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| Paul Ryan Takes the Barzini Meeting |
| 2017-03-25 |
| Well, it's not like wiser heads didn't warn him: And yet Paul Ryan walked straight into the Barzini trap that president Trump set for him. By insisting that the voters desired "Repeal and Replace" when in fact all anybody wanted was "Repeal, full stop," Ryan's inner wonk superseded his duties as the speaker of the House to ensure the votes were there for the "Replace" part of the equation. That they weren't should be the end of his speakership. ...Once the bright shiny penny of young GOP congressmen, Ryan blotted his copybook badly in his disappointing vice-presidential debate performance against a gibbering Joe Biden. He then played coy after House conservatives finally managed to sack former speaker John Boehner, but eventually accepted the proffered crown. During the election, he fought Trump every step of the way and lied about it. So heading into round one of the health-care debate, there was no love lost between Trump and Ryan. Despite the fact that the House had already voted some 60 times to repeal Obamacare -- which is all GOP voters had been asking for -- Ryan got it into his head that what was really needed was a Republican version of Obamacare: "a better way." And so he set about crafting the latest version of GOP me-tooism, the American Health Care Act, which was ignominiously yanked this afternoon when it was clear there were not enough votes to pass it. ...Despite Trump's lip service in favor of the bill, it's hard not to believe that Ryan was set up for disaster. The bill had the speaker's fingerprints all over it, so it was a win-win for the White House. If the bill passed, fine: bad as it is, it was a marginal improvement on Obamacare, and Trump could be seen as having fulfilled a campaign promised. If it died, it was all on Ryan. And with it dead, the American people can continue to be tortured by the long, slow, painful death of Obamacare until they finally cry uncle and come begging to Trump to end the misery. Two out of three ain't bad. |
| Posted by:g(r)omgoru |
| #7 Trump has zero legislative experience. Maybe so, but Trump does have a lot of contract experience. He knows how to play the deal to get what he want. In fact, lack of legislative experience may be a good thing as it's not "politics as usual" at play here, but "get it done!" |
| Posted by: Seeking cure for ignorance 2017-03-25 21:05 |
| #6 Sometimes you have to give the enemy a victory for them to relax and let you have what you want. The health care bill can be revisited later, after Obamacare has people hurting and properly holding Dems accountable for the price hikes. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2017-03-25 19:57 |
| #5 we'll have a duel signing Fountain pens at ten paces? |
| Posted by: Pappy 2017-03-25 13:28 |
| #4 Ryan is the pooch, Iblis. |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2017-03-25 12:59 |
| #3 Trump has zero legislative experience. He and his team were relying heavily on Ryan, and Ryan screwed the pooch. He should go down. |
| Posted by: Iblis 2017-03-25 12:57 |
| #2 Mcconnel and Ryan: Mr. President we now have a congressionally approved Tax Relief bill ready for your signature. POTUS: Absolutely outstanding. Fantastic work guys, but I've just kicked it up a notch. Please bring me a coordinated Health Care 'End Obamacare' bill and we'll have a duel signing. I'll be in my office. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2017-03-25 10:20 |
| #1 And yet Paul Ryan walked straight into the Barzini trap that president Trump set for him. This 'Godfather' metaphor conveniently leaves out one character - HHS Secretary Tom Yournot a wartime Consigliere Tom. |
| Posted by: DepotGuy 2017-03-25 10:10 |