History will judge Mr. Ryan harshly as the most ineffective, irrelevant House Speakers ever. So long, Mr. Ryan. If lucky, we´ll never hear from you again. Your lack of courage and your sycophancy to a traitor to the USA, who now sits in the Oval Office, will, forever be remembered.
22
Americans, you should remember Paul Ryan for his bold plan to cut spending and reform the tax code in order to pay back he deficit.
It didn't work.
Instead the deficit will hit one trillion dollars per year by 2020. Imagine "Dr. Evil" from "Austin Power" saying "ONE TRILLION DOLLARS!!!" with his pinky near his mouth to get a perspective.
It's that bad.
And when the tax cut came, and it was clear it was going to increase the deficit, where was Mr. Ryan? And when the budget came, blowing through all the limits put in place by President Obama, for exactly that reason, making the tax cut worse, where was Mr. Ryan?
Nowhere to be seen or heard!
The "Trump years" - however many there will be - will go down in history anyway. But Paul Ryan deserves an equally high pedestal in the hall of people that destroyed America. He opened up the door for drastic changes in the tax code. He got drastic changes in the tax code. Maybe not to his liking, maybe more to the liking of the people that finance the GOP. But he was the boy that pulled the finger out of the leaking dam and caused all future financial problems the U.S. is going to face.
He owns this. Never forget it.
15
Are you kidding me, NYTImes ??? "Ryan Found HImself on the Margins..."??? He is Speaker of the House, leader of the GOP with a huge SuperPac! He exploded the deficit into the trillions! He cut healthcare from poor children! He could have stopped the insanity of Nunes! You got it so wrong, NYTimes - he was fully complicit. He's only stepping down because he knows Trump is going down in flames, as well as the GOP.
Did the writers and editors of this headline and story forget all about never using the passive voice?
21
A "proud fiscal conservative." Puhleeeeze! A trillion dollar debt from irresponsible tax cuts. My goodness, the NYT has stooped to fake news.
17
This guy just orchestrated and executed the greatest theft in US history, and you are writing an article to both normalize and beatify this crook & liar?
21
It s not reporting to state, without quotation marks, that the senator 'dreamed of a more inclusive party'. The NYT just published this fiction as if it were fact.
15
Naah...Crooks are all over the political spectrum. Grifters steal whtever, wherever, and whenever they can. Left and right as distinct political ideologies, are just labels for them. Their modus operandi is $$$$$$$$$$$...
3
Are your nuts? Ryan has been a person of hatred toward the poor, those with nothing. What could be more right wing?
14
A shill for the anti-tax oligarchs. His vision of an American economy where money grew on trees for the country's fundamental needs was always a chimera. He knew he had zero leadership skills when pressed into service and then he proved it.
9
Good riddance. And please don't ever come back. Stay home with your family. And think about big charity donations and good works you may need to do to begin making up to the poor and middle classes as compensation for the damage inflicted by your class/self serving policies. Such a mediocre mind.
15
Ryan, "the great fiscal Conservative," ushered in the most massive federal deficit in US history. Not content with piling a trillion dollar debt on the backs of struggling Americans, he compounded his savagery with a lavish tax break to the very, very rich that will cripple the working and middle class people of this country for decades.
And please stop with the phony sad-dog moral superiority, Paul. You were and are complicit in every one of Trump's endless degeneracies, and said nothing as he turned the "swamp" into a reeking sewer. You will not be missed, sir. You were a fraud from the beginning.
16
Ryan “who once dreamed of a more inclusive party, open to black, Latino and immigrant voters enticed by a youthful, optimistic vision” ? On what planet was this? On planet Earth, Paul Ryan has been the pseudointellectual mouthpiece for a mean spirited, plutocratic and racist party whose motto should be “I got mine”. He won’t be missed.
13
May be one of the biggest political sellouts and hypocrites to occupy a position of power in our government...says a lot about who we are and the state of play in our government...shameful....SAD!
7
Ryan runs as Blue Wave wipes out Republicans.
4
Reading the comments I feel sad, depressed people expressing their feelings towards Coward Ryan. Sadly our elected representatives are sign of these awful times. Incompetents, cowards, entitled, greedy, immoral, prostitutes (beg pardon from the profession) corrupted politicians. They called themselves Christians. Just imagine if Christ would appear today, he would say “I don’t know you” to all those disgusting slime politicians in Congress, Senate, at the White House, and some governorships.
6
Why anyone ever considered this man one of principles is beyond me.
He had his shot at making history, and will be judged as nothing more than a windbag patsy.
6
I bet he shows up in the files confiscated by the FBI.
4
Lyin' Ryan: "I believe the party has a bright future." Lyin' Ryan.
4
Glorious it is to live in the days of the Demise of the Republicans.
3
Coward. Yes.
Let's take his benefits away and see how he likes trying to get a job and healthcare in the country he thought he represented.
8
You are joking. He was always on the right.
1
Follow the money. The Corporatocracy owes him bigtime.. The Wall Street Casino shoots the dice. The boxman awaits .
2
There’s nothing moderate about Ryan. Moreover if he was opposed to anything Trump did, he was too spineless to stand in opppsition.
8
I never knew this guy was Speaker of the House. I always thought it was a tradition to let some wide smiling, puppy eyed college student clap behind the President during the State of the Union address.
5
Ryan is far right and wicked, even with that fake school boy wide-eyed look. The other righties, well, they’ve gone off the end. Good riddance to them all.
6
Another con man bites the dust, leaving chaos and destruction in his wake. My great grandchildren will still be digging out of the debt ditch he constructed. No more wholesome person on earth? Obama’s little finger was more wholesome and decent and patriotic than the whole bunch of these weasels.
4
Based on this article, so many of his philosophies dovetailed with Obama's initiatives, but the calcified Congressional codgers and billionaire geezers got the better of him. And us.
Quoting Newt Gingrich on the subject of the Speakership is as useless as quoting Wrong Way Corrigan on the subject of navigation.
2
Ryan was an empty suit from Day 1 in the House. Purported to be "the adult in the room", his insight was shallow and his knowledge of economics, supposedly his strength, was pure fiction. He was a bridge for sale and too many suckers bought it. No Sale, Mr. Ryan. Oh, by the way, the "more time with my family" is a trite excuse for walking away from a fight you know you'd lose. Profile in cowardice.
8
So the guy who wanted to end Medicaid and social security and privatize Medicare and hang women for exercising their reproductive rights under the constitution is not far enuf right, eh?
7
Like Rome had to wait for Constantine to remove the Praetorian Guards, US may have to wait for ever for someone who can do the impossible, be a Republican.
Ryan is like the Titanic builder, J. Bruce Ismay, who cowardly jumped into a lifeboat leaving other passengers onboard to go down with the Titanic.
5
"Once described as “the intellectual center of Republicans in the House,” Mr. Ryan has styled himself as a master of policy, someone who understood the arcane details of budgeting, the tax code and health care."
Completely laughable. Ryan is about as "intellectual" as a pile of dirt. His fiscal "polices" were pure fantasy, grounded in nothing but lies. I would say good riddance, but the republican party is so far to the right that they cannot even see the center anymore, so anyone taking his place is going to be a delusional idiot. They have nothing to offer so just lie on a daily basis, and, of course, fawn over trump - another proven liar. The republican party is now best known as being the party of delusional, corrupt liars, con artists, bigotry, misogyny. And their "supporters" prove this every single day by supporting them and trump. Sad.
1
Ryan only cared about the tax heist plan. He shamed poor mothers whose children had lunches provided at their schools. He faked respect for Donald Trump and ridiculed him behind his back.
He promoted a man to a high position in the House tied to white supremacist meetings down south.
He allowed fellow Republican Devin Nunes to run a sham investigation committee on Donald Trump's Russian ties knowing that Nunes was sneaking to the white house to see Donald Trump and protect him.
Goodbye Ryan. You and your family will benefit greatly from your tax heist.
Count me as fully unimpressed. Go Dems.
5
Will you please stop calling the guy "fiscal conservative"?
3
The premise of this article is, for the most part, just flat wrong. Once again, Ryan's primary constituency--the media--just can't give up on its false narrative concerning this grifter and flim flam man. (The term ascribed for him years ago by the NYT's Paul Krugman, a more clear clear eyed observer than the authors of this piece.) Yes, Ryan is more patient and pragmatic in tactics than much of his caucus (such as the literally deranged Freedom caucus) but ideologically and in long term goals he is simpatico with the most conservative elements of his party. This is a man who, as a college student on Social Security's dime, sat around the keg and dreamed of eviscerating the safety net. The man has never been anything but a charlatan and a con man.
5
The idea that there is a large number of elected officials to the "right" of Paul Ryan is difficult to fathom. What is to the right of this guy? Racist Civil War reenactors, flat-earthers, and InfoWars? This country is something else.
4
Ryan has turned out to be the ultimate wimp. He shows no backbone when dealing with Trump. His comments are always watered down as if he’s walking on eggshells to avoid offending people in his party. And now, with a possible Domocrat takeover of the House looming, he decides to quit rather than fight. He is no leader. Good riddance.
1
A coward through and through.
3
Only in the NYTimes would Ryan be considered on the margins.
1
Come on. Did Paul Ryan write this?
4
I never trusted anyone with such a 'smug' smile. Good riddance!!!
1
“There’s not a more wholesome person on the planet than Paul Ryan.”
-- Representative Tom Cole, Republican of Oklahoma.
This is the problem. Republicans live on a different planet.
3
He and every other member of the GOP who choose to retire rather than fight for their country are nothing more than cowards. Ryan is the worst kind of hypocrite, trying to gut the very programs that helped him after his father died. His tax break passed and he's cashing in.
3
Cowardice back then when faced with the choice of winning an election at the expense of principles and integrity. And cowardice now when he feels the steps of justice coming closer. Good riddance for the Nation and Wisconsin. Aside from Mr. McConnell one can hardly imagine a guiltier player in this tragic charade the GOP has become. An the normalizing of the despicable and criminal plutocracy they have enabled.
2
So glad that Paul Ryan is leaving. He is part of the Republican brick wall that had caused this country to sink into Donald Trump’s chaos.
His willful lack of leadership to stand up to Trump, shows that Ryan was totally unfit to be Speakt of theHouse.
Enjoy your taxpayer golden parachute, Paul.
Hey, Paul, you would not be retiring unless you had a better offer outside the halls of government that could further fatten your wallet.
Just don’t let the doors to the House Chamber hit you in the back!
3
OMG Paul Ryan is leaving?
Once upon a time I worked for the Marriott Corporation and we had a term for Food and Beverage managers who left their jobs in mid shift. We used to say they "Threw down their rifle"
Paul, you threw down your rifle. You are a quitter and a cheap opportunist. You leave this great country worse than you found it and did not stand up to the empty suits that are trying to subvert our great democracy.
Live with it. Own it. My only questions is who is going to snatch the social security payments Im going to apply for next year?
2
I guess Paul Ryan has finally been able to read the writing on the wall.
Trump is imploding -- ranting and raving and threatening to bomb Syria and fire Rosenstein so that he can get Mueller fired and obstruct justice.
Ryan knows that his tax bill is indefensible and that his plan to cut Social Security and Medicare will never pass. He gets to bail and retire as the country sinks into chaos.
Just the lead coward among the GOP cowards. Why are so many deciding not to run for re-election? They don't want to be around when the disaster hits -- they can say that they had left Congress before then. But the November elections may not come soon enough.
As others have written, you can't make this stuff up. I am ashamed of my country and its cowardly "leadership." I am angry at the ignorant voters who put this joke of a man in the White House.
4
I wonder how much farther right Republicans can move than to accept Ryan's lifelong goal of getting rid of Social Security, Medicare and who knows what else. Ryan was always someone who pushed very unpopular views while he pretended to be a financial genius.
2
So absurd. The modern Republican Party under Trump isn't much different. It's more vulgar perhaps but the racism and exclusionary ideas have been in force since the 60's. Nixon's Southern strategy! Bush Sr's willie Horton! Reagan's welfare queen! His announcing his candidacy in Philadelphia, MS, where Cheney, Schwerner and goodman were killed! The optics may be slightly different but the appeal to our worst instincts has remained remarkably consistent.
2
The GOP doesn’t need an intellectual center...they need a soul.
That was a sickeningly flattering portrayal of a man with the depth of a single layer of graphene. With all the nobility of a man who flees a burning building and locks the exit door behind himself, Ryan apparently rose from modest beginnings only to devote his political career to ensuring the rich stay rich, and the poor stay poor.
I am guessing the authors of this article are the same people who would buy a book written by a mega millions or powerball lottery winner, describing the strategy he used to win on merit.
Ryan's announcement, so soon after prosecutors seized Cohen's records (voted most likely to show evidence of a conspiracy between the Russians and Trump's entourage in the high school yearbook), is the political equivalent of Francesco Schettino escaping the Costa Concordia after grounding it through his own incompetence.
I applaud the author's stylistically superior effort to lionize a hypocrite (deficits are bad, blah, blah...); a shameless liar (economic growth stimulated by the tax cuts will make up for the lost revenue); a man who sold his soul to Charles and David in an effort to effect their dream of a Libertarian dystopia here in the USA. But, Ryan is not a hero from classical Greece, whose time has passed. He is a wet rat swimming from a sinking ship, with hope in his eyes. He has spent his political career banking on the stupidity and forgetfulness of his constituency, and here you are, a journalist, begging to cash his check. Bravo....
2
Why is it so hard for people to recognize an empty suit?
The guy was the personified vacuum, a know nothing.
I wish all Republican Congress penguins a complete free fall into nowhere.
1
If he was so out of step with Trump's GOP why was he so supine? Why did he protect Devin Nunes who was destroying the last vestige of Republican credibility? Why did this supposed deficit hawk gleefully support a tax bill that will explode the deficit?
"Sweeping overhaul"? It's a corporate tax cut that blows up the deficit. I really wish reporters would stop using grandiose terms to describe what Ryan did. He said he would enact deficit-neutral tax reform by closing loopholes. Instead, he did the easy part, which for a Republican consists of tax cuts for corporations and the rich with no strings attached.
Ryan is a fraud and a moral coward. The deficit hawk who blew up the deficit. The tall-and-fit Midwestern boy who chickened out when big bully Trump came to town. He genuflected before Trump -- a man Ryan accused of "textbook racism" -- so long as it got his corporate tax cut passed. If this is what passes for leadership in the Republican Party, then the GOP is in deep trouble.
2
He always favored rich people and helped them increase their wealth. He had now decided to leave government. We shall see to how many banks, boards of directors and other money making machines he can sell himself. Selling himself is something he is good at.
1
Ryan is just another cog in the GOP social safety net destruction machine. Smug and self-serving, this joker professed to care about deficits yet shepherded through a disgraceful present to his donors to the tune of a $1.5 trillion addition to the deficit. Good riddance. The coward jumps off the ship before it hits the Great Blue Wave in November.
1
Nobody discusses the real problem which is population growth: Since 1986 when the US passed its Immigration Reform Bill which was supposed to end illegal immigration, the US population has increased from 240 million to 326 million, an increase of 36 per cent.
Natural resources however remained roughly the same.
As far as human capital goes, population growth has caused a shift of funding from universities to K12. And to prisons.
Californias latest budget---general funds:
K12 53.4 billion
higher education 15 billion
corrections 11.7 billion
In 1965, University of California tuition was free and students received abundant state scholarships for expenses. Now most students end their university years in debt.
