Apparently John Boehner was caught off guard, like everyone else, with Kevin McCarthy's withdrawal for consideration as the presumptive candidate for Speaker of the House.
Beohner and the Republican establishment have engaged Paul Ryan in a full court press to persuade him to reconsider his out of hand dismissal for consideration as Speaker. Ryan has agreed to spend the weekend reconsidering whether he can or will accept the call to become the next Speaker of the House.
The Republican establishment is so desperate to get one of their own inner circle members to replace John Boehner, that they have brought in Mitt Romney to add some old fashioned arm twisting to persuade Ryan to accept the call.
Ryan is known as a very strong family man, returning to his home in Wisconsin every weekend, when possible, to maintain a family life with his wife and children. That history being the case, if Ryan were to change his mind and accept the calling, that would seem to be a refutation of his personal principles of maintaining a strong family relationship.
Additionally, I just can't see Ryan giving up his chairmanship of the House Budget Committee. Ryan, love him or hate him, knows more about the budget and the process than anyone else among the House Republicans. I just can't see Ryan giving up this position, if even he were to cut a deal with Boehner and company to make this a short term effort until January 20, 2017, when a new Congress will be sworn in and a new Speaker voted on.
We should know Ryan's decision by Monday, but that may not amount to anything, if the Republicans can't get to 218 votes for Ryan. Republicans need to meet en masse and give each member an opportunity to express their concerns and expectations for the individual that will best serve the entire party. The selection for Speaker should be a bottom up selection and not a top down edict from Boehner and his cohorts. Let's see how the selection process works out. That should tell us a lot going forward and whether it will be the same old game or a new paradigm in Republican politics.
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