Tell it to the hand!
House Republicans my have gone from
magical thinking about Rep. Paul Ryan taking over the speakership to
guilt tripping the Wisconsin congressman, but here's all you really need to know about his interest in taking the job that's been bequeathed to him by GOP leadership (
via his spokesperson):
Yep. Pretty much radio silence from Ryan while everyone else weighs in. There's the GOP leaders who say Ryan owes them:
“You know what, he needs to do this for the team,” said Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
“He clearly doesn't want the job,” said Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), a long-serving member on the GOP leadership team. “But honestly this is a case where the job is seeking the man, and we need him.”
And then there's guys like House crazy caucus founder, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, who's
still eyeing someone else besides Ryan for the job.
“Our position right now is we know Daniel Webster, we know he’s done this in Florida, where he took a model that was so controlled, top-down, centralized kind of power model, he diffused that kind of power and empowered the members,” Jordan said. “So I think that’s the model we want."
The only thing that's uniting House Republicans at the moment is that they are collectively fighting over the fate of a guy who's effectively gone AWOL.
9:31 AM PT: UPDATE: Add another one to the list—Rep. Bill Flores of Texas wants the job if Ryan doesn't.