We are educating more unskilled workers, and fewer engineers and doctors. The result is exploding health care costs. In addition, the US has the second highest per capita incarceration rate in the world, second only to the Seychelles.
The per capita imprisonment rate is 14 times that of Japan for example.
Population growth has caused the US to have a less educated work force.
We need: An end to illegal immigration and a one-child policy like that of China. In fact, we needed that in 1986.
Instead liberals have given us a welfare system that reward women for having four children with four different families. It breaks up the family.
And liberals call the white poor racists and bigots.
Liberal sanctimony brings down the US democracy.
Does the headline insinuate that the GOP is further Right than Ryan? He's an extremist economically, whereas Trump is wafting around in the middle (cutting taxes but wanting to spend). Ryan is an Ayn Rand freakoid, a libertarian, no govt, do it yourself zealot. Sure, he's not a fascist, or racist, not a Christian zealot or a militarist nationalist. But he's the "other" kind of right winger.
1
Thank goodness His Ayn Rand Highness has finally bit the dust.
“There’s not a more wholesome person on the planet than Paul Ryan.”
- Representative Tom Cole (R) Oklahoma.
If that's at all true, then humanity is already doomed.
Although I am pleased to see Paul Ryan kicked to curb, I am afraid it might be the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t know.
He will run against Pence in 2020.
"But his move, which will undoubtedly make life harder for his Republican colleagues seeking re-election, prompted instant speculation that there were deeper, unstated reasons."
Reasons for the speculation, for sure. The speculation is in its' entirety due to the fact that.....his Republican colleagues will find it harder to get elected. Most of the GOP crocodile tears that made it into print this morning were moaning and groaning about what a great fundraiser he was and how much harder it would be to raise money. Very little to nothing about how a true Republican detests deficits and is willing to take principled stands to deal with both the deficits and the underlying leaking gas main of our entitlement system.
Just....fundraising.
Putrid. And those are the slobs who are left behind to, um, "govern" us. Godspeed, Paulie Wonder. We hardly knew ye.
Just another mean-spirited Republican who catered to rich donors and who quoted ideology when it was convenient for him. He cared little for the average American. He became out of touch and stayed that way. Not a real stand-up guy for us.
1
I will shed no tears over this. That being said, I am unilaterally disappointed in both the Republicans and the Democrats. We have an astounding dearth of leadership and bipartisan cooperation. Congress sometimes seem to have the maturity level of children throwing mud pies at each other. With a few exceptions, I find myself wishing that they would ALL leave, everybody from both parties, the sooner the better, so we could do a complete reset. What is happening to this country is a complete disgrace.
1
Paul Waldman in the WP: "A scam of a party says goodbye to its top fraud”. The all-star fraudster in a party of frauds is as fiscally “conservative” as a circle is square.
Ryan — an admirer of Ayn Rand, the philosopher of selfishness — dreamed of destroying the safety net, & as Paul Krugman observed, Ryan failed at both his pretend goal and his real goal. He will leave office after setting the deficit on a path to exceed $1 trillion in 2020…
Paul Ryan was always a fraud. He pretended to be a wonk’s wonk, but his budget and policy plans were full of sleight-of-hand & asterisks that fell apart on the most superficial examination. He pretended to be terribly worried about the deficit, but he happily jacked it up when he got the chance. He pretended to care deeply about the poor, but would have made their lives impossibly more miserable had doing so been politically tenable.
And he pretended to be scandalized by Trump’s repugnant words and actions but, after a few regretful words and a furrowing of his brow, would always go right back to supporting the president. So while he will surely be remembered as one of the least effective speakers we’ve ever had, you can’t say Ryan didn’t faithfully represent his party.
1
Ryan was not a leader. Unexceptional in every way, he is heading out the door to avoid the doomsday scenario soon to overtake the Republican Party. Impeachment on the horizon for Trump, budget deficits as far as the eye can see and the arrival of a blue wave in November. I am convinced he simply did not want to be the one to hand the gavel to Pelosi. Such a coward.
Another Republican rat leaving the ship of state he worked so successfully to sink. He'll be richly rewarded for his mendacity, his duplicity, and his corruption. His efforts will have helped make the majority of poor Americans' lives harder and more desperate. His work helped mortgage America's future for the sake of enriching the already rich and comforting the comfortable. Good riddance.
A joke — the so-called policy wonk that was a deficit hawk, who ended up adding trillions. A Trump flunky, that allowed lapdog Nunes to destroy the integrity of an entire committee. Good riddance. Maybe he can give back that free, premium medical insurance on the way out, since he finds no value in great, low-cost medical care....
The Cowardly Ryan knows that he will face either a democratic majority after the midterms, or the specter of leading his party to impeach their president. He has neither the integrity nor the courage to do either.
This graf stuck out: "The speaker, who once dreamed of a more inclusive party, open to black, Latino and immigrant voters enticed by a youthful, optimistic vision, was being left behind."
The key word there is "dreamed." That's the correct verb.
Gingrich, DeLay, Hastert -- they were all confidence men but the delta between what Paul Ryan said (or dreamed) and what he actually *did* was larger than any politician in my lifetime.
Reagan was an amoral liar and Trump an inveterate one but the former had charm and the latter brio.
Ryan is different. You could walk through his deepest thoughts without getting your shoes wet. He's a third-rate grifter whose ridiculous I'm-smarter-than-you smirk and hair dryer-blown ego made him easy to dislike. That the right treated him like Cicero or Von Mises was inexplicable to anyone who follows reality but I guess Tucker Carlson needs a hero, too.
Whatever the opposite of Profiles of Courage is, that's Paul Ryan. He was raised on taxpayer money, drew a salary of taxpayer monies his entire career, and parlayed that into a multi-million dollar fortune earned by vandalizing democracy on behalf of the insanely rich.
That he's celebrated at all tells you all you need to know about where our country is.
Why does the NYTimes normalize Paul Ryan? His financial agenda was as radical right as any could be: Eliminate Medicare, push Social Security onto the stock market for traders to make commissions, and let elderly Americans to starve when the corporations got so greedy that they made the market crash. Is there no one at the NYTimes who remembers Any Randian commitment to destroy FDR's New Deal?
Yes, Donald Trump is America's first malignant, narcissist, sadistic, and probable traitor, president. But that is no excuse for writing about Ryan like he was a decent guy.
When is journalism going to remember how to write on the facts not some nice sounding narrative? I think you all need a seminar with the Poynter Institute.
Ryan at one time had ideals and principles. He sold out to Trump who is no conservative, indeed is nothing other than an opportunistic failed businessman who wanna-be-king. Look who mentored Trump: Roy Cohn, who was counsel for Joe McCarthy, and who later died of HIV because he apparently liked blond boys (according to Roger Stone) and wasn’t very discriminating . Mr. Ryan now has an opportunity, with no worries about reelection, to speak his heart for the Country, and indeed for his children’s future. If he walks away without a word, well, I say he is spineless, as many of my friends say. Are they correct?
2
he was a disaster when he led, he was a disaster when he didn't lead.
1
the so called ryan budget was a document from a hard right wing zealot
i dont buy a narrative that paints him other than the extremist he is
2
I'm no fan of Ayn Rand, but, in her spirit, may I say "Good riddance."
Paul Ryan, the GOPs, and ConservaDems have done the bidding of their corporate masters, destroying countless lives and livelihoods in the process. I'm sure Mr. Ryan will - no doubt - land quite safely into a position with most generous pay and benefits.
1
This should be used as a lesson for democrats. Do not allow your base to deviate too far left.
4
The Speaker leaves having failed in his attempts to remove those very same safety-net programs that he himself used when he was growing up. His hypocrisy speaks for itself.
7
A minority in the country -Trump’s base, typical of the right wing, they are loud, they destroy whatever is on their way. What a way to govern a democracy, from the fringes of extremism. Nowadays being called racist is a badge of honor for the right wingers.
3
Paul Ryan was only on the margins because it was the safe place for him to maintain his persona in the press. He was a classic Republican who cared only for furthering the cause of rich people, dressed up with empty Powerpoint presentations. He is a gutless phony who never stood up to the President as long as the President signed his tax bills. Glad he leaves before he can destroy Social Security.
4
"Not a more wholesome person" on the planet, Tom Cole (R, OK) says? Not a more wholesome liar is more like it. Oh ... wait, no, there's plenty of competition, starting with the sitting Vice President.
2
Ryan was on the margins as the GOP moved right? I didn't know there was much more to the right of Paul Ryan that didn't get into rank fascism. Oh, yeah, I guess you're right. When Paul Ryan is the moderate, the rest of the party has gone over the cliff and trying to take the rest of us down with them.
2
Ryan: I did what I set out to achieve – a major income redistribution to the donors rich people. And then in a staggering display of courage in the face of a spaghetti dinner against the wall Presidency, Mr. Ryan with furrowed brow and faux worldly mien fades to black. Sir, at age 48 you have the benefits well in excess of the basic programs you've been trying to deny everyone else. Enjoy the kids - please, don't ever come back.
4
Paul Ryan, what is it like to work into your 40’s and have life insurance for life, we in private industry would love to know!
4
I’ll always remember him as the guy who lied about his marathon time. Anyone who’s ever run a marathon remembers their time. Exactly.
3
Representative Ryan led a congressional life of missed opportunities and self-dealing. His arc of influence was quite cruel. In the end, his inability to persuade others, with his righteous banking behavior, was not a surprise. It's not that hard, but he had no idea how to move his authority or power. His Republican Congress cannot empty the garbage of Trump. His fall is deserved, and none too soon. This may be the best decision he has ever made; walk away and let it burn.
2
No sympathy for the devil. One's morals and principles only get tested in the face of adversity. Ryan embraced and endorsed Trump like everyone else among his party. They either came to Trump Tower to kiss the ring and to bend the knee. Ryan decided to retire because he tired of scraping and bowing before his master, Donald J. Trump. Once he got the tax cut for the wealthy through the House he decided it was time for him to slink off the stage. History wont remember Ryan for what he did, but what he failed to do. Having a spine to stand up to Trump.
2
He was a nice, wholesome family man who tried to take healthcare away from millions of Americans.
He was a policy wonk whose policy of tax cuts didn't hold water.
He preached small government and personal responsibility except for himself; he suckled the government teat his entire life.
Good riddance to another in a long line of Republican frauds.
8
Truth is stranger than fiction. This man spent his career warning us about the national debt and now he leaves us with the biggest forecasted increase in the debt in history. And THAT'S his biggest contribution to America? What a guy.
3
He will be running for president soon. He might win.
I, for one am glad to see him go. Don't let the door hit you on the way out. Someone who identifies as Catholic and did nothing but try to reduce benefits for the poor and disadvantaged . . . the tax bill is a debacle. Godspeed.
2
His image was sincere. His philosophy and acts so harmful. He will go down in history as a reactionary right winger.
2
Here is what we need. From both Democrats and Republicans, equally.
We need to know how much money they had when they entered Congress and how much money they had when they left. You could make some fancy graphics to show how wildly profitable it is to be a Congressman. Not all Congressmen, but a powerfully influential lot of them.
Minor or major, our Government is corrupt. Absolutely and ethically corrupt with this Administration to help it. Ryan is indeed a rat jumping ship.
1
It seems that even in his absence Steve Bannon is winning in his effort to drain the swamp. Forty republicans out and now Paul Ryan. Before it's over is Mitch going to give him a perfect 300?
On the margins? Not right enough? Oh please.
2
The NYT w with another failed headline. Paul Ryan was right. He wasn’t lost as the GOP moved right he was in thick of it. Paul Ryan was a conman from day one aided and abetted by media outlets who acted like he was a serious person acting in good faith.
2
Oh God, ha ha ha, his precious teenagers, I love it!
He is leaving because there is a 50 percent chance
he will lose his election. There is only a 5 percent
Republican lead and his democratic rival, the iron
stash has raised 2 million dollars from small
donations ( Randy Brice will not take Corp. money)
The Two million are just in this quarter alone
from regular folks donating. Ryan is
leaving because he knows Trump is going down
and he does not want to have to impeach him
and have that stain on him with the Trump supporters
when tries to run for president. He also
does not want to go down with Trump, if he
has to stick by him. Ryan will make a fortune
doing advocacy or some such, but
if he loses an election, all his power will
be gone. God his legacy is cruel and horrible.
We will be 3 trillion dollars in debt by 2020,
largely due to Ryan serving his donors the tax cut.
His Teenage kids indeed. And what ever
very lucrative job he takes next will take
him away from home even more,
If I was his children I would really resent being
used as a phony excuse.
3
Ryan has always been on the right, an enemy of the vast majority of citizens, and a selfish, hateful tool of the wealthy & corporations.
2
I'm still contemplating Ryan's announcement that "I intend to full my serve term." Can we word him at his take?
It says a lot about the Republican Party that he is their "smart guy".
We'll see if he gives up his government provided health insurance.
We'll see if he gives up his government provided pension and other benefits that he has spent his career trying to take away from everyone else.
He ballooned the deficit by trillions of dollars, after railing against deficits for years under Obama. And the deficit was reducing under Obama.
And now he is cutting out rather than deal with the consequences.
Hypocrite and coward.
3
He won’t give up anything. And he’s loaded (or his wife is).
Traditional conservative?? Vision for balanced budgets?? On what planet do these reporters live? This is precisely what’s wrong with journalism today: trying to find the honest, serious conservative where there is none. This guy’s proposed budgets never balanced; they all relied on giving the wealthiest huge tax cuts and gutting the social safety net. Some vision. Oh, and he’s enabled a criminal enterprise in the White House. He’s tired, says Gingrich. The poor boy needs a rest from helping destroy government.
I think Ryan will wait out Trump, this term and perhaps a second or the next first-term democrat. Om 2024, he'll be 54; the kids he is so concerned to father, with the security of his full health coverage, will be six years older, and his eyes will be directly on the White House, to continue his agenda of consolidating the political power of the .1% and denying health, safety, and education to everyone else.
5
Trump is tweeting the nation to destruction. Trade War, $trillion Deficits, $30-trillion Debt. Feuding with China, where is he going to mega-borrow the money to avoid national bankruptcy? 1/20/18 news: Instead of buying American, UAE buys Jumbo jets from France for $16B. The world don't HAVE to buy American. Ryan et.al. want no part of this.
5
Any chance he could leave a bit sooner?
He's certainly not as special as he'd like us to believe.
Plenty of doormats to replace him.
8
One word can describe Paul Ryan: Coward. He was too afraid to stand up to the Tea Party in Congress; he refused to stand up to Donald Trump; he refuses to defend his record before voters in the coming election.
Ryan must forever be held responsible for the national debt which is sure to explode even further following the corrupt tax deal that he helped design. Therefore, the names Trump-Ryan must precede the words national dept whenever they are used.
11
Except for a limited time after graduating college, Ryan has made his living on taxpayer dollars all while looking to roll back the safety net that the elderly, poor and disabled depend on. He is not a "policy wonk," He is a craven opportunist that thought he could be president until the growing tea party movement mutinied again Boehner and forced him to take the speaker position for the sake of GOP" loyalty." And how did that work out? Trumpism is devouring the GOP and Ryan, like so many others rats, are leaving a sinking ship. He, and many others, will go down in history as putting self preservation, personal ambition, and party loyalty above country, democracy, and human decency.
