage to the party -- by avoiding government shutdowns and a breach of the debt ceiling. Ryan, Erickson observed, "collaborated with Senate Democrat Sen. Patty Murray to raise taxes."

Note the verb: collaborated -- Ryan as Marshal Petain. The offending "tax" was an increase in Transportation Security Administration user fees, raising them a whopping $3.10 per flight. This as part of a deal that brought two years of budgetary peace.

...continued

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