TOKYO, Japan (February 19, 2015) Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), House Ways and Means Committee Chairman, and seven other members of a congregational delegation visiting Japan address the international media in Tokyo. Rep. Ryan heads the delegation that includes: Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), Rep. Pat Tiberi (R-OH), Rep. Dave Reichert (R-WA), Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA), Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-FL), Rep. Adrian Smith (R-NE). [State Department photo by William Ng/Public Domain]
Paul Ryan has popped up again, and it’s not in a good way.
You probably don’t watch a lot of CBS Mornings, and, as such, there’s a good chance you didn’t see this. But we should talk about it nonetheless, because what it shows is the past — and why it’s just that.
Here’s Ryan offering up the strung-out failure addiction of Bush Republicanism, having learned no lessons at all:
Paul Ryan denounces GOP efforts to protect kids from racially divisive & sexual material, telling CBS he’s “not a culture war guy” & those issues are “polarizing.” Instead, he’s focused on China & the debt.
I grew up idolizing him as many 30something conservatives. So lame. pic.twitter.com/OBmC8ieTDC
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) June 13, 2023
Curtis Houck isn’t wrong. A decade ago, Paul Ryan looked very much like the future of the Republican Party. He seemed like an intelligent guy with a little bit of quirky cool to him, and he at least talked the talk of wanting to do big things.
We never discuss reforming entitlement programs anymore. We’re going to have to do it eventually. Ryan was probably the only serious voice on that issue in this century.
But, of course, he was a failure, and he was a failure for exactly the reasons he stated in that clip:
Fuller Paul Ryan quote: “I’m not a cultural war guy…[i]t’s really, polarizing…[O]n some of these issues, I’ll side w/the anti-woke crowd…I’m worried about the debt crisis….and China…It’s very divisive…I’m a Jack Kemp guy. I believe in inclusive, aspirational politics”
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) June 13, 2023
“Inclusive, aspirational politics” is a euphemism for Dumping On Your Own Voters. It’s about liking the other side’s voters better than your own and then acting on that preference.
And it’s why, whether or not Donald Trump is the next American president, we are never going back to the Republicanism of Paul Ryan.
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