8
"Once described as “the intellectual center of Republicans in the House,” Mr. Ryan has styled himself as a master of policy, someone who understood the arcane details of budgeting, the tax code and health care."
It caught up with him. His 'intellectual center' was exposed for the puerile ramblings of libertarianism that was the result of his adolescent fascination with Ayn Rand.
None of his ideas were ever any good. He was a shame, he knew nothing about how good budgets, a good tax code and good health care would work for the American people. He couldn't accomplish anything because nothing could be accomplished with what he believed.
He leaves giving the 'gift' of a tax code that will bankrupt the nation. He leaves giving the 'gift' of cowardly acquiescence and obsequiousness to the most unfit person ever to have been POTUS. Leadership? Phhht...
How do these people look themselves in the mirror?
15
More undeserved blah blah in this piece about Ryan's supposed policy expertise when his main and conscienceless idea, only thinly disguised, was to improve the lot of the already rich in this country. Just shows you how easily taken in we are in America by boyish, aw shucks geniality even when it is in aid of promoting social changes destructive of the collective good.
My bet is that Ryan will not retreat at 48 to being a committed dad, coaching sports teams and leading a Boy Scout troop. He'll be taking a fat job as a lobbyist within a year.
8
Paul Ryan finally gagged. However, it is doubtful he will ever experience the financial consequences of his actions. That will be left to the shrinking middle class and poor. He was an ironic lap dog for the wealthy and they will continue to feed him well.
7
Honesty? None of these "elected" representatives display much in the way of honesty. Jeff Flake seems to have come closest when he conceded (in a roundabout way) that the Trump stench was just too much for him and that he was throwing in the towel before he was converted into a Republican doormat in Arizona primary. How is it that the currently most powerful nation on earth has acquired the most spineless and intellectually hobbled leadership in world history? Not a proud moment for America.
3
The GOP has eaten up another of its speakers. Ryan succumbs to the sheer lunacy of some of the far right wingers in his party as well as the day to day lunacy emanating from the White House. What better time to jump off a sinking ship and try to retain some measure of self-respect. The current Republican Party has allowed itself to become an abomination: hostile to the notion of government and unwilling to work for the people. They only work for their donors. Selling out the country to those donors for a seat in the House is hardly to be admired, but that is what many of the GOP right wing see as their goal. Perhaps Ryan's departure will throw some cold water on far right GOP behavior, but I doubt it
5
Ryan is an utter fraud, he reminds me of a green parrot strutting about cawing inane statements. Ryan lives a simple idea, he's climbed up the ladder then turned to pull up the ladder behind him. How else to explain Ryan's adverse efforts to lower social security benefits after he too was a beneficiary? Ryan's father's death meant the young Ryan and each of his three siblings received $25,000.00 tax free per year. Today, Ryan truly serves the Koch brother billionaire crowd. After all, since Ryan believes he will live a short life, he has to cash in his chips because social security won't be there for his kids---Ryan has tried to make certain of that. The great self-styled incurious "wonk" indeed...with a bachelors? Exactly.
6
This article repeats the canard of Ryan’s modest background and how the unfortunate early death of his father forced him to get jobs when he was a teen and to be a model of self-reliance. The truth is that his father was a successful local attorney who left an estate of close to a half million dollars in 1986, nearly a million in today’s dollars. Ryan received social security benefits as a minor survivor that paid for Miami University, an out-of-state school. Ryan has also benefitted mightily from his shares in extended family limited partnerships, based on his extended family’s longtime success in obtaining government contracts. Ryan Inc. Central began in 1884 building railroads, then federal highways, and had a hand on the construction of O’Hare.
I don’t begrudge anyone their success, but I do dislike hypocrites. Ryan and the GOP cultivated an image which is belied by his lack of substance - he is no rags to riches story that justifies his love of the sophomoric Ayn Rand; he is no intellectual heavyweight given his belief in “trickle down” economics which has never worked; and he is a hypocrite for his wish to reward the already very rich and damage a struggling middle class. And now this “deficit hawk” is leaving us all saddled with an extraordinarily dangerous level of national debt due to irresponsible tax cuts that cannot begin to pay for themselves.
7
I think Mr Ryan saw all the pictures of the Obamas windsurfing, sightseeing, yachting and generally enjoying a newly stress-free life, and thought "I need me some of that".
Too bad so much of what he did ensured that many of us will be scratching for crumbs for a very long time.
3
Wow, you come not to bury Ryan, but to praise him. A pretty soft article all around. Not to mention the two problems with his excuse for leaving: 1. if his family was so important to him, why wait til his kids were teens? They probably don't want to be seen with him. 2. This implies he has a heart, something that all his policy moves argue against.
3
Offhand, I cannot think of a more overrated politician in my 72 years of life than Paul Ryan.
9
I strongly suspect he sees the writing on the wall, and it says "impeachment". Who would want to be Speaker of the House when the President of his own party is to be tried? And potentially the ugliest of trials at that.
But no sympathy. He will forever be remembered as a Trump collaborator and enabler. He had his chance to take the higher road, but he chose to be on the wrong side of history. Whatever crimes Trump is to be convicted of, he himself is part of those.
3
The GOP moved to the right of Ryan? That is saying a lot! Can't get any further without falling off the flat earth.
2
Instead of defending the indefensible acts and agenda of Trump had Paul Ryan displayed a little sensitivity to the concerns of common people he could have spared himself of the agony and dilemma he must be experiencing today, when he could neither stick to his professed ideological stance nor endear himself to Trump and the party.
1
Why Paul Ryan has a reputation as a policy wonk and deep thinker of the GOP is beyond me. Maybe it is because the pool of intellect is so shallow in conservative political circles. He has always advocated policies that are proven failures, like trickle-down and Ayn Randian libertarianism. Ignoring policy, every budget he ever put forth had tremendous mathematic holes in it, which would do nothing to control government spending or the burgeoning deficit. Of course he and his GOP minions scream about the budget, raising it to DefCon 5 whenever a Democrat is in office. But once they have the reins of budgetary power they balloon it with hypocritical glee. Ryan's harmful policies and fiduciary ignorance culminated in his 2017 tax heist which will
blow up the deficit and require middle America to pay for it. His policies have already insulated the upper class from paying taxes commensurate with what they take from America. His apparent goals are to strip the vast majority of Americans of their health care, retirement benefits, fair wages, workplace safety, clean air and water - all so the already too rich and powerful could get richer and more powerful. I would say good riddance to him, but at 48 I know we haven't seen the last of him in the public eye. Based on the terrible policies and practices he advocated and implemented in his destructive time as a "public servant" I can only dread what travesties his future over-exposure will inflict on our country.
3
America will not miss Paul Ryan, pseudo policy and budget wonk, charlatan extraordinaire and loyal servant of his plutocratic master donor class. Like Mitch McConnell, he is best characterized by his unwillingness to take a principled stand on any issue that might pose a risk to his political prospects. This is not a man defined by the professed ideals of his campaign speeches but by his cynical indifference and callous disregard for the health and welfare of millions of Americans. Denying the reality of global warming, a bigger threat to the lives of our young than guns in schools, and only too happy to undermine Obama Care upon which so many depend, venal self-serving Paul Ryan is not a good man.
6
I am hard pressed to see the difference between him and the Democrats. No loss.
After his role in trying to destroy Obamacare, passing huge tax cuts fior corporations but not the middle-class, and a budget resulting in trillions in deficit spending, he's retiring at age 48 after 20 years in Congress. That means at age 50 he'll be able to collect a good pension and health care benefits for decades to come. What hypocrisy!
3
Ryan is jumping the sinking republican ship leaving all the passengers on board! How un-American of him! Americans don’t shy away from a challenge, they welcome it.
trump* represents a descent to an anarchic feral state. Ryan is a disciple of the social economics of James McGill Buchanan, larded with the utopian melodrama of Ayn Rand. It is not a question of Ryan being passed by, it is a party split into thirds: the “populist” rabble, in it for xenophobia, misogyny and liberal tears, academics who want the dead hand of a Scalia/Gorsuch court and the oligarchy who want minimized government. Ryan straddles the latter two, and trump*, at the end of the day makes possible all three, but is too crass and shallow to really engage with anything but the first. Apples and oranges.
1
Mister Ryan did not want to bargain away his soul. He didn't want
to kow-tow to ad addled master. He didn't want to steer the country toward the financial cliff. But, alas, he did.
1
No regrets, no hearts, no flowers over lame duck Speaker Paul Ryan's announcement that he is skidaddlling out of Congress and his hard-right Republican conference of more-American-than-thou (and me) zealots. Ryan has had more than enough time to speak truth to President Wild Man -- and Ryan blew his opportunity and responsibility. I am tempted to observe that Ryan almost makes Boehner look good. That would be over-the-top nonsense.
This "weekend dad" line is nonsense. Time was, when congressmen moved their families to Washington, socialized with the families of peers on both sides of the aisle, sent their children to school with those peers children, and actually behaved like honest and responsible colleagues. In speaking "movingly" about his family, this man is highlighting one of his many roles in helping to destroy our legislative branch. And, well, Buffalo Bills number 15 Jack Kemp would find Mr Ryan's appeasement of Mr Trump's ugly bigotry very very sad.
So when you mention his "belief in self-sufficiency," you don't mention that Social Security benefits (because of his father's death) helped put him through college?
1
He wants to spend more time with his children?
His children are teenagers and the last thing teenagers want to do is spend more time with their parents.
7
I think Ryan is leaving town now because he is afraid that he could,one day,sooner rather than later get a phone telling him he is now the president of the United States of America.
2
I despise Ryan, and I am happy to see him go. As far as I am concerned, he's a dressed-up, fast talking, pseudo-intellectual "face" who was put into office by the far right, to provide cover for policies to help the rich at the expense of the rest of us.
And yet, I am afraid that, someday, we will look back and say that we will miss him. If the Democrats do not take control of the House, it will be the Freedom Caucus who chooses the next Speaker. The other Republicans are nowhere near as organized, and few are truly moderate enough to oppose a ultra-right wing Speaker anyway. It's time for the Democrats to become a "big tent" party again, or the whole country is in trouble.
8
Can some news organization please inform the public the details of Ryan’s retirement package? How much is his pension? What about health benefits?
4
Paul Ryan is no "fiscal conservative"! Like all Republicans beginning with Reagan, he railed against social programs for the poor and middle class in order to engage in deep deficit spending that benefits corporations and America's wealthiest citizens. In his case, he engineered massive, unnecessary tax breaks for those groups while attempting to cut health care and social security programs. Paul Ryan is no hero and no fiscal conservative. He's just another partisan political hack. Good riddance.
7
It wasn't that long ago that someone like Ryan would have been considered hard right!
4
And he happily, even gleefully, move right along with them. He led the charge. I fear his years in politics are not over.
3
Ryan realized the great blue wave means he would have lost his own seat in Congress anyway.
In that context, this is not news.
2
Most of America was left on the margins by Ryan.
4
These vacancies of 39 republicans now offer an unparalleled opportunity. We Democrats can now hit the ballot box's emergency brakes hard in curbing the extremist actions of trump's reckless and juvenile behavior this November.
To say that the nation needs a strong counter balance to trump's looming fascist dictatorship is an understatement. It's akin to requiring (clean) oxygen and water for all forms of carbon based life on Earth. We don't have the luxury of wasting anymore time in getting organized about it.
When China's sudden president for life, Xi Jinping sounds more reasonable and thoughtful than a sitting President of the United States, we should all be ashamed. He's calling for a constructive dialogue in finding common ground for all nations' benefit. We don't need to engage in a trade war.
Speaker Ryan's departure then is hopefully the catalyst that both motivates us and signals the urgency at hand. Oddly though, the tone of this column gives Ryan far too much credit in the fictional concepts that his tenure in congress was one of moderation. Nothing could be further from the record. By stepping away from exercising real leadership the accidental Speaker might as well have been a hardline reactionary figure. His dream in privatizing our rock solid public institutions that falsely became cruelly labelled "Entitlements," would cause disasterous harm to the country's well being.
But enough talk. Plan to get out and vote away this stain on our Democracy.
3
Ryan is constantly called "smart" and "realistic" by news organizations because global corporate mass media, whose controlling shares are owned by the global 1%, want to privatize Social Security so they can get yet another piece of our retirements. And he's not gone yet.
And for all his whining about balanced budgets, he also gave global corporations $5.5 trillion in tax cuts, paid for with $4 trillion in new taxes on blue state workers, leaving a $1.5 trillion hole. He didn't have to bring that up to a vote. He didn't bring any Democratic legislation up for a vote.
He also shepherded through $165 billion in new military spending in a country which already spends more than the next ten militaries combined, most of them allies. (And in the Senate Chuck Schumer helped get the military spending passed, getting temporary hurricane relief in return for a permanent increase in military spending.)
This article, like most articles about Ryan paints him as a boy wonder, when really he is just another hypocritical tool of the global corporations. And soon he will be a corporate lobbyists raking in millions from the global corporations he further enriched at our expense.
Establishment politicians like Clinton, Schumer, McConnell and Ryan made Trump president, because they put the interests of global billionaires above the interest of the American workers.
4
Paul Ryan, Speaker of the House Of Representatives, is complicit. He hardly sat on the margins as your headline states. Ryan was all in on letting Trump degrade the Office of the President and diminish the Constitution. I wish him nothing but bad luck for the rest of his days.
1
Why did Ryan go to Washington in the first place? Politicians have platforms and are supposed to be advocates. They all take the same oath to uphold and defend. Strength of character and conviction are requirements in order to make a voice heard. After 20 years of Ryan, all I recall is posturing and posing, especially visible today under the glaring light of a pretender presidency that seeks to upend the foundations of our Constitution... just another grifter in DC there for personal gain who turns a blind's eye when the country needs all hands on deck to speak truth to power. The biggest joke is the new tax bill he supported that adds more to the national debt than Reagan did.
3
How dare anyone attribute any even-handedness to Paul Ryan. He well-may have single-handedly assured a mammoth financial crisis that will make 2007 look like a cakewalk.
2
Maybe Ryan has been considered such a "policy wonk" because he looks better when compared the rest of the GOP. No one would ever accuse that party of putting intelligence ahead of party loyalty. Neither intelligence, integrity, or independence are required to be backed by the Koch machine. All they want is what they have in Pence or Walker, a live body to hold a seat and pass whatever bills they are given.
3
Every day, stars rise and stars fall. Now that Paul Ryan and Sarah Palin will be mentioned in the same sentence, Republicans really do have big problems to overcome.
1
Ryan was never a fiscal Conservative although he tried to play one on TV. You do not run Trillion Dollar Deficits when you are concerned about debt or the deficit.
Next- Social Security is NOT an entitlement. Public School for your kids is an entitlement. If you do not work, participate in the system (some are allowed to opt out for religious reasons) or accumulate enough points via paying the tax/premium you do not qualify for coverage. Social Security is an Insurance program run by the Federal Government. Please stop repeating the right wing meme about Social Security being an "entitlement".
Ryan is the Flim-Flam Man. His numbers never added up, Supply Side is Faith Based economics not supported by facts and dynamic scoring is little more than fictional accounting.
He will not be missed by those of us who value honesty in accounting.
2
He , as an acolyte of Ayn Rand, was far to the right as seen with the tax bill and trying to take health care away from the poor. He gets his, poor people lose theirs, the rich get richer and he leaves things in disarray in Washington never having stood up to the incompetent person in the White House. He has been timid on immigration. We are all much worse off in this country after his "leadership" than before.
