House Speaker Paul Ryan was pressed this weekend on CBS' Face the Nation for having yet another Obamacare repeal vote without providing an alternative to the healthcare plan.
"You said that you wanted the Republicans to offer an alternative to the president," CBS host John Dickerson reminded Ryan in an interview that aired on Sunday. "One of the first things you did this year, though, was offer that [Obamacare] repeal."
"How is than an alternative?" Dickerson wondered.
"It's not," Ryan replied, laughing. "It's why we have to come up with an alternative. So, you're right about that one."
"Will you?" Dickerson pressed.
"Absolutely," Ryan insisted. "My goal—I don't know how far it will go given we have a filibuster and a guy named Obama who's not going to replace Obamacare—but my goal is that, we as Republicans, if we don't like these laws, don't like the direction the country is going, I think we have to be more than just an opposition party."
Good for Dickerson for at least pressing this much. But what was missing was the follow-up point: We've heard that from Republicans literally dozens of times in the past five years. A replacement plan is always just around the corner—and always fails to materialize. Because they are nothing more than an opposition party. The GOP is not a governing party, because Republicans don't believe in governing.
It seems Ryan drank the Kool-Aid about being the wunderkind and new hope of the GOP. And he seems to be under the impression that by his sheer awesomeness he'll be the guy to turn the party into something other than a bad and destructive joke on the nation. Here's a spoiler for him: He's not that guy.