boutons_deux
01-12-2016, 02:33 PM
Paul Ryan is delusional: His dream of a compassionate GOP that’s the party of “opportunity” is pure fantasy
Over the weekend, Ryan spoke with several GOP presidential hopefuls (excluding Trump and Cruz) at the Kemp Foundation poverty summit in Columbia, South Carolina. According to Politico (http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/paul-ryan-gop-2016-house-republicans-217547), Ryan’s message was clear: “He wants the Republican Party to be an ‘agenda party, a solutions party, an ideas party, so that we can make our case, not based on personality, but based on ideas to the country. Because that’s the kind of election we want to win.’”
Ryan’s central theme is poverty and criminal justice reform. “I want our party to be the party of opportunity, upward mobility and the party with better ideas for fighting poverty,” he said. “I think criminal justice reform is probably the biggest [issue] we can make a difference on…There’s a real way forward on that.”
The speaker also talked up the need for education reform. We have to bust up the “poverty-industrial complex,” Ryan insisted, and that requires something beyond rank obstructionism. “If we don’t have a vibrant, inclusive, inspiring, exciting majority…the Republican Party, we will not be able to fix these problems…We are not just an opposition party, we are a proposition party.”
These are noble aspirations, but it’s hard to take them seriously. The Republican Party Ryan envisions doesn’t exist; it’s a phantasm. At least since Obama took office, the GOP has done nothing but obstruct. As I wrote (http://www.salon.com/2016/01/04/all_they_want_to_do_is_screw_over_the_president_ry an_mcconnell_confirm_they_have_no_real_agenda_in_1 6_besides_blocking_obama/) last week, Republicans have “pursued no real positive agenda, choosing instead to undermine the president and stage symbolic protests votes to appease a disillusioned base.”
It’s also strange to hear Ryan talk about a kinder, more substantive GOP when he appears to have caved to the most recalcitrant elements of the party. In a recentstatement (http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/263589-ryan-promises-vote-to-roll-back-obamacare-next-month), for instance, he announced his intention to “put an ObamaCare repeal bill on the floor and pass it and put it on the president’s desk…
We are going to keep working to give families relief from this law :lol while we work to dismantle and replace it altogether. " :lol
Like Ryan’s decision (http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/263667-deflated-conservatives-eye-new-strategy-in-planned-parenthood-fight) to resuscitate the failed attacks on Planned Parenthood in 2016, the goal here is to placate the base, not to achieve a tangible legislative outcome.
The GOP isn’t a “proposition party,” because that’s not what Republican voters want.
Getting things done in Congress is impossible without compromise, and that’s a heresy in today’s GOP.
It’s not surprising that neither Donald Trump nor Ted Cruz attended this event. These are the two frontrunners in the Republican race right now – they define the party.
Republicans have cultivated a sense of outrage and persecution mania in their base for years, and it’s resulted in a presidential race dominated by Trump, Cruz, and Carson, all of whom are unserious protest candidates.
A party that allows Donald Trump to exist cannot be an “ideas party.” Until Ryan and the Republican establishment deals with this reality, nothing else matters.
http://www.salon.com/2016/01/12/paul_ryan_is_delusional_his_dream_of_a_compassiona te_gop_thats_the_party_of_opportunity_is_pure_fant asy/
Over the weekend, Ryan spoke with several GOP presidential hopefuls (excluding Trump and Cruz) at the Kemp Foundation poverty summit in Columbia, South Carolina. According to Politico (http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/paul-ryan-gop-2016-house-republicans-217547), Ryan’s message was clear: “He wants the Republican Party to be an ‘agenda party, a solutions party, an ideas party, so that we can make our case, not based on personality, but based on ideas to the country. Because that’s the kind of election we want to win.’”
Ryan’s central theme is poverty and criminal justice reform. “I want our party to be the party of opportunity, upward mobility and the party with better ideas for fighting poverty,” he said. “I think criminal justice reform is probably the biggest [issue] we can make a difference on…There’s a real way forward on that.”
The speaker also talked up the need for education reform. We have to bust up the “poverty-industrial complex,” Ryan insisted, and that requires something beyond rank obstructionism. “If we don’t have a vibrant, inclusive, inspiring, exciting majority…the Republican Party, we will not be able to fix these problems…We are not just an opposition party, we are a proposition party.”
These are noble aspirations, but it’s hard to take them seriously. The Republican Party Ryan envisions doesn’t exist; it’s a phantasm. At least since Obama took office, the GOP has done nothing but obstruct. As I wrote (http://www.salon.com/2016/01/04/all_they_want_to_do_is_screw_over_the_president_ry an_mcconnell_confirm_they_have_no_real_agenda_in_1 6_besides_blocking_obama/) last week, Republicans have “pursued no real positive agenda, choosing instead to undermine the president and stage symbolic protests votes to appease a disillusioned base.”
It’s also strange to hear Ryan talk about a kinder, more substantive GOP when he appears to have caved to the most recalcitrant elements of the party. In a recentstatement (http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/263589-ryan-promises-vote-to-roll-back-obamacare-next-month), for instance, he announced his intention to “put an ObamaCare repeal bill on the floor and pass it and put it on the president’s desk…
We are going to keep working to give families relief from this law :lol while we work to dismantle and replace it altogether. " :lol
Like Ryan’s decision (http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/263667-deflated-conservatives-eye-new-strategy-in-planned-parenthood-fight) to resuscitate the failed attacks on Planned Parenthood in 2016, the goal here is to placate the base, not to achieve a tangible legislative outcome.
The GOP isn’t a “proposition party,” because that’s not what Republican voters want.
Getting things done in Congress is impossible without compromise, and that’s a heresy in today’s GOP.
It’s not surprising that neither Donald Trump nor Ted Cruz attended this event. These are the two frontrunners in the Republican race right now – they define the party.
Republicans have cultivated a sense of outrage and persecution mania in their base for years, and it’s resulted in a presidential race dominated by Trump, Cruz, and Carson, all of whom are unserious protest candidates.
A party that allows Donald Trump to exist cannot be an “ideas party.” Until Ryan and the Republican establishment deals with this reality, nothing else matters.
http://www.salon.com/2016/01/12/paul_ryan_is_delusional_his_dream_of_a_compassiona te_gop_thats_the_party_of_opportunity_is_pure_fant asy/