On Thursday, Ohio Democratic House Rep. Tim Ryan expressed his great dismay for the Democratic Party to a plethora of major news outlets. Actually, dismay is putting it lightly. Tim Ryan called the party brand “toxic.”
Being critical of one’s own party is good and can be very valuable at times. But how it’s done makes all the difference. Tim Ryan delivered a low blow as if to side with Republicans on the same day the GOP released the contents of their vengeful, anti-Obama, anti-Democrat, anti-American, life-threatening healthcare plan. The AHCA spits on the sick, poor and those in most need—and it benefits insurance companies/big corporations, the rich and those who never go without.
But Tim Ryan thinks it’s the Democratic Party that’s “toxic.” This is what a political party-divider looks like.
During his interview with CNN, Tim Ryan also decided to lambaste his former mentor Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who has been one of the strongest, most persistent, resilient and relentless forces against Donald Trump, his cronies and the self-serving GOP. Tim Ryan may be able to justify his sour grapes for Pelosi even though when he arrived in Washington, she hooked him up with a slot on the House Democratic Steering Committee which he used to advance his career. But now she’s hurt his feelings. She crushed him in last November’s internal Democratic Party House Leader bid.
When Don Lemon asked Tim Ryan if he thought Pelosi was more toxic than Trump, Ryan actually said yes.
“The honest answer (opposed to when he’s giving a dishonest answer) is, in some areas of the country, yes, she is.”
Given her integrity and the great respect Pelosi has earned from her colleagues over years in office, Ryan’s statement couldn’t have been more repulsive. For Ryan to even compare Leader Pelosi to a lying, scamming, hateful, tax-evading thug and sexual predator like Trump—is incredulous. And then to say she’s more toxic than Trump, on any level, is outrageous, especially coming from a Democratic lawmaker. You see, Tim Ryan thinks he could do a better job than Pelosi even though Republicans have the majority in the House, Senate, Oval Office and now Supreme Court. Ryan seems to think he has the magic answer when in reality—no Democratic leader has a fair shot under current circumstances.
But give Tim Ryan some time—he’s known to change his mind, and often talks out of both sides of his mouth. Just months ago, in an interview with the Washington Post, Tim Ryan said:
“I love her (Nancy Pelosi). I was a foot soldier for her… I’m a Nancy guy.”
After the Thursday’s interview, Ryan paved the way for Trump to jump on his big new lie that Democrats want Pelosi out, while sarcastically tweeting that Pelosi is very good for Republicans. Fuck Trump. Thanks, Tim.
James Hohmann with the Washington Post referred to Tim Ryan as “a rising star—who always gets cold feet,” but Ryan got his toes burned during his bid against Pelosi. He figured he had the advantage of “secret ballots” on his side. He told WaPo before the election that many of his colleagues told him that they told Pelosi they’d vote for her, but instead they would vote for him.
“That’s just how it works,” he said.
As it turns out, that’s not how it works and Tim Ryan was either played by his colleagues, or he’s full of shit (or both). He garnered only 63 out of 194 votes. Leader Nancy Pelosi triumphed easily and perhaps that has a little to do with the fact that she has an astounding record of accomplishments and political successes during her 14 years in office. In the words of the last Commander in Chief:
“I cannot speak highly enough of Nancy Pelosi. She combines strong progressive values with extraordinary political skill ... I think she's a remarkable leader.”— President Barack Obama, November 2016
The Economist wrote:
“Mrs. Pelosi is arguably the most powerful woman in American history. There have been female governors, secretaries of state and Supreme Court justices, but only one female Speaker.”
To give an example, Pelosi passed 230 key measures and had more than 70% of them with significant bipartisan support of the 110th Congress. Here are some of the laws that were passed under the Democratic leadership of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi:
Innovation and Jobs
Comprehensive Energy Legislation, which raised vehicle fuel efficiency standards (35 mpg by the year 2020) for the first time in 32 years, and making an historic commitment to American homegrown biofuels.
Tax Incentives for Clean Renewable Energy that helped create or save over 500,000 jobs.
Competes Act promoted high‐tech jobs, expanded math and science education, and boosted research and innovation.
Economic Recovery and Stimulus Package with Recovery Rebatesfor 130 million American middle class families to provide some help during difficult economic period.
Education
Largest Expansion of College Aid in Six Decades, cutting loan rates in half and increasing Pell Grants.
New GI Bill to provide free college education to veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.
Head Start Reauthorization, first reform and expansion in 10 years.
Fairness
Minimum Wage Increase, first in 10 years, a $4,400 raise for 13 million Americans.
Economic Rescue Legislation to protect Main Street from the crisis on Wall Street.
Alternative Minimum Tax Reform protected 25 million middle‐class families from paying the AMT.
Mental Health Parity to end coverage discrimination against patients seeking treatment for mental illnesses.
Landmark Lobby and Ethics Reform, including creating of an outside, independent ethics panel.
National Security
Enacted 911 Commission recommendations to strengthen homeland security.
Largest Investment in Veteran’s Health care in the 77‐year history of the VA
And Pelosi also runs circles around Tim Ryan’s fundraising efforts for Democratic candidates. Ryan has never raised more than $1.4 million in any two-year period. Pelosi raised $35 million in just three months before the November election. But who’s counting. Not Tim Ryan. But he feels he can reach more of the masses because he has spoken to a lot of folks in little pockets around the country while he was on his book tour. (Yes, he made sure to get a book plug during his Washington Post interview.) The books were not about politics, though, which he claims to know so much about—they were about meditation and food. But, hey—a plug’s a plug.
