WITHIN CITY LIMITS: Episode VI, In Defense of Paul Ryan.

WITHIN CITY LIMITS: Episode VI, In Defense of Paul Ryan.

By Nick Vaughn, Guest Columnist

With Donald Trump being the presumptive GOP nominee, the supposed goal of the national party is to begin to “heal and unite.” But with this being the new goal of the national party, how come Speaker Paul Ryan, the most powerful elected Republican, is going against this strategy set forth by Chairman Reince Priebus?

Ryan has said that he is not ready to support Trump and I do not blame him. Now, before my conservative friends jump down my throat for that, let me clear one thing up: he said he is not ready to support him yet. Honestly, neither am I. Although I am not sure I will ever be ready and willing to support him.

Now, we can think of this in two different ways. On the one hand we could paint Paul Ryan as a fake conservative, establishment, politically correct, bought and paid for politician. You know, the stuff that is exactly wrong with DC. Or, we can be reasonable individuals and realize that Paul Ryan is most certainly not a fake conservative (if he isn’t conservative I am not sure what conservatism is), he is instead a pragmatist willing to point out and understand the flaws of a candidate that supposedly is what the majority of Republicans want (even though 60% of Republican voters voted for someone other than Trump).

Paul Ryan may very well eventually support Trump, he might not. The bigger question is why is pragmatism such a rejected idea among the Republican base? I saw it to a lesser extent in the 2014 midterms, but it has finally come to a head here in 2016. This idea that we shouldn’t work with Democrats and when we do it’s a sign of weakness is the biggest tragedy in American politics. In an interview with the Associated Press, Ryan said: "We will need a standard ­bearer that can unify all Republicans, all conservatives, all wings of our party, and then go to the country with an appealing agenda, and we have work to do on this front, and I think our nominee has to lead in that effort."

This quote is meaningful because it points to the inclusiveness and pragmatic ideals that Ryan holds. It is especially telling when we see Donald Trump go and say that he doesn’t want Ryan’s support anyway and he wants to unite most Republicans but some he “doesn’t want.” Is this the man we want leading our party into the future? Because his direction isn’t pointed anywhere but down. Donald Trump is the most immature candidate ever nominated by a major party and his supporters are so rabidly in love with him that they can’t see they are being led straight off a cliff.

Paul Ryan is trying to salvage this mess that has become the Republican Party. I definitely do not blame him for holding off on supporting someone who has broken Reagan’s 11th commandment time and time again, who has appealed to people’s deep seated fears, and has proposed plans extremely ludicrous and laughably unfeasible. The question is not why doesn’t Paul Ryan support Trump, because that is very clear. Paul Ryan is a pragmatist and wants to save his party. The real question is: why do you​ support him?

Don’t say he speaks his mind and rebukes political correctness, because those vague blanket statements won’t do here. Let me know in the comments why you do or don’t support Trump. I want to hear from you!

Also, thank you for your patience. For several different reasons I was not able to continue writing for the blog during the Primary. Have no fear, though -- I am back!

I leave you with this, the quote of the day:

 “Action is the foundational key to all successes.” -- Pablo Picasso

Paul Ryan forgets his own Irish history.

But historical amnesia is an American birthright, isn't it?

Paul Ryan’s Irish Amnesia, by Timothy Egan (NYT)

... The Irish historian John Kelly, who wrote a book on the great famine, was the first to pick up on these echoes of the past during the 2012 presidential campaign. “Ryan’s high-profile economic philosophy,” he wrote then, “is the very same one that hurt, not helped, his forebears during the famine — and hurt them badly.”

"VP Debate 2012: The Real Paul Ryan Is Bad for America."

Joe Biden's attitude was off-putting? Really? Rather like the entirety of the Republican platform?

VP Debate 2012: The Real Paul Ryan Is Bad for America, by Charles P. Pierce ("The Politics Blog" at Esquire)

There is a deeply held Beltway myth of Paul Ryan, Man of Big Ideas, and it dies hard. But, if there is a just god in the universe, on Thursday night, it died a bloody death, was hurled into a pit, doused with quicklime, buried without ceremony, and the ground above it salted and strewn with garlic so that it never rises again.

and

Moreover, the battering that Biden gave Ryan brought something into sharp relief that the Republican party has been fudging ever since Romney put the zombie-eyed granny-starver on the ticket — that, for his entire political career up to that point, on critical economic issues, Paul Ryan was an extremist even by the standards of the modern Republican party, which are considerably high indeed.

and

His blithe dismissal of any demand that he be specific about where he and his running mate are planning to take the country generally, was so positively terrifying that it calls into question Romney's judgment for putting this unqualified greenhorn on the ticket at all. Joe Biden laughed at him? Of course, he did. The only other option was to hand him a participation ribbon and take him to Burger King for lunch.

Yes, it's true. I have wordsmith love for Charles P. Pierce.

"It’s no wonder that Mr. Romney does not want to take full responsibility for his running mate’s ideas."

A white conservative (Romney) picks another white conservative (Ryan), and the nation yawns. Conservatism ... it's just SO damned white, or as Frank Rich wrote, "Strange as it seems this ticket really is the current GOP's idea of diversity."

The Romney-Ryan Plan for America, a New York Times editorial

Less than 24 hours after Mitt Romney chose Paul Ryan as his running mate on Saturday, his campaign was already trying to distance itself from Mr. Ryan’s politically toxic budget plan.