2016 is a year dedicated to the diminishing of the GOP establishment. For decades, the Party has appeared infinitely more concerned with promoting moderate, down-the-middle candidates wherever possible who seem more concerned with staying power than doing a serviceable job in Washington.
In 2014, America witnessed firsthand the early rumblings of what would become 2016’s “anti-establishment” sentiment that is so well represented in this year’s GOP election. Then-House Majority Leader, Republican Rep. Eric Cantor, likely thought that he was untouchable when he discovered that he would face a primary opponent. Like Casey at the Bat, Cantor scoffed at the notion that he would be defeated.
And like Casey at the Bat, he was humbled by a devastating loss. Cantor, the ranking number two in the House, was voted out of office in favor of Tea Party challenger Dave Brat. It sent a reverberating message that we can, and should, oust turncoat Republicans in leadership.
Now, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan is reportedly facing a primary challenger. Conservative groups have been searching for months to find a viable challenger for Wisconsin’s First Congressional District and according to a Washington Times report, they have found one that is better than could be expected: a wealthy Wisconsin businessman who the report has not yet named.
There is a process to declaring a candidacy and it is not uncommon for a candidate to be “considering” a run before the official election filings are submitted.
According to a political consultant close to the process, this businessman will “shake up the establishment in a profound way.”
Eric Odom, a conservative activist and political consultant in Wisconsin, promised with “100% certainty” that this businessman would be running to oust Ryan and also noted,
“I’ve had the privilege of attending multiple meetings with this individual, during which he has expressed his sense of betrayal by Speaker Ryan. He has a strong desire to see real representation for the people of the district versus a congressman who represents special interests in Washington.”
Odom also admitted that it would not be easy to oust the well-financed and connected politician, but also maintained that the businessman would be willing to put-up his own money to oust him.
“He was pushed to the edge and betrayed,” he said.
Conservative groups have been looking for a method of ousting Ryan after he betrayed conservatives by approving a $2 trillion spending package last year over the vocal protests of conservative leaders. The spending package increased the federal deficit at a time when America is $19 trillion in debt. It also funded Planned Parenthood after videos emerged showing that the abortion-providing organization was selling baby parts for profit and also funded sanctuary cities- cities that willing harbors illegal immigrants to shelter them from the consequences of their illegal acts.
Ryan maintained that he “fought” for conservative principles, saying, “In divided government you don’t get everything you want. So we fought for as much as we could get. We advanced our priorities and principles. Not every single one of them, but many of them.”
In reality, Ryan’s first real act as Speaker was just yet another surrender without a fight. Continually, the Republican-controlled House and Senate refuses to utilize the power of the purse to curb a radical leftist agenda and runaway spending. They maintain a strong resolve publicly for only a moment before incurring a few days of bad press for their supposed obstructionism and then promptly cave.
This pattern was the hallmark of Ryan’s predecessor, John Boehner, and appears to be Ryan’s style of “leadership” as well.
Some conservatives have been wary of a Republican challenger, positing that there are worse choices for Speaker that could arise if Ryan is ousted. However, such positions are dishonest as Ryan may give proper lip service to conservative issues, but operates in a manner not unlike Boehner or even Democrat Nancy Pelosi before him.
In this view, whoever this businessman is, it’s clear that this is terrific news as the GOP cannot sustain political relevancy so long as it is dominated by weaklings, cowards and entrenched establishment compromisers.
~~~~~~~~~
No one is more deserving of being ousted from their seat than Paul Ryan, a backstabber only the likes of John Boehner could appreciate.
Actually, that’s not true because there are numerous Congressmen who need ousting, and I’d start with that conservative group calling themselves the House Freedom Caucus who rallied to push Boehner aside as well as Kevin McCarthy, the obvious successor.
They were offered up several names as true conservative replacements for Speaker – volunteers such as Daniel Webster, Louie Gohmert and Jason Chaffetz – but turned them all down and caved when Paul Ryan was pushed into the job. The Caucus members had it in the bag and in their hands, but yielded it back over to the RINOs. Truly a face-palm worthy stupid move.
But I digress.
It’s not going to be that easy to get rid of Ryan. In the first place, this mystery man, whoever he may be is off to a late start, and perhaps that could work in his favor, but only if he has much of Wisconsin on his side and the means to get his message out there.
We’re witnessing on a daily basis the turmoil created within the ranks when an outsider and a rebel try to break the rusty old chains with the big ol’ boys who are used to running things their way. They’re grasping at any and every straw trying to push the presidential election in the direction they want it to go, so another ‘wealthy businessman’ might create a brush fire, but you can bet the lifers will find a fix for their blue-eyed go-along-to-get-along speaker.
It will be interesting to follow and find out who this unnamed businessman is. We’ll see if the status quo is maintained or if the people actually get a break for a change.
~Kathy
Categories: Political
Pesky Truth 
Great post, Kathy. I see by perusing the headlines that the candidate is named, so I’m heading over to that post and will save my comment for there.
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I’ve noticed that primarying candidates is working in a large % of elections. This one is insteresting.
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There was a time that I also thought that Paul Ryan was “one of us,” but either he fooled us or was enticed over to the dark side by the hierarchy of the RINO establishment club. For whatever reason, he’s changed his spots and now fits the Boehner and McConnell mold which is to talk like a conservative, but act like a RINO. We’ve had enough of that BS. We elected majorities into the House and Senate with the expectation that they would have the power to stand against Obama and begin to fix the problems that decades of democrat and RINO legislation have inflicted on the country. We can only hope that this new opponent can vanquish the malleable Ryan and bring some real conservative enthusiasm to the House.
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I agree wholeheartedly, Garnet! Enough of the lip service or get the hell out!
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Remember when he told us to continue to live in the Christmas spirit? We should have courageous humility. Ok, Ryan, you go first.
I’m hoping for another surprise like Eric Cantor got.
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Not all of Wisconsin, Garnet, just a majority in that Congressional District! I held out high hopes for Ryan, up until his failed VP run. He obviously joined the surrender caucus fully at that time, and has been a.failure as Speaker, not willing to stand for anything but verbal stances. The Freedom Caucus did not have the votes to install a Speaker on their own. As I recall, none of the truse conservatives got near to half the House caucus.
Tremulous, troublesome times!
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True, Curtis, just that district. For some reason I was thinking senator instead of rep. For all the good Ryan’s done, they may as well have kept Boehner and saved themselves the trouble of going through the process. Ryan’s the same thing minus the tan and the martini.
I’d have to do some research, but the caucus had enough members to block a vote as I recall, so they could have stopped this from happening and they didn’t. I guess Ryan fooled them too.
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Ryan was supposed to be the compromise, and he promised to hold the line on spending. Either he outright lied, or he has a different definition that the rest of us did.
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I’ll go with liar, Curtis, because he started the tall tales when he was campaigning with Romney. He told us not to worry about O’care being implemented because the House would simply defund it. We see how well that worked out.
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