While pundits across the country are picking their jaws up off the floor with Paul Ryans’ announcement that he’s not running for re-election, I’m not surprised. I’ve expected this shoe to drop for quite some time now. Like me, he sees the handwriting on the wall.
It isn’t Trump or the insane Freedom Caucus that’s responsible for his departure as the pundits are fond of saying today. He doesn’t really mind chaos. In his mind, if we’re watching chaos over there, we won’t see what he’s doing over here. And while the media is busy with Trump Tweets, Republicans are doing terrible things that pass by largely unnoticed.
It’s not that I’ve got a political crystal ball in my home, but I’ve been watching the GOP Golden Boy for many years. He’s had it his way for far too long. The granny-starving extremist was able to present himself as a fresh-faced moderate in his district because compliant media portrayed him that way. Re-elected in his gerrymandered district time after time, he became complacent. He never really had to campaign — that “R” behind his name was all it took to get votes.
And then he got national attention and the gig was up. His last town hall over 2 years ago (invitation only) was a raucous event with constituents taking him to task over his votes and key issues. He hasn’t held a town hall, even his invitation-only ones, since then. He can run, stay in Washington hiding from the locals, but can’t avoid public attention and scrutiny anymore. They know who he really is now.
2 years ago, against a poorly funded, but good candidate, he even had to run TV ads. His re-election was closer than ever and he even lost his home town of Janesville. That was a wake-up call.
Today, he is up against Randy Bryce, an iron worker, union member, and community activist who has national and grassroots support. Even his gerrymandered district, Wi-01, won’t be enough to glide him back into office in a day when he’s not smelling so good to his constituents. And Randy Bryce, armed with great ads that have been airing, is looking like a far better prospect than Lyin’ Ryan.
The biggest “tell” to me was the fact that Paul Ryan hasn’t filed for re-election. I’ve been sitting back, waiting for the “time for me to spend more time with my family” announcement. It came today.
Gone are the days he could pretend to be a fresh-faced moderate with a BS slide show for his propagandized constituents. Even the heavy promotion by statewide RW radio talk show hosts can’t stand against reality anymore. He’s been shown to be a partisan extremist more supportive of millionaires and corporations at the expense of the regular folks in his district. His attacks on Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security are now well known and can’t be hidden or “splained away”.
The nightly wining and dining by lobbyists at the finest Washington establishments with $300 bottles of wine are also not received well in his district by people struggling to pay their bills and put food on the table. And his proudly hailed tax bill is an albatross hanging around his neck as the folks at home realize that the meager increase in their paychecks is going to be paid back in their next tax filing while millionaires, billionaires, and corporations are seeing an enormous largess.
In short, Paul Ryan has been exposed. His snake oil isn’t selling any more. He would rather quit than lose.
Don’t worry, though. Ryan will land on his feet — no doubt with a highly paid lobbying job where the wining and dining and $300 bottles of wine will continue to the far future. He’s got the gift of gab and spewing BS has become an art form for him. It will serve him well as a lobbyist even though his constituents aren’t buying it anymore. He’ll impress most GOP politicians with his bag of gab and great big lobbyist checks.