3
How can someone enamored with Ayn Rand in this day and age be characterized as an intellectual?
4
Young enough to make some "real money" instead of the "chump change"
earned by members of Congress. Wait and see: he will be generously thanked by corporate America for saving them billions.
2
Let's see now, with Ryan gone from the GOP leadership and with Trump about to be impeached and Pence about to run screaming out of town, isn't it that the leader of the Democrats in the House, i.e. Nancy Pelosi becomes House Speaker and then automatically slides into the Presidential slot? I know that the chances of all this happening are a wee bit foggy, but then after what we have been through over the recent Washington madness, maybe the Almighty will send us a blessing. Or do we have to wait for November?
The whole concept that the right “moved” anywhere is at odds with reality. The primary point of the Conservative party as a philosophy is that the status quo is essentially working well enough and does not need to change. What’s happened, rather, is that the left has moved the conversation significantly at an increasingly rapid clip. Now the conservatives appear farther from where the new “average” views are, at least, according to liberals. As an example, during Obama’s first term (not that long ago), I believe the typical democrat still had not come out in favor of legalizing gay marriage; by the end of the second term, the general position was not only that gay marriage should be legal, but that gender is a fluid concept, and transgender people should be treated as the gender they identify with by society (i.e. one who identifies as a woman is in fact a woman for all societal purposes). Not more than a few years ago that was a pretty radical position that very few people held. Maybe it’s right, maybe it’s wrong. Of course those with the “new” ideas presume these are the more evolved or better ideas and wish these old fogies could get with the program. We’ll see whether that’s the case or not. Point is, if you were standing still next to a soccer ball, and I came to you and kicked that soccer ball down the field you would be farther from the ball. It would not be accurate, however to say that you “moved” away from the ball (I kicked the thing away from you).
1
Boehner and Ryan have both discovered the Republican House cannot govern. At least Ryan didn’t cry about it.
1
Trying to play Paul Ryan as the victim, as this piece does, just doesn't cut the mustard. Paul Ryan has sold his country out to the oligarchs in the United States that value their own personal gain above everything else.
He obviously did this to enrich himself in the future.
He has done absolutely nothing as Speaker of the House to save this country from the abomination that is Donald Trump.
3
This notion of the GOP moving right is fantasy. It "moved right" in 1981, then stayed there.
Voting records and history matter.
3
I admired him at him at one time, as a potential bipartisan Republican, but he showed no ability to lead and lost the moral high ground by not standing up to the current Presudent. Perhaps, in his remainng months, he can find his voice. Absent that, there will be no Paul Ryan bust in the Profiles in Courage wing of US Politics.
In saner days, I would never have thought it possible that there could be anyone to the right of an Ayn Rand enthusiast like Ryan. I certainly never thought that an Ayn Rand enthusiast could be Speaker of the House, and I never thought that if there were people to the right of that, that they could serve in an American legislature. I think I need to go buy a copy of Madeleine Albright's new book, "Fascism: A Warning."
2
He was along with Mitch McConnell supposed to bring Trump in line. But each hour, day, week, etc. got worse and really, they've watched Trump bring us to the precipice time and again without so much as a a "how do you do?!" Time after time after time , no response worthy of Congressional leaders. I say good riddance to a do nothng. L. Graham stood up for us more, than either of these two. Neither has backbones. Didn't deserve title given. His own states people have nothing good to say about him.
How much do you want to bet that Ryan becomes a highly paid lobbyist? He will get paid lots of money, see no conflicts of interest and probably not spend so much time at home. Just a wild guess!
1
According to this piece Ryan was left behind because he had a "dream of a more inclusive party, open to black, Latino and immigrant voters enticed by a youthful, optimistic vision." Ridiculous. A month ago, after pushing through the most regressive tax legislation Ryan's wanted for his entire career, which impoverishes all Americans, steals their money and benefits, and gives it all to billionaire donors, Ryan spoke on Bill Bennett’s Morning in America radio program. To Ryan, his disastrous social and economic legislation was great, all American problems exist because a "tailspin of culture, in our inner cities in particular, of men not working and just generations of men not even thinking about working or learning the value and the culture of work." This is straight out of Nixon's racist Southern Strategy. It was always untrue; now it's a blatant lie. Rural poverty is at 16 percent and rising rapidly; while Urban Poverty is at 13 percent. Ryan always just made up numbers, like Trump. "Tax overhaul was supposed to be part of a larger vision of smaller government, more free enterprise and international trade, balanced budgets and partly privatized entitlement programs. That grander vision has gone nowhere.” Sorry, No! Ryan never had any such vision, he was running a con. Ryan's exploited fears of the debt to create the most regressive tax code and set the stage for the destruction of all New Deal programs, including Social Security. By that measure, he's been a great success.
2
I am sure Ryan is a good guy and a fine family man. But as far as doing a good a job as a Congressman and Speaker I have serious doubt. He is leaving his "American Family" with a debt of over 1 trillion dollars by 2020 and totally unnecessary increase in our military budget. He has failed to speak up and speak to the issues concerning Trump. For my part he left office as both a fiscally and intellectually dishonest person. But as John described he did well for himself-leaving office with a great pension, health care and we are left with the crumbs of debt. Enjoy your life Ryan
8
Amazing to characterize a man who spent so much of his political career wanting to get the social safety net as being 'on the margins.' We really are indeed in trouble. He is the engineer of the worst tax bill we've ever had. Can anybody name me one single positive thing he's done for anyone but the one tenth of 1% in this country?
2
There is a wonderful saying that fits onto Mr. Ryan:
"The gap he is leaving behind will replace him perfectly"
1
This reads mostly like a puff piece. Paul Ryan was about as qualified for the mantle of "policy leadership" as Trump is for that of "president." I see that we can expect the myth of his policy expertise to live on as he exits the stage - as Paul Krugman pointed out recently, Republican economic policy is all about the packaging - but I hope serious news organizations like this one don't continue to promulgate it, even secondhand, uncritically.
He might be a nice dad but he is guilty of calculating complicity in Trump's degradation of our country and now he is abandoning his rubble-covered stakeholders in very Trumpian fashion. Off he goes to enjoy his tax cuts.
1
It's only fitting that Ryan will lose his coveted position as Speaker. He would never use his powerful position to stand up for decency, truth, the Law, and the Country. Instead, he happily put Party ahead of Country, everytime.
He is third in line for the Presidency... the Speakership means something after all. But now, he didn't do his job: he left the True Leadership of the Role, so now his job his job will leave him.
1
If you were a passenger on the Titanic, the emergency boats are all full (they didn't supply a sufficient number with the ship) and the frigid water of the North Atlantic Ocean is now just a few feet away: what would you do?
I do not understand why these 'liberal' Republicans are leaving and allow the alt-right wing fanatics to reign supreme in the party. Are these people scared or they always were, and still are scared, to take the fight to do the 'right' thing, take up a very justified fight to reform the party if needed? Did these people like Ryan joined the party to satisfy their lust for power and promote their own interest and used the party as a tool?
If they are dedicated to the nation and/or the Republican party, then they must take up the necessary and seemingly unavoidable fight to cleanse one of the two major political parties, so crucial for American democracy to function properly.
We may not have seen the last of him. Could this be a strategic retirement? Some think he has plans to run for president in the future and wants to distance himself from the current shipwreck of an administration. He was also currently facing a strong Democratic challenger, Randy Bryce, in his own district and a loss there would not help any further political ambitions.
1
With the president and his associates under investigation, does Ryan, as third in line from top, fear something coming down the pike? He didn't want the speakership. Perhaps he doesn't want the presidency as well?
Although Paul Ryan showed characteristics typical of today's Republican Party in his so-called budget "reform" - a strong sense of reverse-Robin Hood political values, lack of common political sense, lack of common decency, lack of ethical values, etc, etc, etc, Ryan has done one thing of particular note for which he might be most remembered. Paul Ryan left the trump administration at a time of his choice for his own reasons, a singular achievement.
1
Second question: How is it possible to say Ryan was seen as a master of the details when his budget proposals were always full of unspecified hundred-billions? Plus or minus a hundred billion missing here, another there, soon it's real money. (I do wonder what Everett Dirksen would think.)
1
Maybe Mr. Ryan, as a leading Republican, will have the "guts' to stand up to Trump now that he is free from what tRump's base thinks about voting for him.
1
Paul Ryan leaves with government-supplied healthcare for life, and government-supplied guaranteed monthly income for life, after spending his entire career trying to ensure that we don't get those very benefits.
2
Paul Ryan will wait and if and when the winds are blowing in his favor, he'll run for President. By then, people who disliked him, and if they are still alive, would have forgotten about his extreme conservatism, weird retreat from Obamacare, and extreme fervor for tax reduction for the rich.
1
I was not aware of his father dying when he was a teenager. I thought it was odd that, even in this Trump era, he would walk away from that power so young; now it makes sense if his kids are at the same age as he was (roughly) when he lost his dad. That would have shaped his whole outlook on life, and while I would bet that, in a few years from now when those kids have 'left the nest' he will probably run for the presidency, I would applaud any father who puts his family first. Like him or not, the desire to be there for your children as a father, when your own father was not there, is very admirable. I wish him and his family all the best.
Leaving past the ideological questions the post-2016 Republican party required only an undivided loyalty and blind support to the Trump agenda that Paul Ryan was perhaps less qualified for due to his reserved and forced acceptance of Trump, and also due to his opportunistic policy stance on major social and economic policy issues.
6
His unstated and real reason? Mr. Randy Bryce, the Democratic Candidate for Wisconsin'First District. Paul Ryan will lose to him by a large margin in November and he knows it.
1
Use to project future economics of US economy, the difference between Republican and Democrat governing.
PoliticsThatWork Change in Unemployment Rate by Party of President- Since 1945
Each party has held the presidency for the same number of years since 1945. During those years, the unemployment rate has risen 11.8% under Republican presidents and has fallen 7.2% under Democratic presidents. Unemployment has fallen during the overwhelming majority of Democratic years since 1949. Unemployment rose steadily under Republicans up until 1982, then fell during the remaining Reagan years, and then rose again under both Bush Presidents.
PoliticsThatWork Dow Jones Performance by the Party of the President
During the most recent 15 years during which Republicans have held the presidency, the value of the Dow has increased by 42%. During the Democratic presidencies, it has increased by 609%- 14.5 times faster. The average growth in the value of the Dow under Democrats during this period has been 14.75% and under Republicans it has been 5.11%.
PoliticsThatWork Change in Disposable Income Since 1930 by the Party of the President
In the 44 years that we have had Democratic presidents since 1930, the real per-capita disposable income has increased 271%. During the 40 years during which we have had Republican presidents, it has increased 44%. On average, it has increased 3.1% (after adjusting for inflation) under Democratic presidents and 1% under Republican presidents.
How is it possible to say working at McDonald's formed his right-wing views without mentioning the (left-wing) Social Security payments that subsidized him at that time and through college?
2
Ryan's often stated goals were to slash taxes on the wealthy and large corporations (most of whom pay little or no taxes to begin with), and end the social safety net that came out of the New Deal and Great Society programs. He only succeeded in the former. How much further to the right can a politician get?
1
He will have a pension for life, after a career of attempting to destroy help for people who need it. With Congressional pay at $174,000 per year, at an 80% rate, he is taking early retirement and will be paid a lifelong pension benefit of $139,200. All benefits are taxpayer-funded. He will have what he fought hard to deny others, at our expense.
3
"He took a job at McDonald’s and became class speaker in the same year, experiences that helped shape his belief in individual responsibility and his conservative outlook." You forgot to mention that he also received Social Security survivor's benefits, which payed for his college, and then spent his political career trying to take Social Security away from others. And thanks for those tax cuts for billionaires, Paul! In spite of all this, this article paints Mr. Ryan as some sort of victim. Please!
4
As an immigrant I was perplexed by the strange coalition that between big business, social conservatives, and the "nativists" that President Reagan was able to stitch . The economic interests of these groups appear to be seriously misaligned. Corporate taxes and trade being just two examples. But one group had the money and the other the votes. It seems to me that the big doors controlled the agenda and kept their voters attention on social issues. Social issues were bait that were never truly addressed/ or were addressable. They were simply hot button divisive vote generators. We saw this schism revealed/ acknowledged by the speech Romney made during his campaign in Florida. Today I also see a divergence on the social issues. Big corporations are now far more progressive on issues such as inclusion and the climate. Given this misalignment, that the Republican leaders have been able to keep this coalition going for so long is remarkable. Separate from my political views, I therefore admire Speaker Ryan for whatever he has been able to accomplish. Hopefully, he will, like Senator Flake, now have the courage to voice his true concerns about the damage Trump is inflicting on the institutions.
The truth is that when moderates fail to govern, with both domestic and foreign policy, and actually address all the issues, that are obvious, you will get extremes on both ends of the spectrum. That is currently what is going on in America. To not understand that, and lurch the other way, with the debt of $21 trillion, and the program of Medicaid, teetering on insolvency in about 7 years, the average voter better grasp the reality, and not another fantasy.
I admired him once, until he demonstrated his lack of leadership and ability to lead. On his record, there will be no Paul Ryan bust in the Profiles in Courage wing of US politics . In the remaining months, perhaps he can prove us wrong.
Paul Ryan made clear when he accepted the office of Speaker that he felt he was taking on an impossible task. He has now damaged our country as much as he could. Now he is recognizing that he has no majority--even within his own party.
1
Wouldn't you say that the GOP moved right AND left?
Right on immigration (in general), border control and travel (for muslims).
But also LEFT.
What GOP member would have EVER run on universal health care and expect to win? (put aside whether DT ever meant it).
But the point is DT ran and won on it.
Either way, whether it be more right or left, it has shown traditional GOP members were not truly representing their constituents.
Paul Ryan attempted to serve two gods: Roman Catholicism is how he was raised but Libertarian is how he lived and governed. It is not the same as the secularism of the Enlightenment which guided the "Founding Fathers" who sought to form a government "e pluribus unim". His enactment of that philosophy of freedom would eliminate any responsibility for those who benefit from society to share proportionately in the sustenance of their source of wealth.
1
The updated headline says nothing good about the GOP. Ryan was already way too far to the right. So, if the GOP sees Ryan is not right enough and people who are proudly fascist declare Trump a hero, when do we get to call Republicans fascists? That is what they have become.
75
I agree. Well said! Tell it like it is!
1
Follow the money...Ryan retires with a pension of about 85 -86 thousand dollars which he can collect at age 50....In itself that is not a great deal even if it is a substantial to most Americans. Since he is still going to be active in fund raising I assume that he will be making a speaker's circuit and amassing quite a bit more than his retirement pay. And should he decide to also act as a consultant to law firms that do lobbying...the sky is the limit.
23
If Ryan's not running a PAC for the Koch brothers by next year, I'll eat my hat. After giving them the tax bill they wanted, its the least they can do.
1
Ryan sold out, either because, he realizes the agenda is not for a Democracy or that he is
in a no win situation. he most certainly didn't bow out to spend time with his wife & children.! he will live comfortably, while most Americans will struggle, The elderly will suffer, while he will be rich .
