The future face of the GOP?

by E.D. Kain on July 30, 2009

Paul Ryan, not Ron Paul.  Though hell, that could be confusing….Michael C. Moynihan writes:

When I sat down with Ryan last month to discuss Obama’s education policy, he quoted Hayek, talked at length about handing out Rand books to staffers, and discussed his previous life as an economic analyst. Such conversations should be de rigueur with members of the House Budget Committee, but I suspect Ryan is the only one that could name an Austrian economist.

Further proof that the Republican Party needs more Paul Ryans: Yesterday, he beat up on MSNBC host Carlos Watson and The Nation editor Katrina vanden Heuvel regarding the “public option” and why Congress shouldn’t pass bills it hasn’t read. Imagine such a performance from, say, Sarah Palin or Michelle Bachmann:


I don’t know much about Rep. Ryan, but this isn’t the first time I’ve seen him come up recently in a favorable light.  I will have to dig.  Now let’s just hope he doesn’t run off with some Argentinian femme fatal.

Tagged as: paul ryan

E.D. Kain is a blogger and freelance writer. Currently he serves as Editor-in-Chief of The League of Ordinary Gentlemen and writes a tech blog at Forbes. Visit his politics blog here. He can be found occasionally composing 140 character cultural analysis on Twitter. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The National Review, The Washington Examiner, and the now-defunct True/Slant. You can also contact him via email.

{ 11 comments }

1 mike farmer July 30, 2009 at 3:46 pm

Quick, have him castrated!

2 Mike at The Big Stick July 30, 2009 at 4:16 pm

I saw Ryan speak on election night coverage back in November and was very impressed…which means he will be caught with a stripper/secret gay lover/buying crack before he can ever make it to national glory.

3 Neil July 30, 2009 at 5:07 pm

Wow, that was really impressive. A Republican in a five minute clip without mentioning the words “pork,” “earmark,” or “socialized medicine.”

4 Neil July 30, 2009 at 5:08 pm

I was getting around to using a verb in the second sentence, but was too lazy to do so.

5 Lev July 30, 2009 at 6:18 pm

Don’t get too excited–Ryan was behind the Republican April Fools “alternate budget”. And somehow I doubt Austrian economic theories are the path back for the GOP.

6 James August 3, 2009 at 9:34 pm

Paul Ryan/Ron Paul ’12?

7 Charlie July 30, 2009 at 6:55 pm

Here’s a link to Congressman Ryan’s website:

http://www.house.gov/ryan/

8 Michael Drew July 30, 2009 at 7:57 pm

Ryan represents the district adjacent to mine. He’s a dink, but that’s just a personal reaction. He was the author of the version of the Republican budget alternative that actually had some numbers in it, but his version also made some pretty questionable leaps on projections, as described here:

http://business.theatlantic.com/2009/04/paul_ryans_crazy_budget_graph.php

And it has some interesting priorities (“Um the, the phrase goes like this: ‘Drill, BABY, drill!’ not ‘Drill, drill, drill!’ Morons.”) and tax proposals (25% rate on incomes from $100K to the sky):

http://washingtonindependent.com/36862/paul-ryans-budget

Granted, a lot of that probably increases his appeal to many here. I am assuming that chairman Van Hollen will be targeting the First next year — it should be an almost perfect bellwether for how Obama’s economic program has been received, as this sorry attempt at a takedown of Ryan in a Madison free weekly a couple months ago suggested: http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=25584.

…I’m guessing Ryan’s attitude at the moment is “Bring. It. On.” as far as any stimulus vulnerability goes, but we’ll see where things stand in a year. It’s gonna be quite the battle.

9 Michael Drew July 31, 2009 at 3:34 am

…Charlie Cook has him at solid R, so perhaps it’s worth putting some of your chips on him after all.

10 Clint July 31, 2009 at 6:13 am

Like Paul (of the Ron variety), Paul Ryan appears to be more about the message than the messenger. Despite the urging of most of the Republican Study Committee, he turned down the opportunity to challenge John Boehner for Minority Leader this year (I’d wager he had somewhere north of a 50-50 shot of winning). He also turned down the Ranking Member spot on the powerful Ways & Mean Committee to remain Ranking on the highly irrelevant ( but highly wonkish) debating society known as the Budget Committee.

The other name that ought to be mentioned for greener pastures in the reformist wing of the party: Rep. Jeff Flake (AZ)

11 Michael Drew July 31, 2009 at 8:40 am

He’s got a game, that I promise you.

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