Paul Ryan Ponders

For John, BLUF:  It would be a sacrifice on his part.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

---

From The Old Gray Lady we have an article on Rep Paul Ryan, "Hometown Lets Paul Ryan Ponder Speaker Job on Own Terms".

JANESVILLE, Wis. — Representative Paul D. Ryan stepped out of St. John Vianney Roman Catholic Church after Mass here Saturday evening into the twilight of a cloudless day, far removed from the bleating of Washington that had surrounded him roughly 24 hours before.

In his hometown, he was not being chased by reporters with microphones or beseeched by his colleagues courting him to be the next speaker of the House.  Instead, he was among friends and neighbors, shooting the breeze as he meandered across a large suburban parking lot.

“Hey, Paul, what are the odds?” one of them asked about the chances he would try to ascend to the office second in the line of succession to the presidency.

A knowing Mr. Ryan stopped, smiled and gestured toward the lone journalist in the crowd.  “He’s a reporter,” he said, by way of apology, and kept walking.

But the question is on many minds in Janesville, a town of blue-collar workers, still suffering from the idling of a General Motors plant almost seven years ago, and of well-to-do families like the Ryans.  The people here seem almost as conflicted as Mr. Ryan himself professes to be.

Sounds like Janesville to me.

As for the Speakership, no one is going to make all the Republicans happy.  And, the question is, how much respect should the more conservative Members get in this process.  That is tied to the question of how much of their agenda has been accommodated.  Think of it in terms of a typical European Parliament.  They form a coalition with the Center-Right Republicans, so that they are part of the majority.  What do they get in exchange?♠

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  My two cents worth is that those European Parliament arrangements would not be good here in the Good Old USA.  See, for example,