It's sad and strange that the personal hardships of Ryan's youth put him on a path which ends with robbing the already depleted public coffers to enrich billionaires. Do we really have to relive the stories my grandmother told about hard times during The Great Depression in order to appreciate Social Security, Medicare and a safety net for the most vulnerable among us, which the 2008 crash revealed could be just about anyone?
144
I, too, heard the stories of desperation. When such times come to us again this time the desperate will be armed.
Paul Ryan will go down as the worst Speaker ever. He says he's going home to his family....until of course....he announces for President in 2020.
15
This guy made war on all us poor people. Good riddance to him and most other republicans. So much cruelty.
64
Robert, I would agree wholeheartedly, except that I'm concerned: if the Republicans keep the House, Ryan may well be replaced by someone even worse. However low they sink, somehow there's always someone worse.
At the core of Republican ideology is cruelty.
Q: How do you tell a Republican is recognizing the truth?
A: He is quitting.
44
These Republicans know the facts of life - that the Massive Blue Wave
is coming.
His dad died when he was 16, which I'm sure was hard, and perhaps he did, as the story claims, "grow up fast." But not so fast that he went without Social Security survivor benefits. The Times ought to mention that, unless it wishes to be complicit in Ryan's self-mythologizing as a deficit hawk.
63
Once described as “the intellectual center of Republicans in the House.
Suggesting Rep. Ryan was the intellectual center of Republicans not only says a lot about Republicans, but I question what passes for intellectual today.
52
I hope, after making such a big deal about his kids, that Ryan actually does spend significant time with them.
17
Don't hold your breath - unless his kids work at a lobbying firm.
I bet the kids are running far far away. When you have a nasty hypocrite as a dad it can be a good motivator.
Ryan on the margins as the GOP move to the right? Assuming Ryan as something as a centrist illustrates just how far the political spectrum has been mutated over the last several decades. What passes as "normal" today would have been extremist previously.
27
Yes, Bernie on one side and Ted Cruz on the other side.
One of the things that makes me happiest about Ryan leaving is that I'll no longer have to read articles about his efforts to balance the budget, which were always completely insincere, and dutifully reported as one of his deepest convictions by the Times.
44
Ryan is likely leaving because he doesn't want to be saddled with the mantle of presiding over the largest unecessary deficit explosion in the history of the U.S.
1
This guy was a spineless altar boy who didn't stand up to Trump. A complete phony from the get-go. This article is far too kind to this religious zealot whose desire to dismantle and privative programs designed to help those that are desperately in need knew no boundaries.
53
May he suffer all the privations he visited on the less fortunate.
51
Oh boo hoo, this is a rat jumping off of a sinking ship.
Ryan did his best to dismantle Medicare and Social Security. His real achievement is trying to kill the affordable healthcare act and cut health insurance for many Americans.
Let him return to Wisconsin and make cheese.
45
Who will he lobby for?
21
Where do I sign up to work on his presidential campaign?
1
So long Mr. Ryan.
If you live in Wisconsin’s first district, I urge you to vote for the Iron Stache!
7
Got the Koch’s their tax cut and now I gonna go work for them.
34
He still is the most decisive Republican in my opinion. He has the power to make substantial changes via legislation that will help those less fortunate & he has chosen the path of helping the most fortunate & placating to an egomaniac President Trump. He is the most evil force in American politics so I’m glad he’s leaving.
16
Thank goodness. It is amazing that a man whose intellectual bible was a high school melodrama (Ayn Rand’s “Fountainhead”) ever got elected, much less become Speaker. And it is now evident what resulted from his obsession: a trillion and a half dollar deficit. Good riddance.
31
Guess the Koch Brothers gave him a special prize for all his hard work. I knew this was coming, it will take years to fix what has been left by this Congress and this administration .
27
And the worst thing is that after all the damage this manhas done to us, the middle class, he will be soon considered a "hero" for having "the courage" of leaving the Twitter-insulting presidency of #45
10
So Trump is actually draining the swamp after all.
11
A one trick pony who couldn't keep up with the field.
8
Smart move Paul. Attending funerals can be a downer, especially when the funeral you are ducking is your (political) own. You coulda' been a contenda' but you chose to drink the Republican Kool Aid and be a good soldier. It reminds me of Churchill's description of his advisory, Clemet Atlee. "A sheep in sheep's clothing."
16
what an abomination : retires at 48 with full pension for failing to lead and leaving a wake of deficit. we're in the upside down
20
Time to make some serious money!
7
Dorian Gray leaves.....
7
Make a sentence that includes these words:
Rat, Ryan, ship, Titanic, blue wave
Shouldn’t be difficult.
8
Vote in November because the Republicans are running scared now. Ryan is one of the first to realize his constituents would NOT re-elect him because he's done NOTHING for the majority of them unless they happened to be wealthy. Another incompetent weakling that never should have been elected. He has no feel for what the average American family is going through. Good riddance to bad rubbish as they say.
14
Defining characteristics of this man: moral cowardice, supine sycophancy, and intellectual shallowness and dishonesty. Good riddance.
22
Ryan says he is retiring to spend more time with his children. Does he not care what his children will think of the legacy he will leave - a failure to speak out against the immorality, duplicity, corruption, viciousness, ignorance, lies and traitorous behavior of the most ignorant president in U.S. history? Ryan's silence through all this will be seen in history as affirmation of Trump's malfeasance. Ryan will exit with his head held low, not high.
19
Also, as a high school teacher, I laugh at his idea of spending time with his teenagers. They're busy 7 days of the week.
1
Do the crime. And then run away and watch Democrats have to struggle with the ruins. That's the plan.
23
Dearest Mr Ryan,
You know when to hold them, and know when to fold them. You're never going to get a better year than this one, having ushered in a massive give away to your keepers in the form of the tax "reform" (never knew reform and scam were synonyms) you helped pass against an uncomprehending populace. Get out of town before the tar and feathers show up. Keep that plausible deniability when the rot you helped push causes the foundations to collapse. You will be richly rewarded by your owners while continuing to feed at the public trough. Isn't that what public service is all about?
19
Ryan's legacy will be the "Coward of the House of Representatives" who failed to stand up to the most destructive president in the history of the United States of America.
22
The Speaker is this country's greatest coward; America will be better off with him gone. As for his children--what teenager wants a dad hanging around the house? If he sincerely wanted to spend time with his children, he would have been better advised to do it during their formative years.
17
Mr. Rillo,
You have got to be kidding! Ryan is an opportunistic, egotistical member of Congress. I -- for one -- am glad to see him "retire". I sincerely hope Kevin McCarthy (from my state) does NOT get re-elected. He is just as bad -- maybe worse!
12
An extended humble-brag. Give me a break.
13
Shame on whichever corporation gives this guy his next paycheck. An amoeba has more spine than Paul Ryan. Most of the country will be praying for a replacement with some intention to do good things for all of America. Alas, I expect that whoever comes next will be even worse - such is the state of the modern GOP.
13
WAG THE DOG
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) credited the network of billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch for being “such a critical part of our historic success in 2017,” highlighting its support for the tax code overhaul.
Paul Ryan gets massive donations ($500,000) from billionaires after helping pass tax reform
David Koch’s Libertarian Platform 1980
TO BE ABOLISHED:
Taxation
Welfare
Public Schools
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
Occupational Health & Safety Administration (OSHA)
Department of Energy (DOE)
Food & Drug Administration (FDA)
Federal Communications Commissions (FCC)
Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)
Federal Reserve
Social Security
All branches of the military accept the Army
Does this sound at all familiar?
The Kochs spent a billion dollars to put the GOP into office.
21
Ryan really is a coward
He waits to announce he is not running when there is so much other news and crisis that it will be a one day story and then we move on
I blame Paul Ryan for the Trump administration and all of its corruptions and failings.
Ryan’s epithet should read “He could have done something and he chose to do nothing”
17
Paul Ryan - Republican; a man on the public dole his entire adult life has finished ruining the lives of ordinary Americans.
28
I shall miss Ryan as I would an infected tooth.
22
The beagle from Janesville has had his tail between his legs since Trump became President.
10
Yet another ducking the whirlwind from the deficit explosion to come and trying to hide from his soul staining complicity with this farcical disgrace of an administration.
11
How will we know he's gone?
21
The American way when the going gets tough, just QUIT. Paul wants to go home and be a model dad with ZERO guts. He never agreed with anything about Pres.Trump & never even attempted to fight for his ideas about what direction the party and the government should be moving towards. He never leads, he was afraid to speak out and now is using fatherhood as an excuse. He failed in the leadership job in Washington and there is no indication why a man like him will succeed as a role model for his kids or any kids.
13
And the sad thing is that his kids will reap the benefits of having a quitter dad for a father, and he will teach them that they had 'earned' their government dole while the rest of us suckers pay for it.
If he was leaving anyways, why not stand up to Trump and do the right thing in his waning time? Was leaving a mountain of debt for our children his only goal by way of the heinous tax bill? What a cowardly, selfish, and disloyal man he is to our country (but certainly not to the donors who he took his orders from).
16
Ah, yes, heading home to spend time with the family. Oh, and also to enjoy that massive tax break he was able to secure for the greedy Republican elite. I suspect he'll be sitting on way-y-y too many corporate boards to spend time with little Cindy Lou during her teenage years.
17
Coward.
Tear it down, obfuscate, create a mess then run away when things get difficult.
A big payday as a lobbyist and consultant is right around the corner, or perhaps a job at Goldman Sachs.
25
I am so sick of hearing the mainstream media use the shorthand about Ryan that he is a policy wonk. His wonkishness is about one thing and that is giving huge tax breaks to the people from whom he will now attempt to cash in. Watching him in the background with that simpering little smirk while Trump gave his outrageous speeches was enough to make me sick to my stomach. He is a fraud in every sense. let's stop pretending he was anything else.
34
I hope he enjoys his legacy of being silent and spineless while Trump trafficked in calumny and chaos.
15
He would lose if he ran again.....that's the reason.
16
Good riddance. Spineless deplorable man.
58
History will not remember him kindly.
83
Paul, "a country who cannot remember the past is destined to repeat it."
Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Donald Trump. The same story - cut taxes to corporations and the wealthy to trickle down, increase spending, increase deficits and national debt! And, throw in a few wars and a Global Financial Crisis. The result - corporations and the rich got richer and the middle-class and poor got poorer.
We have not seen the last of Paul Ryan, and likely America will not remember.
God help there USA!
2
I thought it was illegal, certainly unethical, for the Captain to jump a sinking ship before the passengers and other crew members.
67
BWCA - Ryan's not the Captain. He's the first mate. The Captain has no moral compass, no experience managing a professional crew or piloting big ships, and he has a history of sinking the ship, drowning the crew, and making it to land safely as the only survivor claiming others snack the ship!
For that to be a thing, you would have to consider Ryan a captain. He’s more like the chief purser, or maybe the radio operator.
That certainly never stopped captain Ryan before.
1
We once had a Speaker named Ryan,
Who got into power by denying.
He passed a tax bill,
Ended up with $8 mil,
And perfected Trump's method of lying.
94
I bet Ryan was told Russians would give Trump a boost in Wisconsin. Remember Ryan's "keep it in the family" comment? This explains his reluctance to support Mueller and his deafening silence about Mueller
32
Without reading the article, just the headline ...
really?
Then he had no business accepting the position. If he cannot LEAD, he should not ever have been the speaker.
Peter Principle at work? Ego? Money?
Whatever.
The man has no spine, no convictions, no moral compass.
Any of those would have enabled him to stand firm and fight, convince, cajole. It's what a leader does.
Good riddance.
36
He'll run for President in 2020 or 2024.
18
He'll have to get past an angry middle class when their tax cuts expire. They will lynch him before he ever becomes President.
Well good luck with that.
Of course the base is expecting a lot more. They want something for nothing. The whole rotten pack of them.
14
"But that tax overhaul was supposed to be part of a larger vision of...balanced budgets"
No one in their right mind thinks Republicans want balanced budgets. Why do corporate media journalists keep pushing this lie? Is the idea that politicians' words don't match their actions too much to wrap their minds around?
44
He leaves government as a failure; good riddance and don't forget to close the door on your way out.
53
Ryan, a big gun advocate, stated, I voted to send soldiers into war”. Let me pick myself up off the floor, after being overwhelmed by such narcissistic bravery !!
26
He had a chance to be an American hero, but ran away with his tail between his legs. That's why he will be forever known as Paul "The Cowardly" Ryan.
42
Paul Ryan's statement sounded completely delusional, he has not presided over any meaningful accomplishments and he has been a coward in confronting this disgracefully incompetent President.
Paul Ryan has been an embarrassment in the way he's let Devin Nunes run wild in the most unethical manner I've ever seen in 50 years.
Paul Ryan needs therapy, because he is talking nonsense.
59
He is simply too much of a coward to run, like his Republican brethren who have chosen the same road. Their policies stink, their morals stink, and the in their gerrymandered districts are developing a good sense of smell.
23
Pious hypocrite.
Moral coward.
Smarmy opportunist.
Intellectual phony and weakling.
He has a nice head of hair.
And a passable smile.
And for that he got into a position to be of service in the U.S. Congress.
But he exploited his position of trust for self gain while doing the bidding of his wealthy masters/sponsors.
And he stood by like a lackey coward and did nothing as Trump soiled the White House and soiled our national reputation. He makes the cowardly cop at Parkland High look like a brave man.
Goodbye Mr. Ryan. You will not be missed, sir.
54
A coward Paul Ryan turned out to be
Consistently putting party over country
No criticism of Trump came from his lips
So from Congress he quietly slips
Leaving nothing behind as his legacy.
25
I think we need to track our former elected officials to see exactly how much time they are spending with their families after they leave. These guys are like all the finance guys who tanked at their jobs, passed the buck and left with a bonus.
At least leave your families out of it. After 20 years you realize you don’t see your family enough. I think they know what’s coming from Mueller and their jumping ship to save themselves.
31
Oh Pulease! Are we going to go through the litany of negatives that the whole lot of Republicans have brought down on this once-to-be-great country every time one decides to run for the hills? Enough! Nauseating that we have come to this place. The question is: Can we ever recover and finally move forward to repair the damage? Yes! But it takes work, and rejection of anything Republicans stand for.
20
After all his talk I'll bet he won't retire from his government retirement benefits.
48
This guy has been a Republican snake oil huckster since the day he got to Washington. Obama's recovery program was going to trigger hyperinflation (it didn't); deficits were going to destroy the economy (until they were deficits caused by things the Repubs wanted to spend money on). Paul Ryan, Friend of the Working Man, got a monstrosity of a tax bill passed by his caucus that is nothing more than political armed robbery in favor of the plutocracy. The policy wonk persona has long since been shown to be a threadbare disguise behind which hides a charlatan; the choirboy image has worn pretty thin too. Will he go out defying the lunatic regime which he's done so much to advance? Not in a million years; he'll be an opportunist to the end. Good riddance, I say.
52
More and more are finally realizing that waking up every day to defend the indefensible isn't an enjoyable line of work. Paul and some of his cohorts realized they were writing themselves in one of the worst periods of US political history, and as one of the younger politicians, he was faced with living through the recounting of this chapter the rest of his life.
Leaving the Trump administration/current GOP: the most relished respite.
Besides, he was sick chugging antacid with every Trump tweet.
12
If this Russian Mess goes down in the way every single indicator suggests--confirmation of colluding with an enemy to fix an election--Ryan's legacy will be that of being a traitor.
