Paul Ryan just wants you to know that he’s no John Boehner.
"I think I do it better," the House speaker told CNN during an interview this week, adding that his leadership style is different than his predecessor, whose resignation last year shocked Washington. "Not to knock John, but I spend more time with all of our members on a continual basis."
Hey, that’s not an insult. It’s just … screw you, John. And Ryan’s going to roll out a set of plans that will save Republican candidates anxious to know what they stand for in time for Cleveland … by ditching the Republican presidential candidate.
If Ryan (R-Wis.) and his conference deliver as promised, their agenda would provide a tangible blueprint on which vulnerable Republicans could run in November — and serve as an alternative to the ideas promoted by presidential front-runners Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
So Paul Ryan will totally prove that the Republican Party can present a united front … so long as no one ever looks at the top of the ticket. And just who will this new package please?
“A lot of people don’t like conservatism as they know it,” he said … “For too many people, Republicans seem to be caught in a time warp. They’re thinking, ‘We don’t control our borders. Wages are going nowhere. College and heath care keep getting more expensive. ISIS continues to spread. And what are Republicans going to do about it?’”
Of course, there are some people who are thinking that illegal immigration peaked in 2007. And maybe they’re thinking that Republican tax cuts helped the 1 percent skim income increases. And possibly they have a notion that healthcare costs under Obamacare have been even lower than projected. They might also have heard that ISIS has lost a large amount of territory. Those people who are thinking these things might be known as people who know their ass from a hole in the ground. Which, of course, means they’re not the people Ryan is trying to reach.
One exciting note in Ryan’s plan …
Republicans say the speaker’s agenda project — the product of several task forces and dozens of meetings among rank-and-file House members — will provide specifics, and perhaps even draft legislation, on key issues of importance to conservatives, including health care, taxes and national security. Republicans have long promised an alternative to President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, which they constantly bash but for which they have not produced a concrete replacement.
Oooohhh. Specifics. On an alternative to Obamacare. Why, that’s something the Republicans have been working on so long that … exactly no one is still waiting for them to provide a solution.