House Speaker Paul Ryan says he is not running for re-election

[GMDino]

(04-12-2018, 09:14 AM)michaelsean Wrote: Well social security is 17 years I believe, but  it's absolutely Ryan's fault. Be bitter all you want.  when Pelosi lost her job as Speaker, I was happy.  

It's not "all his fault"....but it stated his goals for a long time were to get rid of the "entitlements".  And he did get that tax cut through which adds one trillion dollars to the deficit.  

When did it become "bitter" to state the truth?

And it's not about thinking/assuming Democrats will take the house or even gain seats.  It's more about seeing a dbag, who used the system to better himself and then attempted to dismantle it for his own political gain, go away.  

He wants to be a "full time dad"? Aw.  My heart bleeds for him!

He had to work almost 140 days a year! And all he gets for his 20 years of taxpayer funded pay is a guaranteed pension and healthcare.  Poor guy!  

When he (and his wife) have to work full time to support their family and hope they don't need any major medical help I'll give him some thoughts and prayers.

[Yojimbo]

I'm not an Erik Erikson listener/reader, so I don't know how well he is regarded among conservative, but if this article he wrote is true, this is why Paul Ryan and 30 other Republicans are "retiring"

https://www.themaven.net/theresurgent/erick-erickson/a-congressman-s-profanity-laced-tirade-in-a-safeway-grocery-store-SeHI2l5bIECGQn4gmnzGaw/?full=1

One of the President's congressional defenders has privately decided he hates Trump and wants to unload.

"If we're going to lose because of him, we might as well impeach the motherf**ker," said the congressman as we roamed the aisles of a Safeway grocery store together. I haven't been in a Safeway since my family moved home from Dubai in 1990. The congressman did not want to be seen with me on Capitol Hill. He needed to get some stuff anyway and decided he'd let me walk with him through the cereal and dairy selections at the Safeway near my hotel. He is not happy with President Trump. He was never a die hard Trump supporter. He supported him in the general and never expected him to win. But he did. So the congressman, whose district Trump won, has been a regular supporter on Fox News and elsewhere defending the President. He is happy to be quoted, so long as I don't name him. He says he just needs to vent. I suggest what we're doing is one of the reason's Trump won -- a congressman says nice things in public and bad things in private.

"Everybody does this sh*t," he says. It's his turn. We have known each other for years and have been promising to connect this week while I'm passing through DC. So this is it. I'm passing along his comments, not endorsing them.

"I read you writing about this, about wanting to say nice things when you can and criticize when you need to. He may be an idiot, but he's still the President and leader of my party and he is capable of doing some things right," he says before conceding it's usually other people doing the right things in the President's name. "But dammit he's taking us all down with him. We are well and truly f**ked in November. Kevin [McCarthy] is already circling like a green fly circling sh*t trying to take Paul's [Ryan] job because nobody thinks he's sticking around for Nancy [Pelosi]. She's going to f**k up the cafeteria again too. [Lord's name in vain], at least I'll probably lose too and won't have to put up with that sh*t." He won't lose. His district is very Republican.

What's the problem, though? Well, get ready…

"It's like Forrest Gump won the presidency, but an evil, really f*cking stupid Forrest Gump. He can't help himself. He's just a f**king idiot who thinks he's winning when people are b*tching about him. He really does see the world as ratings and attention. I hate Forrest Gump. I listen to your podcast and heard you hate it too. What an overrated piece of sh*t movie. Can you believe it beat the Shawshank Redemption?"

We deviated to Stephen Speilberg for a moment and I had to remind him Robert Zemeckis, not Speilberg, directed it. Then I had to point out his taste in coffee sucks and suggested better. Moving right along…

"Judiciary is stacked with a bunch of people who can win re-election so long as they don't piss off Trump voters in the primary. But if we get to summer and most of the primaries are over, they just might pull the trigger if the President fires Mueller. The sh*t will hit the fan if that happens and I'd vote to impeach him myself. Most of us would, I think. Hell, all the Democrats would and you only need a majority in the House. If we're going to lose because of him, we might as well impeach the motherf**ker. Take him out with us and let Mike [Pence] take over. At least then we could sleep well at night," he said before going off on a tangent about how the situations with Russia and China scare him. Then, "You know having Mike as President would really piss off all the right people, too. They think they hate Trump. Mike is competent," at which point he sighs and laments that there were, in his mind, more than a dozen competent choices in 2016.

So the implication is they wouldn't vote for impeachment if they might be opposed in primaries, I asked. He confirmed he does not think the votes are there to impeach the President if any of the Judiciary Committee members are facing primary opponents. But get through that and, if Mueller is fired, he thinks so and thinks a majority of the House would vote to impeach President Trump.