He is the poster-boy for double-speak, inaction, aiding and abetting an abysmal "president," and a startling failure to even pretend to do his job. This GOP-led Congress is not just a disgrace--though it certainly is that--it is complicit in the misdemeanor of failing to do its job, but may well end up being found guilty of knowingly committing crimes by burying evidence and obstructing justice.
The investigatory committees that refused to call witnesses, failed to follow-up on clues, and deliberately obfuscated have a lot to answer for and those actions were guided by Ryan's directives. Historians are not going to be as tolerant and complacent as we have been with this chaos, ineptitude, and crisis. They'll excoriate this man for his role in the decline and fall of the USA.
And then there's the matter of his parting gift to us...$1,600,000,000,000 in debt. Deplorable.
54
There is no statute of limitations on Treason.
Nice to see you on the pages. I look for your comments on The Guardian.
So, the invertebrate-in-chief is quitting—confirming that he is, in fact, an invertebrate. Too bad that does not mean he would be replaced by a Republican with a spine—because no such person exist. The best we can hope for is that the Democrats regain control of the House.
Probably too much to hope for that Ryan’s fellow invertebrate, Senator Mitch, will quit.
23
Could somebody please put up a billboard that Paul Ryan will see every morning that says, "Thanks a-trillion!"
43
How about Paul Ryan doing ONE good deed for the country before he "retires" on his comfortable pension and perks: remove Devin Dunes from chairmanship of the House Intelligence Committee!
36
Sorry, I meant Devin NUNES!
Now he's gonna make 7 figures lobbying his former colleagues.
15
A good man, bright, principled, a Patriot. Unwilling to continue life in the swamp. Sorry to see him go.
Seriously?
He delivered the tax program for his donors and now it’s time to cash in. I’m sure they will find some private sector position for him where he can work on his long held dream of destroying Social Security and Medicare without having to face the wrath of voters.
26
Quite possibly the sleazist and most corrupt and unprincipled Speaker in many decades. So he goes home to be with his family after carrying out his mission for his corporate masters minus destroying health care.
Look for him to join corporate boards as slavish reward.
33
Ryan will be running for President.
4
Ryan will be President in 2156.Believe me.
But once again he will be cast out. He is finished
Ryan's character flaws would not be acceptable in most workplaces but that was NOT what led to his decision to spend less time as a "weekend dad."
Instead, it was his torturous insomnia thinking about his sure and future humbling as the former corrupt House leader.
Too bad, Ryan. History texts (not published by Murdoch's media empire) will provide a narrative about you much worse than any re-election groveling.
11
Ryan is absolutely appalling on immigration, and was endorsed by Open Borders fanatic Luis Gutierrez (D-Mexico). Ryan worked tirelessly for mass amnesty.
No grass-roots Republican is the least bit sorry to see him go. Establishment "Conservatives" have lost a useful, too, however.
2
Showed no signs of any backbone except when it came to depriving the underprivileged. He can greet Trump when this so called president joins him in the dustbin of history.
206
Ryan is a spineless man who made over $500,000 with the tax cuts.
Ryan had nothing to be proud, most particularly the tax bill. Cutting taxes is the dessert. He failed to make America eat its vegetables first; that is, to accept spending cuts that would have made the tax cuts responsible. We have seen 40 years of the failure of the dessert-first fiscal plan, and have nothing but monstrous debt to show for it.
Along the way, he betrayed everything he spoke up for during his first 18 or so years in office. Until Trump drove a knife through Ryan's fiscally conservative bona fides, that is.
A sad final act.
9
Stop saying goodbye to him. He is obviously only ‘retiring’ to make room for his presidential run. (Or perhaps he really wants to spend more time with his family).
5
Most predictable move ever. Now his job is done he will move on to collect his rewards for the tax bill with high paid consulting etc. Democrats should not celebrate too much. This batch of republicans may get replaced by even more Trumpian versions.
8
I'm in the camp of those who think that this is not about family values. This is about distancing from the WH clown show with an eye to 2020, hoping that the American public will yet again have a short memory. I will not forget his name or his role in attempting to destroy health care, his desire to eliminate Social Security, and most of all, the current tax bill. Nor will I forget the names of any current GOP member of Congress. By their continued silence, disregard for the rule of law, and lack of moral fiber, none of them have earned the right to re-election.
29
You nailed it!
1
I'm sure he has many job offers from the individuals and corporations (they are people too) who got the really great tax breaks.
18
His net worth $8 Million while in politics 19 years so he is worth over double his income total. He was raised on Social Security Death Benefits after his fathers death and paid his Ohio College tuition with Social Security money and has never held a real job. Last year the Debt was $42.21 TRILLION or 105.4% GPD, and will be a lot more by the time he's out thanks to w. and republicans history of raising the Deficit, starting wars and giving huge tax breaks to the rich when they were paying less than 10% before the tax cuts. When he took office under President Clinton there was a Surplus of $1.9 Billion but he is bragging that his top priority was keeping the debt down on the backs of the poor and middle class. When will republicans look at the facts instead of listening to the lying.
21
It's not like this will create a leadership vacuum. In fact if leadership can measured in such a way, and it always seems to me measured in the negative like that, the Republican party will find the absolute degree of leadership vacuum soon.
On the other hand I'll rob and mangle a quote from Tina Fey:
"In most cases being a good leader means allowing talented people get elected by getting out of their way."
1
Paul Ryan has done enough damage (and/or has been complicit) to America and American democracy.
He can retire and make millions becoming a lobbyist or being a part of the usual conservative think tanks.
I hope he is not thinking about himself as a 2020 Presidential candidate.
12
How have we heard this story? A smaller government fiscal conservative, whose career amounted to the massive tax cuts for the super rich and corporations leaving behind a larger government and and exploding deficits
14
The two party system in America has outlived its usefulness. We need a European style parliamentary system that provides a big enough umbrella to accommodate all political parties from right wing fascist to socialist where alliances can come together seamlessly to support targeted and concise pieces of legislation on one particular issue. Instead we get these ambitious overreaching complicated pieces of legislation that are cobbled together piecemeal to gather enough votes to pass but do not solve pressing complicated problems.
7
Although it has oft been said that rats are always the first to jump from a sinking ship, somehow it has never seemed more true. Buh-bye Paul!
9
Good riddance for an overhyped so-called budget wonk who presided over one of the most unfair tax laws that will only add to national debt and will not result in any increased growth. And he meekly surrendered to DT and is an accomplice in the destruction of our sacred institutions. Not a leader, never was, never will be.
13
Now if we could only convince Mitch McConnell to do the same thing.
26
Paul Ryan is quitting the House to spend more time with his donors.
20
As naifs, we have an obligation to accept Ryan's explanation for his decision to quit: He wanted to spend more time with his teen-age children! I wish more parents would stay home nights, helping the kids with their homework, going out with them on Friday nights to the soda shop, challenging them to up their game on the miniature golf course, regaling them with memories and mementoes of their own teen-age years, flipping through the high school yearbook and enjoying a good belly-laugh over the foibles of youth! And then, of course, scrubbing up and dressing up for the most important event of the week -- the Sunday church service! That weekly hour of reverence and praise for The Most High puts all else in perspective. I, for one, applaud the speaker for this decision and know that his teenagers will thank him, if not now, then perhaps when they have teenagers of their own!
2
48 is awfully young to go home and live off entitlements. Definitely gearing up for a 2020 run as a nearly extinct Moderate Republican.
4
Ryan tried to take healthcare away from millions, saying it will give them "choice." This alone was unconscionable. Then he helped cut taxes on the rich which will explode the deficit and be a drag on the economy in coming years. Thank God he's leaving before he gets a chance to destroy Medicare and Social Security.
Ryan is jumping ship before he gets pushed overboard. He and the entire Republican Congress need to go, starting this November.
12
Ryan is retiring so he can take time to recover from PTSD (politician’s traumatic stress disorder) after being continuously whiplashed by Trump and losing his spine along the way. A great portion of this mess we are in is on him, and he is now running for the hills while the village burns. Now that he has nothing to lose, it will be fascinating to watch and see if he finally stands up to Trump.
7
The fact that when Mr. Ryan spoke he didn't sound like he had rabies did not make him a policy wonk. His healthcare and tax policies that he promoted where are detailed as the memo listing all the books that Trump has read in his entire life.
4
I just turned 65, and I'm hoping that Paul Ryan leaves before he can do any damage to Medicare and Social Security.
16
What substantive accomplishment did Ryan actually make that was good for the United States? I'm coming up with nothing. His lifelong dream was to enact tax reform. We actually did that in the 1980s and it took years of bipartisan effort with the serious input of tax and financial experts.
What happened last December was a simple-minded, partisan give-a-way for big corporations and wealthy Americans. It was pushed through by Republicans beholden to big money for their jobs. This wasn't tax reform. This legislation will dramatically raise deficits and thus imperil our security and prosperity in the long run. There were virtually no hearings, no expert input and no bi-partisan consensus. Ergo - it will all be undone the next time we have a Democratic president and Congress, which is likely to be very, very soon. Congress in 2018, POTUS in 2020.
Ryan also embraced and normalized this totally unfit president.
Some legacy. I suspect he's leaving before he loses his seat given the wave elections happening in Wisconsin tossing out Republicans. He was going to be trotted off stage - "Cantored" - and wanted to leave a sinking ship.
10
I wonder if Ryan, fiscal hawk that he is, will refuse to accept his generous congressional pension of other benefits.
C'mon Paul, show us you were for real.
14
Ayn Rand wrote fiction . Whatever Paul Ryan wrote was similarly pretentious - sans decency, sans public service, sans everything.
6
Term limits. Term limits. Term limits.
We need term limits. 20 yrs in office is too long. Ryan overstayed his welcome as do many others in both chambers.
Let's push for a 2-term limit for senate and 4- or 5-limit for the house.
There are no good reasons, other than bloated egos, for anyone to serve more than 10-12 yrs in any public office.
6
Time for Ryan to cash in as a lobbyist. He is still young enough to make serious money lobbying on behalf of the Financial Service Sector. 95% of these Washington congressional pols are there for the money and power. Period. both parties. I love the usual cliche "time to spend with his family."
4
It is great that he loves his children so much that he is stepping down to spend more time with them. Unfortunately it just makes more striking his total lack of concern and compassion for anyone who on a daily basis has to make much more difficult decisions then Paul Ryan ever has had to make.
7
Paul Ryan retires and so the Republican Party continues to implode.
What the GOP has failed to realize is that there are many Republican voters who want to show Trump the door ........ and as soon as possible.
I know quite a few of them. Many of them are now Independents.
Right here in in CT. the strong Republican towns voted in 2016 for ......
Drum roll ........ Hillary Clinton.
Well educated, well off, and well-informed voters put common sense ahead of party and did the only sensible thing in the privacy of their voting booths.
Let us encourage correct thinking Republicans to send a message to the GOP by changing their registration to Democrat prior to the election this November.
Or register as an Independent, depending on strength of conviction.
After 2020 register again to whatever party is preferred.
Or become an Independent.
It is all a matter of choice based on prevailing circumstances.
But this time around the upshot is ...... Trump must go.
4
Ryan claimed to be a fiscally savvy and responsible politician. His career tells a different story.
Very sad.
6
Well he was fiscally savvy for himself...
1
As someone who liked Paul Ryan for many reasons and did agree with him on some positions, as well as respected his integrity, his values, and his honesty from 2012-2014/15, it was disappointing to see him fall so far within the past few years. I saw him as a potential President one day - and he would be far better than Trump. It's disappointing and I'm worried who will succeed him - hopefully not Scalise or McCarthy - as the GOP House Leader. They always say, be careful what you wish for. I don't want a Trump lackey/Trumpster as the GOP House Minority or Majority Leader, even more than Paul Ryan. It would be far worse for the country.
3
Another GOP Congress member , Ross of FL 15, also announced that he will not seek another term. Tampa area. Tough district for Dems, but who knows in this political climate.
7
Republicans get the Presidency, Senate, and House. And find out that governing is actually work, and work they don't want to do, it's so much easier to claim the Democrats are doing it wrong, and lie and act outraged, than to actually DO anything. So they're quitting in droves. What a party!
11
On the one hand, I’m glad he won’t be around to threaten privatization of and cuts to social security and Medicare. On the other hand, I wonder if whoever replaces him will be even worse. One can but hope not and wait for the 2018 and 2020 elections to bring sanity instead of craziness.
2
I'ver been wondering about the mass exodus by the republicans prior to November. It looks like the electorate is in no mood to give them card blanche and continue with this debacle. But why run away? They have the power and maybe, with a few more good lies, they could keep it. No? Instead, bail out and allow new republicans to run in November who don't carry the baggage that the existing sellout sycophants are lugging around. Then maybe they can continue this nightmare national bankrupting deficit increase on the middle class. Go GOP.
3
After jamming through tax legislation that overwhelmingly benefits the wealthiest both individuals and corporate, undermining, if not destroying medical coverage for the poorest within out midst, and playing bait and switch with the middle class small business owners his party purports to care about so deeply, Ryan trots out the cliche "I need to spend more time with my family"excuse?
Well, for this lifelong Republican, that ain't good enough. Pols like Ryan, who next year might just be adding his name to the 11,000 and counting K Street lobbyists currently registered in Washington, who want to hide behind "family" instead of having the guts to see through the consequences of his legislation ought to at least be made to walk door to door in his old district, ring the doorbell and explain who he is and the reason he's bailing out.
Try Spanky's in Kenosha, Mr. Speaker and tell the descendants of Larry and Judy Kavalauskas why you're taking a hike instead of running for reelection in November. See how that flies and get back to us, please.
5
I will restrain my glee for a while until I see where he surfaces. It's often much more effective to be on the outside.
Meanwhile, thanks, Paul for your miserly and cynical service.
6
I am extremely disappointed with his decision to retire. While I understand he wants to spend more time with his family, if things were going well for him politically, would he have stepped down? I don’t understand why these men continue to put party over country. Retiring is the easy way out, but speaking truth to power isn’t I guess when you care more about being a Republican versus being American.
2
Ryan doesn't want to be around his his signature tax cut blows up the deficit big time and Trump is indicted. Either way Ryan will look very very bad if he his still around.
6
Maybe I'm just being cynical here, but could it be that at least part of the tax cut Ryan pushed through had to do with his family's recent wealth, estimated at over $5M, due to his wife's inheritance from her mother? And having accomplished this objective there is no more reason to represent the people of Wisconsin?
Nah!
7
Please don't perpetuate this reluctant to lead Paul Ryan. He was a failed VP candidate, and a travesty as a speaker. He and Ted Cruz are about the only politicians that I cannot think of one single positive thing. He obeyed his funders and passed a tax cut for the wealthy, and will his war chest he will cut out.
Maybe he will run in 2020, maybe not. I hope to never read his name again. He has actively participated in harming our beautiful country's citizens.
184
Ryan is retiring. Couldn’t be better news.
One more establishment creature — one that tried to repeal Obamacare 70+ times — jumping out of the swamp as it drains and exposes them for what they truly are.
72
Ryan is not retiring - he's jumping ship before it becomes apparent to the American people the damage he caused to their economic future. Our national debt increased by $15.5 trillion since he took office - with many trillion more to come. Ryan is a career Washington insider - establishment creature. He is self-interested, and he told half-truth, possibly lies, to the American people to delivered tax cuts (aka increased borrowings) for Trump, the Republican Party and his special interest donors - not for US!