Tim Ryan also conducted a lackluster AMA on Reddit, which is sort of an “ask me anything” format. Turns out, not many cared—and those who did show up were already less than impressed with Ryan. One of the commenters accused Tim Ryan of trying to “piggyback on Bernie Sanders progressive political movement.” The commenter added:
“Some of the language you have used in your statements is indicative of such. You also claim to be a Progressive as shown on your twitter page and made through various statements. For an actual Progressive like myself, why should I trust you to hold up my progressive values in Congress when you have, according to Opensecrets.org, had 3% of your entire donations come from "Small individual contributions" (aka the standard American person) while 96% of your money raised is either from PACs or "Large individual contributions" in inclusion with the above stated issues?”
Needless to say, the AMA session didn’t last long and didn’t end well for Ryan.
Surprisingly, also during his Washington Post interview, Tim Ryan bragged that he’s chummy with House Majority Leader Paul Ryan because they work out together at the gym, at the same time. So which is it, Tim? Do you work out together—or do you just work out at the same time? Either way, tooting a buddy-pal relationship with a blatant liar and a despicable and smug punk like Paul Ryan will most likely not gain Tim Ryan any points with progressives, liberals, Democrats or moderates.
Besides turning on people who mentored him early on, and turning on a party that helped him rise politically, Tim Ryan also spent 14 years of his political career staunchly anti-choice (or as he and other anti-choice lawmakers and religious zealots like to called it, “pro-life”). It wasn’t until his aspiration for a higher position became known that he changed his anti-choice tune. But Ryan swears that climbing the political ladder had nothing to do with his change of heart on abortion.
Given his attack on Pelosi, the most powerful woman in government today, and Tim Ryan’s longtime anti-choice stance, one has to wonder if he lacks a basic respect for women. Sure—he campaigned for Hillary Clinton last year, but admitted in one interview that he was vying for a cabinet position. Which position? That didn’t seem to matter: He could do any of that “stuff,” he says:
“I would like them all” he said in a Youngstown interview. “I love the transportation stuff. I love the workforce development stuff that would come through the Department of Labor. The ag stuff too!”
Perhaps Trump has a position for him. Seems Tim Ryan would fit right in. Ryan also thinks the party is doing too much “slicing and dicing.”
“Here’s our LGBT community. Here’s labor guy… You stop becoming a national party... That’s what happened in [the 2016] election.”
Because Tim Ryan apparently knows what happened in the election, and he had nothing to say about the fact our election was hacked. And though we don’t know, yet, how much it affected the results of the election, it’s now coming out that many state voting stations may have been compromised. And since a lot of computer hacking cannot be traced, we may never know all the answers. So nobody knows, at this point, what caused such a shocking loss. But Tim Ryan’s proposes to know what went wrong and it’s the Democrat’s entire fault. They are a “toxic” brand, he says. He even has a problem with the fact that Democrats were too concerned with the GOP’s refusal to appropriate money to combat the Zika virus. Ryan didn’t feel Zika was a big enough problem, he didn’t see it as a national problem and says most people in his neck of the woods have never been to New Orleans or South Florida where the disease has had the most outbreaks, and to them:
“it might as well be Venezuela. Or the North Pole!”
Wait. What? Is Tim Ryan saying his constituents and community members don’t care about a horrible virus spreading across the southern states that could spread across the country, because, you know, it doesn’t affect them. Perhaps Ryan is speaking for himself and doesn’t know the mindset of most decent human beings. No, Tim Ryan wants the Democratic Party to speak on a “national level.” Don’t look at the individual challenges of contracting the Zika-disease or hate crimes against the LGBT community or the plight of immigrants—or any social issue—just lump them all together with one “economic” message. And this is the person who wanted to become the Democratic House Leader.
I find Tim Ryan’s inimical words to be backstabbing to the party, and to the people like Leader Pelosi who helped him in the beginning of his career and along the way. More and more his actions spell untrustworthiness, and we get more than enough of that from Trump and his Republican elected and appointed minions. We don’t need it from within our own party.
Again, criticism against one’s own political party is encouraged and very necessary for a party to grow. But if Tim Ryan can’t constructively and respectfully criticize Democrats without making derogatory and contemptuous remarks to the press about his own party and leaders, then perhaps he should consider joining the Republican Party where his anti-Democratic Party rhetoric would be more congruent with, and helpful to the GOP’s self-serving agendas.
Related:
Sunday, Jun 25, 2017 · 8:50:50 AM +00:00 · Leslie Salzillo
ABC news reported:
Ryan said Pelosi stands in the way of the party's goal of flipping control of the House back in their favor for the first time since 2010.
“It’s not personal against Leader Pelosi, it’s just reality,” Ryan said, adding later his belief that Pelosi's leadership "provide[s] a good, solid impediment" to taking back the majority...
Ryan said his party suffers from a “perception” issue. “We are perceived as being liberal, that’s got a bad reputation, and out of touch,” he said, adding that Democrats have stopped discussing issues that he believes matter most to working-class Americans. “We haven’t been talking about these direct economic issues that people are talking about,” he said.
Again, Ryan blames Pelosi and now adds the “bad reputation” of “Liberals” as the reason for losses.