"I say a lot of shit on TV defending him, even over this. But honestly, I wish the motherf*cker would just go away. We're going to lose the House, lose the Senate, and lose a bunch of states because of him. All his supporters will blame us for what we have or have not done, but he hasn't led. He wakes up in the morning, sh*ts all over Twitter, sh*ts all over us, sh*ts all over his staff, then hits golf balls. F*ck him. Of course, I can't say that in public or I'd get run out of town."


The congressman's base loves the President. And we're done. He feels better having let it all out. It was a funny conversation with a few additional remarks about the President's personal life I dare not print.

And yes, I agree, it is bad form to say all this in private while publicly praising the President. Welcome to Donald Trump's Washington. Everybody does this sh*t here.

[jj22]

Republicans are fleeing because quite frankly the hypocrisy in this era is sickening. Even for Politicians. I feel bad for them honestly. As an Independent (the last of a dying breed) it's liberating to not have to play the hypocrisy game. Ignore the obvious and knowingly play the fool as a voter.

Slam Obama for debt, sign biggest budget in American history... Claim to be pro Law enforcement, attack the FBI daily....Claim to be pro America, have to cater to a base that is pro Putin.....Slam TPP, now have to go home and explain new support for it. Be against stupid wars, support Bolton as the NSA. Be buy America, while the POTUS has 80% of his companies in Mexico/China. Be anti illegal immigration, while the POTUS hires majority illegal immigrants in his casino/hotels. Claim lifelong card carrying voting Republicans in FBI investigating Trump, are Democrats..... Attack them for donating to Clinton, when all combined donated less to her and Bill then Trump himself has over the years.

It's a difficult environment to be in right now by all accounts. Who can blame them for getting out.

[Yojimbo]

(04-13-2018, 10:31 AM)jj22 Wrote: Republicans are fleeing because quite frankly the hypocrisy in this era is sickening. Even for Politicians. I feel bad for them honestly. As an Independent (the last of a dying breed) it's liberating to not have to play the hypocrisy game. Ignore the obvious and knowingly play the fool as a voter.

Slam Obama for debt, sign biggest budget in American history... Claim to be pro Law enforcement, attack the FBI daily....Claim to be pro America, have to cater to a base that is pro Putin.....Slam TPP, now have to go home and explain new support for it. Be against stupid wars, support Bolton as the NSA. Be buy America, while the POTUS has 80% of his companies in Mexico/China. Be anti illegal immigration, while the POTUS hires majority illegal immigrants in his casino/hotels. Claim lifelong card carrying voting Republicans in FBI investigating Trump, are Democrats..... Attack them for donating to Clinton, when all combined donated less to her and Bill then Trump himself has over the years.

It's a difficult environment to be in right now by all accounts. Who can blame them for getting out.

Independent is actually the largest voting block, so not a dying breed. It’s actually Dems and Repubs that are losing membership year after year for the past 20ish years.

[*michaelsean*]

(04-13-2018, 11:45 AM)Yojimbo Wrote: Independent is actually the largest voting block, so not a dying breed. It’s actually Dems and Repubs that are losing membership year after year for the past 20ish years.

What determines an independent?  If it's lack of affiliation with a party, then that may be misleading.  I've never joined the Republicans, but except for when McCain ran, and this recent election I've voted Republican for every national office and probably 90% in local elections not counting judges.  

[Millhouse]

(04-13-2018, 10:31 AM)jj22 Wrote: Republicans are fleeing because quite frankly the hypocrisy in this era is sickening. Even for Politicians. I feel bad for them honestly. As an Independent (the last of a dying breed) it's liberating to not have to play the hypocrisy game. Ignore the obvious and knowingly play the fool as a voter.

Slam Obama for debt, sign biggest budget in American history... Claim to be pro Law enforcement, attack the FBI daily....Claim to be pro America, have to cater to a base that is pro Putin.....Slam TPP, now have to go home and explain new support for it. Be against stupid wars, support Bolton as the NSA. Be buy America, while the POTUS has 80% of his companies in Mexico/China. Be anti illegal immigration, while the POTUS hires majority illegal immigrants in his casino/hotels. Claim lifelong card carrying voting Republicans in FBI investigating Trump, are Democrats..... Attack them for donating to Clinton, when all combined donated less to her and Bill then Trump himself has over the years.

It's a difficult environment to be in right now by all accounts. Who can blame them for getting out.

Im with ya on this. I used to be republican, heck even was an intern for Mike DeWine when he was a U.S. Senator. But nowadays I am what I guess is called an independent. Both sides for many years now has had a lot hypocrisy. Obama got elected in 08 while campaigning for a more transparent government. A few years later Snowden revealed the largest eavesdropping operation in history by a government on it's own people. Obama also supposedly was very pro-environment. But at the same time he had ties to the nuclear lobby from his early days, and even as Prez was a proponent for nuclear power plants.

Then now with Trump, well yeah lol. 

Anyways regardless of what aisle someone is leaning towards, there are more serious problems within the government and our country that go beyond the political spectrum.