4
Although the first instinct of liberals is often to be overly generous with benefits of the doubt, it’s pretty clear this decision has nothing to do with ethical or moral qualms or the ick factor in the white house. Ryan simply does not want his career capped by a tsunami-style loss, as it surely would be if he did not “retire.” Swamp dwellers, get out of the pool!
37
Paul Ryan is Exhibit A of how well the dumbing down of America has worked. He was considered a "policy wonk" and a "numbers guy." Just typing that makes me want to wretch, yet it was swallowed by the GOP hoi polloi and repeated with abandon by those who knew better (but were served by the farce).
Paul Ryan is Exhibit A1 of cowardice. He knows what's coming from his craven tax bill, but is running for the hills so he can tsk, tsk from the sidelines when it all falls apart.
Paul Ryan is Exhibit A2 of a morally bankrupt human being. To use "time with my family" as an excuse to sell your ticket to the bread and circus you helped create is grotesque. Hiding behind the skirts of your children is likely the lowest act of this sinking man. I hope his children someday see how they were used by a man whose ambition knew no bounds until he could no longer take the heat.
This is a man who used a fictional book as his guide in the real world to the detriment of our democracy, and all of us who will have to live with the fallout he created.
Someday he will have a fall. Justice is always served and the piper will be paid. I just hope I lie long enough to see misery befall a man who created that for so many.
119
I couldn’t have said it better.
6
Good riddance to bad rubbish. Ryan showed not an ounce of leadership. He couldn't control his caucus, his policy ideas were all based on fantasy. With him gone as a legislator my chances of ever collecting social security and medicaid in my golden years have gone up exponentially. (I'm a G-Xer).
57
Obonne - your money went from your pay check into the Social Security Trust Fund. The General Account took the money from the Trust Fund and used some of it to pay current beneficiaries. Then Ryan and his colleagues used the remainder for current consumption. They replaced your money with a US Treasury debt instrument. Social Security is the largest creditor in our US National Debt. You will pay the interest and one day the principal on that debt instrument - until it all goes broke just Madoff's scheme - more people redeeming then putting money in.
Ryan knew this and made it worse with his tax cuts. He and his colleagues grossly mismanaged our country's finances and placed our economic future and national security at risk. Ryan and his colleagues from both parties must be held accountable!
1
Good Riddance. The "intellectual" of the Republican party, whose command of the budget was sketchy at best, and whose devotion to Ayn Rand marked him out as dishonest, selfish, and greedy, will now complete the destruction of the GOP he failed to halt by his refusal to condemn Trumpism, by leaving his party to the "leadership" of the far right forces he was too weak to deal with.
48
Paul Ryan was the real-life, political equivalent of the aftermath of Godzilla marching through Tokyo. Thanks for leaving behind a big mess!
25
Ryan hears the inevitable tic,tic,tic of justice.
22
Paul Ryan, before you go, please answer this question for the country: “How do you ask your voters to be the last citizens to vote for a mistake?”
16
With Paul Ryan gone, GOP is indeed the Grand Old Predator's Party, that is, Trump's Party.
18
I like that. I was thinking GOP stood for Grand Old Patriarchy, but your version works too.
I'm a Wisconsin resident and OH BOY IS THIS GOOD NEWS!!!!
57
I *was*, and it is. (Still mourning the loss of Les Aspin.)
Margo: Nice speech, Eve. But I wouldn't worry too much about your heart. You can always put that award where your heart ought to be.
11
Having wrecked the country with many bad decisions and actions, Republicans are now fleeing the responsibility to fix what they broke. "Lock 'em up!"
36
Of course. He pushed through an unpopular tax bill as a gift to the rich and saddled the next generation with the $1.5 trillion debt. The man is an opportunist, not a leader. Good riddance.
57
Rick, it's not $1.5 trillion. It's at least $11.5 trillion over the next 10 years. - and likely a lot more. $10 trillion increase was already baked into the multi-year forecast. The $1.5 trillion increase was only due to the tax cut. And, a few hundred billion more has just been added with Trump's recent spending comprise.
By the way - these trillion dollar losses do not plan for any possible recession, severe natural disaster, war or other unforeseen costly contingency. At least one of these, if not more, is highly likely in this period.
Politicians must be held personally accountable for the half-truths and lies they have told US and for their gross mismanagement of our country.
5
Snake-oil salesman with sham justifications for giving billionaires tax cuts as the solution to everything from curing cancer to building highways. The burden of blowing up the deficit now passed on to our children, his work is done. (if you want a further laugh, the president called him a 'good' man-- as if this morally bankrupt person could recognize one).
37
The Trump TAINT also known as wanting to spend more time with family.
23
Does anyone really doubt that he's gearing up for a presidential bid? Whether against drupft with a third party of his making, or in a mild putch within the Republican party, he wants it. Badly. My feeling is, he was hoping on drupft's quick ouster. Didn't happen, so here he is "retiring." Sure.
19
Let’s set our stopwatches for how fast Paul Ryan lands as a very highly paid DC lobbyist. Cash out now, Paul...there’s the revolving door
26
When honesty and power are dependent on judicial hearings notices and decsions / sentences,
Systems need to change.
Power, quite simply needs to
Change.
But when your common way of thinking doesnt believe
Well. We might as well have written
The US Constitution backwards..
In any attempt to change our minds
And ways of thinking might not
Have gone soo quickly and carelessly unnoticed
Or even thought for power of / "for"
~peace
Thomas :)
1
You just know he's going to take time off...maybe consult. In a year or two he'll be back running for the Senate or to replace Drumpf. Let's not sing his praises. He sold us all out.
22
Good point. He will run against Tammy Baldwin. He'll lose.
Finally Paul Ryan does something to help the American people.
57
Ryan and the Republicans follow Ayn Rand and worship the self - so when things get tough, they know exactly what to do. They don't dig deep to sacrifice for things that don't matter to them, like the country, the people or the greater good. No, they just throw in the towel and quit.
25
In today’s announcement Paul Ryan did not give the full, true and correct story (after all, he IS a Republican). It’s apparent that he is preparing to challenge the Donald in the 2020 primaries. God help us all!
13
Well, I can relate. Every since Trump got elected, I have wanted to spend more time with my children.
37
I think that Ryan sees the writing on the wall. Trump will be impeached. Pence will get caught up in the Russian collusion. Ryan "would" have been next in line for the presidency.... buuuuttt someone else is being chosen to be president at the fall of Trump. Anyone have a guess who is doing the choosing and who it is that they want to be president?
14
Where do we pick up our free tickets for the Ryan Spineless Excuse Tour 2020? Facebook Ad?
9
It's amazing how the implicit threat regarding someone like Ryan leaving is that the GOP can do much, much worse...and will.
5
Ryan cashing his chips while they still have some currency....
And how is that different from a certain profession?
8
His legacy will be he that he spent a lifetime on a government payroll, married into wealth but preached self reliance, and LOVED Ayn Rand.
He whined about deficits and then passed a tax bill that blew ours up, all the while he preached self reliance in service of cutting the safety net for the poor.
And when he met his match with his current challenger ("Iron Stash") who was trending to take him down, he quit.
Truly one of the most disgusting individuals to "serve" our country......
37
Congress shrugged, with no apologies to Ayn Rand.
14
Like rats abandoning a sinking ship, so the republicans are getting out so that they still have some (small amount) or dignity left. Ryan will just become a lobbyist, make plenty of money, and probably get on the speaking circuit. In my eyes, he will always be seen as trump's boy, and someone who cared not what was best for the country, but for himself and his party.
He leaves us with a joke of a tax bill, devoid of any real benefits other than for wealthy individuals. Good riddance.
14
"he will always be seen as trump's boy,"
But maybe not by Trump.
It all depends on whether or not he lands another position that
may be of SOME value to His Highness. Otherwise, he will find
himself banished from the court entirely.
Touted as a 'wunderkind' and 'fiscal policy wonk,' Ryan was a sham, lacking substance — one whose math never added up, duplicitous in his dealings with ordinary citizens and intent on delivering more cushy breaks for his 1% GOP cronies and lobbyists.
Let him take McConnell with him — both have betrayed the American people and also enabled autocrat Trump to wreak havoc.
21
I'll miss that glassy-eyed fake earnestness. Ryan always looked like a puppy surrounded by chewed-up shoes with the big blues saying, "I didn't do it." No one else among the Republicans could lie quite so sincerely.
19
Chuck Schumer, God Bless your humour! The silly idea that Ryan will actually use his newfound political freedom to speak truth to Trump, or break from the hard right factions that have overtaken the GOP?
Give me a moment while I wipe away my tears of laughter. You made my afternoon with that wonderful witticism.
7
So off he goes with a lifetime pension, excellent health benefits ( would these be considered entitlements?) and probably a 7-figure salary with some lobbyist. Because he wants to spend time with his yada yada yada and he can afford to buy that bridge in Brooklyn- he’s abandoning the trump ship while he can still swim.
10
The best news for the country since the day we won WWII.
6
Where do we pick up our free ticket to the Ryan Spineless Excuse Tour 2019? Facebook Ad, most likely...
5
Good riddance. I hope Ryan falls out of his tree stand. As far as Scalise, it's a shame things didn't work out differently on 6/14/17.
8
Paul Ryan, the selfish little man who adores Ayn Rand, the queen of egotism, is leaving Congress, reaping the harvest of the poor and middle class to redistribute to the rich and very wealthy. You will not be missed!
13
Good riddance. Allowing that recent bloated, corrupt spending bill to pass was the last straw.
12
Speaker Ryan's retirement in the face of adversity from within and without his "grand" old party is in character with the spinelessness he has shown ever since putting on the mantle discarded by John Boehner. Inspired (or inspiring) leadership has never been Mr. Ryan's forte, so his "get-out-of-Dodge-ship" is unsurprising and has apparently inspired yet another Republican representative (Dennis Ross) to abandon ship. As the saying goes "Paul, we hardly knew ye" -- be sure to turn the lights out when you leave.
9
You know, as the prospects for the Democrats continue to accumulate for the elections in the fall, the expectations rise to the levels that they were at for the 2016 election. President Hilary Clinton was a sure thing, right?
There was a slogan used toward the end of WWII: "Guard against overconfidence."
12
Paul Ryan's "singular accomplishment?" that's simple, getting the Koch Brothers their Tax breaks. He didn't do much of anything else. When faced with standing up to President Trump and his excesses, Paul Ryan's moral compass "disappeared." When there was a need for leadership regarding the Gun Massacre crisis, Ryan's leadership consisted of "thoughts and prayers." In short he did nothing for the common man-woman in the US and served only his rich benefactors and backers.
28
He probably have a lucrative job offer from one of the wealthy campaign donors, whom he helped getting a big tax cut...
12
Good
The GOP was gearing up to rip social security and Medicare away. Ryan ‘invented’ the word entitlement. I looked at my pay stub their is Nothing Entitled about the hundreds of dollars that come out of my pay check and which is matched by my employer. Time that the social security and Medicare ‘trust’ is turned to a professional investment entity that is far removed from Washington. We the people need the remind these professional pols that These funds are NOT their property or those of the federal government.
13
He kept talking about how he " never asked for this job." The US Rep job or the Speaker job or both? He may be able to claim he never asked for the Speaker job but is there evidence someone forced him to run for the house?
He leaves us with an historic national debt. Wonder how he's going to explain THAT legacy to his kids. Maybe with all the extra time on his hands he'll be able to figure out a way.
12
He won't even try to explain. He'll just point. In any direction.
1
It has been said that voters are angry, including in this article about Ryan's retirement.
How angry about congressional Republicans are voters? Who among voters are angry? Are voters angry primarily or overwhelmingly in gerrymandered heavily Democratic districts? Are voters, and enough of them, in Republican congressional districts angry enough to vote for Democratic candidates in the November mid-term elections?
The Democratic Party should not be complacent about the mid-term elections, especially when it comes to the U.S. Senate, where, despite only a two-seat Republican majority, more Democrats are up for election this November.
6
Is Ryan really quitting for "family," or is he being pushed out by the Trump-wing of the Republican Party?
1
No big loss here. One less Ayn Rand acolyte in Washington is a giant step forward. Of course, I'm sure Mr. Ryan will find plenty of ways to exert his influence, so we're not done with him yet.
15
I recall Paul Krugman's columns explaining how Paul Ryan was not an economic policy wonk, but a charlatan with a pseudo-intellectual veneer and bad math. I recall Paul Ryan striving to shred the social safety net, saying it could become a hammock in which people became comfortable. Yet after his father's death, he collected Social Security benefits that helped put him through college. I have wondered what could have possibly motivated the man to always seek to increase income inequality in the U.S. and make life harder for the average working person. In the end, the only possible answer, despite his oft-quoted predilection for Ayn Rand, is that he is bought and paid for by wealthy donors and cares only about further enriching them. That was his retirement plan. I anticipate he will step into a highly lucrative job in private industry as a consultant while the average people are left to deal with the devastation he has wrecked in many areas: tax codes changes that will mandate further destruction of social aid, health care, environmental improvements, a living minimum wage, and hope for a better life of his fellow citizens. I suppose it is stupid to ask how he can live with himself. He apparently resolved that to his satisfaction a long time ago.
34
"despite his oft-quoted predilection for Ayn Rand, is that he is bought and paid for by wealthy donors " WHY DO YOU SAY despite? SHE'D BE RIGHT THERE BESIDE HIM TODAY, LOOKING DOWN ON ALL THE "little people."
3
Every one of the Congressional members who are conveniently "retiring" during this period should be subjected to investigations into money laundering, foreign interference in American elections, acceptance of illegal funds, conspiracy charges, dereliction of duty, and any other appropriate charges. I think they are all running from the law, and have now been made aware of the doubtfulness of their future as free men. We need a Special Counsel just for these actions alone because it's been going on too long.
In addition, no one outside the offices of President and Vice President should earn lifetime free health care or any other perks (these perks should not extend no more than 2-5 years after exit from office). Former Congress/Senators should also be restricted from lobbying positions for at least 5 years to eliminate any possibility of vote-selling or other shenanigans.
As for Ryan, what I think about him and his behavior has already been covered by many commentarians.
12
It seems probable that Mr. Ryan will seek the GOP's presidential nomination.
Ryan's opinions about his electability as president should be checked against his lackluster contribution to the Romney ticket. As I recall, by the end of the campaign, the Romney people were barely speaking to the running mate, due to Ryan's insufferable ego and unpopular positions on Social Security, etc., which did not sell well to a national audience.
2
The Republicans could have become tough toward Trump. Would have made all the difference for America. Had they exhibited some guts to stand against Trump and represent Americans for what we want- healthcare for one, might have just saved them, by showing us some strength and leadership. Trump has definitely skewed their ability and they have done nothing but cause Americans frustration. If they can't see that Trump is poison, then I guess they will be thrown under the bus too. It will be awhile before I vote Republican again. They are so party loyal they can't see the forest for the trees.
4
Gives me hope to read your comment. Once upon a time, I said the same thing....never voted GOP again.
Not at all surprised by Paul Ryan's decision not to seek reelection. I knew he would lose if he ran. the He's working on a cushy job on K Street. He has no desire to return to his home district in Wisconsin when he can hob bob with the rich and powerful in the nation's capital.
7
This seems like very bad news for Trump. Ryan can now vote for impeachment as soon as the day after the elections, and any defeated or retiring Republicans are free to join him. Hard to see how that will not be a majority in the House.
