By COB today, we are with increasing unanimity being told by the Republican-watchers in Washington, the agony of the House GOP in the wake of Kevin McCarthy’s abrupt abandonment of his campaign for the Speakership will turn into the party-wide ecstasy of Paul Ryan accepting the gig, which will apparently be given to him by acclamation.
WaPo’s James Hohmann and Elise Viebeck have a good roundup this morning of all the pundits and other insiders who are certain Ryan will soon bend to the popular will. The best line is from National Review‘s The Corner blog:
The only Republican who does not want Paul Ryan to become the next House speaker, it seems, is Paul Ryan.
But all sorts of observers see his determination to say “no” melting.
So what would Ryan want in exchanging for accepting the gavel? Ideally, he’d probably want a promise from the House Freedom Caucus that they won’t blow up his tenure in December by insisting on a government shutdown or a debt default. If, God forbid, I was one of these wacko birds and wanted to exploit the moment, I’d give Ryan what he wants in exchange for absolutely iron-clad commitments on what the House will do if Republicans win the White House next year and hang onto Congress. beginning, perhaps, with a brisk front-loaded reconciliation bill that defunds Planned Parenthood and cripples Obamacare and contains as much of the good old Ryan Budget as possible. How could Ryan say no to that?
But whether or not some big deal is made behind the scenes, brace yourself, dear readers, for an orgy of celebration of Ryan by GOPers over the weekend, up to and including the sentiment that he ought to be running for president instead of these bozos who can’t seem to figure out how to deep-six unintentional comedy acts like Donald Trump and Ben Carson.
