Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) announced Tuesday night that he will consider a bid for House speaker as long as a few conditions are me and one of those conditions is that he doesn’t have to kiss ass to the House Freedom Caucus, the group of 40 far-right Republicans who don’t want to compromise, who want to shut down government, etc. Basically, he doesn’t want to do what Boehner had to do, dealing with all the in-fighting and spending most of his time fundraising for people who are giving him problems.
You can’t really blame Ryan. It’s not a great job, trying to lead the contentious and fractured GOP.
But political reporters suggest that the unbendable House Freedom Caucus may not be warming to Ryan today.
Walter Jones, conservative from North Carolina, sharply critical of Paul Ryan as well and says he’s backing Webster
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) October 21, 2015
Huelskamp says House Freedom Caucus is still backing Rep Daniel Webster for Spkr — Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) October 21, 2015
You know you’re in trouble when the voice of reason is Peter King.
Pete King says House Freedom Caucus will “marginalize themselves” if they scuttle Ryan’s bid. GOP will be in “total disarray” if Ryan bails
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) October 21, 2015
King is right. Anyway, the HFC is supposed to meet with Ryan later today. Could be fireworks if they push Ryan too far and he says “screw it”. I don’t think that will happen, but it could.