Ryan tells GOP he'll run for Speaker — with conditions

[EC]

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) told the House GOP conference Tuesday night that he will run for Speaker if every caucus endorses him, according to lawmakers in the room.

Ryan made the pledge during a presentation behind closed doors in which he outlined how he could be convinced to run for the lower chamber’s top job.

He also gave House Republicans until Friday to rally around him.

According to a source in the room, Ryan told his colleagues, “I know this sounds conditional, because it is.”

After the meeting Ryan told reporters the while the Speakership has never been a job he wanted, he wouldn’t turn his back on his party’s leadership.

“It’s not a job I’ve ever wanted [or] I’ve ever sought,” Ryan said. “I’m in the job I’ve always wanted here in the Congress. I came to the conclusion that this is a very dire moment, not just for Congress, not just for the Republican Party, but for our country. And I think our country is in desperate need of leadership.”

A spokesman for Ryan immediately after the meeting said Ryan will only run if his colleagues accept him as a “unity candidate” who is backed by centrists and conservatives in the House.

“Unless the Speaker is a unifying figure across the conference, he or she will face the same challenges that have beset our current leadership,” Brendan Buck said.

He said Ryan “encouraged the members to discuss and consider his requests, and he asked that they make clear whether they support them by this Friday.”

http://thehill.com/homenews/house/257548-ryan-tells-gop-hell-run-for-speaker-with-conditions

[mystery-ak]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ryan-nears-decision-on-speakers-race-as-congress-returns/2015/10/20/b0e4998c-7687-11e5-bc80-9091021aeb69_story.html

 By Mike DeBonis and Robert Costa October 20 at 9:01 PM

Rep. Paul D. Ryan (Wis.) moved closer to the House speakership Tuesday, telling fellow Republicans that he would consider taking the job if he could be assured that the caucus would stand behind him.

Ryan faced his colleagues — and his political future — at a private evening meeting of House Republicans in the Capitol basement. He said he would be willing to step up and meet the calls to serve, ending weeks of GOP leadership turmoil, as long as disparate factions moved in the coming days to unite around him.

“I hope it doesn’t sound conditional, but it is,” he said, according to members inside the room. He paused after saying the word “conditional,” they said, for effect.

Ryan, the 45-year-old chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and a 2012 vice presidential nominee, has long resisted pressure to assume a higher-profile role in party leadership. And he signaled Tuesday that his decision to serve was far from assured.

Much depends on what assurances of support he can win from Republican hard-liners. Before entering the evening meeting, Ryan met privately with leaders of the House Freedom Caucus, an influential group that helped push Speaker John A. Boehner out of his post and derailed Majority Leader Kevin O. McCarthy’s bid to succeed him.

continued

[GourmetDan]

 

“If Paul Ryan can’t unite us, no one can. Who else is out there?” said Rep. Peter T. King (R-N.Y.), a moderate. “That’d be a sign of utter dysfunction, total madness.”

Well Pete, why don't you sacrifice your principles and vote for a Speaker from the Freedom Caucus instead of expecting the Freedom Caucus to sacrifice their principles and vote for a candidate that you support?

Does that idea scramble your little brain?

[libertybele]

Well Pete, why don't you sacrifice your principles and vote for a Speaker from the Freedom Caucus instead of expecting the Freedom Caucus to sacrifice their principles and vote for a candidate that you support?

Does that idea scramble your little brain?

    

[sinkspur]

The problem for the 40 member Freedom Caucus is that the rest of the House GOP won't for Gomer Gohmert or Walter Jones or even Daniel Webster.

And the FC thinks it can hold a gun to the head of the rest of the GOP by witholding votes from Ryan.

Well, guess what?  Don't support Ryan, he doesn't run and Boehner sticks around and sticks it to the FC.

[Formerly Once-Ler]

Sasha Issenberg ‏@sissenberg 2h2 hours ago
If Paul Ryan is really so smart, why didn’t he use one of his four conditions to ask for more conditions?

[PzLdr]

Well Pete, why don't you sacrifice your principles and vote for a Speaker from the Freedom Caucus instead of expecting the Freedom Caucus to sacrifice their principles and vote for a candidate that you support?

Does that idea scramble your little brain?

I hate to disagree, but Peter King's brain is not "little". It's non-existent.