http://www.nationalreview.com/node/425913/print How Paul Ryan Got from ‘Never’ to ‘All In’ for Speaker
By Tim Alberta — October 21, 2015
It all started with a call from Kevin McCarthy.
Paul Ryan was holed up in his office on a crisp Thursday morning, making final revisions to a speech nominating McCarthy as the next speaker of the House, when his phone rang. It was the majority leader himself. He told Ryan he no longer wanted the job and informed him that he’d be announcing his change of heart at that afternoon’s Republican conference meeting.
Ryan was stunned — but he knew what was coming next. As their conversation turned to the future of the conference, McCarthy made the case that Ryan should step up and become speaker, arguing that he was the only Republican capable of uniting the conference — a sentiment echoed throughout Ryan’s conversations with colleagues over the following week.
Ryan was not interested in the job, and everyone knew it. He had insisted to me in past conversations, including in a National Journal profile last fall, that he would “never” be speaker. He said so after Eric Cantor, heir apparent to the speakership, lost his primary last year. He repeated himself in September, after John Boehner announced his resignation. And in this moment, he told McCarthy the same thing.
continued