The Senate is a different matter, but it is a lot easier for a Senator to vote for impeachment as the last step in the process than it is for a member of the House who is never far from the next election and has no guarantee that the Senate will follow through.
1
This is clearly, the speaker's intention to run for office in 2020; against a corrupt and scandal-ridden administration. I don't know how he will change the populace perception of himself.
2
I think Mr Ryan realizes that he is a bit too close the culprits in the current cloak and dagger drama in the Capital. One has also to wonder if he is doing this to save face in light of his dwindling popularity in Wisconsin. Assuming an imperialist identity only works when stomachs are full and the economic reports are beneficial to the working class. I believe the Wisconsin voters realize that Mr Ryan has only worked in Washington to fill his own coffers and that he will leave them standing in the dust. Any voter who buys his mid-west boy - save my social security story is welcome to come bid on the Brooklyn Bridge. He is stepping down because he has to. He may re-emerge as a candidate for another national office, but I am guessing he has to bail now before his name becomes any more closely associated with the President and Vice President. Oh yeah, can't wait to see how well he is welcomed back into private life in Wisconsin by all of those voters who realize that he stabbed them in the back.
4
I think that he is hoping that he doesn't have to preside over the impeachment of Donald Trump. He would have to take party over self - preservation and DOES NOT COMPUTE so he is hightailing it right now.
6
maybe, just maybe, the speaker realized that he could not answer the basic question: "which part of 'checks and balances' do you not understand?" good riddance to bad governance.
5
Ryan claims his signature achievement is the recent tax bill. He's just so proud of himself and the GOP for taking away working people's healthcare and adding $2 Trillion to the debt (that's the same debt he derided as out of control during the Obama admin.) in order to give wealthy people and corporations a tax break they didn't need.
At least he told ONE truth recently. When asked about the impact of the impact of the additional debt and debt service payments, he stated that entitlements (i.e Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other safety net items) will definitely have to be looked at. They don't care what damage they do to our debt. They see that as a future justification to further undo the 80 year old safety net and return to the pre-WWI days where the separation between the haves and have nots was a vast ocean. That is the goal of the Republican Party.
9
Full pension plus big bucks on K Street. Just a career advancement not a retirement.
5
Does this now free Speaker Ryan from the yoke of Donald Trump and his willingness to support articles of impeachment when (not if) the President fires Robert Mueller? Paul Ryan has sold his soul to the Trump agenda tarnishing his image as a moral leader and person of integrity with his support of the scurrilous memo by co-conspirator Rep. Devin Nunes. The coming months may be his chance for redemption IF he really has the spine and character. In this perilous time for our democracy, we desperately need someone with political power to step forward and demonstrate the moral fortitude and leadership to earn the sobriquet of a "profile in courage." This may be Speaker Ryan's chance finally to defend the Constitution and not Donald Trump.
2
Don't celebrate so soon. Ryan will go off to lobby land and make multi-millions, all the while reaping those tax benefits for the wealthy. Then he will return, with the dream of becoming President to he can further dismantle our safety nets and continue dismantling the Republic, which he has thrown into a debt spiral. Tsking his tongue about the "entitlements", he longs to sign the papers to remove them entirely.
196
I would bet on the Presidential run.
5
Karma has a strange way of finding people.
His story will be "I Botched the Country for Koch Country".
Trump goeth before a fall. He is effectively eviscerating his party.
4
We should be so lucky.
2
Spineless, gutless, clueless and useless! And don’t come back!
43
I wonder if he is buying a vacation home in Austria.... might have seen how much safer and gentile it is on the other side of the pond.....
7
Good riddance. Coward to the end trotting out that tired "for my family" excuse.
22
All Hail the Conquering A.H. Trump, O'Connell, et. al. all talking about what a great guy he was, the work he did, and how he will be missed. Good bye and Good Riddance, and Do Not let the door hit you in the A on the way out. Phony.
14
History repeats itself. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belshazzar%27s_feast
Pray to "god" he simply goes home to Janesville and hand-wrestles fish out of streams for the rest of his life. "god" help us all if he ever decides he's fit for yet-higher office.
Chances are he will figure out how to wring millions out of thin air as a K Street lobbyist, influence peddling to his fellow morally and spiritually bankrupt right wing cronies, who were likewise born on third base and continuously congratulate themselves for scoring a run.
This guy is the least self-aware Congressional leader in history. He is the intellectually deficient high school student council president who thought he was morally superior because of his white skin and blue eyes.
Good riddance to this disaster of a human being.
25
Well, that's draining the swamp - a little - good riddance.
17
A great day for America
23
Good riddance! He never seemed to be able to lead, anyway.
7
Pauly used Ye Olde "Time with the family" canard. Never mentioned the state of his frayed, tattered by extremists, (R)eptile party. So weak, so consistently weak. At least now, he'll have time to get that spine implant.
13
Thanks for all of that fiscal responsibility (malarkey)!
13
"time for the kids" = GOP-speak for "rat leaving the sinking ship. hope I fall off Mueller's radar and he leaves me alone."
14
Keith Richards is proof that drugs cannot kill you.
Paul Ryan is proof that you can live without a heart, a spine, or any guts at all.
31
If only McConnell would be the next to go away!!!
18
Best wording of a headline today.
2
Teflon Don never gave Ryan a nickname. a sure signal. I prposed Paul "Eddie Munster" Ryan.
12
Running as an Independent in 2020, perchance?...or perhaps hoping Trump has self-destructed by then and way is clear for a savior of the grand old party? It is hard to believe that this relatively young showboater is out of politics for good. Sadly, I don't think we have seen the last of the man or his pectorals. Mark my words.
5
I have made America great again. It is now time for me to retire to the chicken farm
5
He was more of a wuss than a wonk.
20
He’s been living off the public teat since he was a teenager and he’ll retired with an unconscionable public pension. He helped usher in tax and spending bills that will send the deficit to stratospheric levels. Yet, he’s spent his congressional career trying unravel the very programs that supported him and crying to high heaven about the debt and deficit.
Ryan is a complete fraud and it’s no wonder he’s scurrying back to Wisconsin. Good riddance.
47
Can someone please convince him to settle anyplace but Wisconsin.
4
P ryan is a criminally insane psychopath who must be brought to justice and executed. his retirement does not excuse his crimes.
14
Bye Craven Coward Con Artist!
David Brooks for years touted Ryan as so very intelligent, ignoring economists derisions of Ryan's SS and Medicare proposals, not to mention his weird budgets, one of which we are about to experience
18
Goodbye Ayn Rand Paul Ryan. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
18
Good.I'm glad Ryan will have plenty of time to explain to his 3 children how he did nothing in the 20 years he was in congress….except to pass a tax bill that will imperil their future,to let a lunatic turn our democracy into a dictatorship,to put women's rights on the back burner,to do in the ACA and to pivot into a spineless,corrupt, small minded bigot.good riddance.
24
Good riddance to the spineless puppet. Your faux integrity will not be missed
13
I hope he holds McConnel's hand as they both depart together.
11
He is planning on running for president in 2020!
1
All in all it's just another break in the wall.
WIth Eddie Munster Ayn Ryan "spending more time with his family",
terrified of a real workingman as an opponent
Knowing he cannot win "championing" the Great Tax Swindle,
the field is now wide open for minority leader.
Wack "Charlie" McCarhty
Scary Scalese?
Louie Gohmert?
Virginia Fox?
84K Man Farentholt (oooopppps)
Chilly Winter.
So many great choices!!!
2
The first time I looked closely at Ryan was when he lied about his sub 4 hour marathon time... boasting that he was a serious runner. He wasn't. He was a serous liar. Ryan never ran the times he claimed. Snide, effete, creepy in some whackadoo Ayn Rand way, he pawned himself off as an intellectual with rock solid conservative ideals when in fact he was a lapdog licking at the boots of the oligarchy; if you will excuse the mixed metaphor - but let's face it, Ryan was never purebred. Adios, pooch.
23
Slippery, sleazy, slimy and smooth-tonged. The master of spin, duplicity and deflection shall not be missed as his lack of leadership and fortitude during a perilous time will be his legacy.
11
Would it have been too much for Ryan to make an honest confession as to why he is quitting? I guess if you lie every day about what a great job Trump is doing, it’s hard to switch gears and speak the truth. How refreshing would it have been for Ryan to say, “So long, I just can’t stick it any more. The White House is a ward for psychotics, the President is ruining our party, every other rat is jumping ship, and we going to get our backsides handed to us in November."
6
swamp is quickly turning into a desert...
7
More like quicksand as one after another member of the gop sink, hopefully into oblivion.
Good riddance to him and his you-know-what-eating grin, but some other Republican just as bad will be running up behind, eager to take his place.
9
Schadenfreude.
6
Of course he’s leaving. The noose is tightening from every direction for these treasonous Republicans.
He’s got his disastrous tax package for his bosses and will now step aside, like so many of his accomplices, to avoid prosecution at worst or a tough election at best. He’s neither the brains to be a policy wonk nor the guts to defend his actions to the voters he betrayed.
But ultimately, like 45 and so many of those running Washington, he’s a coward. He doesn’t want to swing with the rest of the Republican Congress and the Administration they enable.
11
It’s unclear these days exactly what one is allowed to say. The obvious thing to say is: farewell amorality, immorality, unbridled self-interest, selfishness, hypocrisy, intellectual bankruptcy, intellectual deficits, selfishness, the apotheosis of the merchandising of greed, and goodbye to a disdain for the well-being of ordinary people bordering on the sociopathic. Goodbye and good riddance and may you someday atone for your vast catalog of sins. We won’t hold our breaths.
8
Paul Ryan does not deserve a leadership position when he won't stand up to the biggest threat this country has faced in many year, the president. His silence has been deafening. I can only surmise that his retirement is the lesser of two evils - either criticize the leader of his own party, or walk away with his tail between his legs.
11
Oh, come on! Stop it with the "I want to spend more time with my family" rancid old slice of baloney. Try something like, "I want to spend more time counting all the money my masters paid me for their humongous tax cuts" or "I want to spend more time laughing at all the poor and middle-class Americans I ripped off."
29
I believe there is a description of such public figures in the New Testament.
"Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness."
16
So see a republican exodus. I see a pipeline of newly minted lobbyists just waiting to get back inside the doors of Congress, to continue The Trump manifesto of shifting more public dollars to private interests.
Once a swamp dweller, always a swamp dweller.
6
Are there enough lifeboats? The rats are leaving.
9
Medicare and Social Security can take a deep breath, for a minute, knowing at least this guy won't be around much longer. What a disaster he has been.
8
Now that Ryan's political future is no longer at stake, will he develop a spine and speak out about the caustic chaos spewing out of the White House pretty much every hour of every day?
Not likely.
6
I sympathize with the Republicans (and Democrats) who are leaving Capitol Hill it doesn't seem like much fun to work there. I just wish the Republicans had the nerve to stand up to Trump and his toxic vision of America.
Aside from Jeff Flake who has had the courage to say anything as they head for the exit?
3
Jeff Flake is meaningless as he too quit.
2
I think was was suggesting that only Jeff Flake criticized the president as he announced his retirement: none of the other republican retirees have so much as peeped.
"Aside from Jeff Flake who has had the courage to say anything as they head for the exit?"
I do appreciate what Mr. Flake has said about Mr. Trump and service to our nations. (I never thought I would be defending a Goldwater Republican.)
To some degree, John McCain, Bob Corker, and Susan Collins have also stood up to Mr. Trump as well. And occasionally Lindsey Graham - depending on the issue. And Lisa Murkowski - until she got her Alaska oil deal. (Rand Paul could stand up more, based on his professed Libertarian love for the Constitution - I am disappointed with him.)
Two of these Republican Senators are retiring, and a third is sadly stricken with brain cancer.
It is interesting that all those above Republicans are in the Senate. Are there any House G.O.P. members who have ever stood up to Mr. Trump? (Clearly, Mr. Ryan is a milquetoast coward.)
2
Paul Ryan just admitted that House will flip to the Democrats after the November 2018 election.
Fellow Democrats, don't rest on your laurels or become complacent. The blue wave will happen in November, but only with continued effort and commitment from each of us.
The icing on thee cake would be to flip the Senate blue as well. This will take even more work. But it is an achievable goal, and recent events energize me even more to work for it.
Finally, do not forget about local and state elections. And redistricting after the 2020 census.
Vote, and get everyone you know registered and make sure they vote as well.
13
Good riddance to the spineless "Irish Undertaker" (thanks MoDo).
Get Ready for Mark Meadows and the blood-bath this fall.
3
All that PX-90 and he’s still a 100 lb. weakling!
3
Atlas Shrugged.
Good riddance to someone that contributed nothing.
5
Go Paul Go!
And take Mitch with you!
15
A blow to Repubs, perhaps, but a blessing to America. Ryan is a spineless, overrated enabler.
9
I’m a democrat and this frightens me. Donald Trump has no idea what he is doing. He is supportive of a man who meddled in our elections!! He may even invite that man into the Whitehouse. What has happened to our country?! While I didn’t like Mr. Ryan or his policies at least I had some confidence in his knowledge and abilities. Whether I agreed with him or not I felt that he could be one of the guards along with others on BOTH sides who would protect our constitution and my rights as a citizen. But everyone is leaving. It’s like Hitler is in office now and I’m afraid.
1
Are we to feel elated or utter a sigh of relief that the GOP could yet select one to develop a spine in the face of Trump? Probably the former since the GOP, like our Conservative Party are stuffed full of fossils who have outlived their original purpose and mission.
Yes, Trump is correct. He does leave a legacy but what a shocker. Trillions in debt that future generations will pay for. A irreconcilable country where extremism was encouraged. A place where the poor were even more marginalised. Well done! Go off to family and escape the consequences as there are more of your ilk to follow. Meek, lily-livered and a Uriah Heep with all the power but lacking the foresight and duty to relinquish all to idiot Trump to squander and do a massive botch job.
If all is left is his fundraising efforts, I suggest he just does not bother. The cause is not worth it.
2
History will show these men destroyed the democracy of America.
At a Republican retreat, at the Library of Congress, right before Obama’s 2009 inauguration, Mitch McConnell said:
“there are enough of us to block the Democratic agenda-as long as they all marched in lockstep.”
“As long as Republicans refused to follow his (President Obama’s) lead, Americans would see partisan food fights and conclude that Obama had failed to produce change.”
January 20, 2009 Republican Leaders in Congress literally plotted to sabotage and undermine U.S. Economy during President Obama's Inauguration. In Robert Draper's book, "Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the U.S. House of Representatives" Draper wrote that during a four hour, "invitation only" meeting with GOP Hate-Propaganda Minister, Frank Luntz, the below listed Senior GOP Law Writers literally plotted to sabotage, undermine and destroy America's Economy.
The Guest List:
*Rep. PAUL RYAN (R-WI)*
Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA)
Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA),
Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX),
Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-TX),
Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI)
Rep. Dan Lungren (R-CA),
Sen. Jim DeMint (SC-R),
Sen. Jon Kyl (AZ-R),
Sen. Tom Coburn (OK-R),
Sen. John Ensign (NV-R) and
Sen. Bob Corker (TN-R).
Non-lawmakers present Newt Gingrich
During the four hour meeting:
The senior GOP members plotted to bring Congress to a standstill regardless how much it would hurt the American Economy by pledging to obstruct and block President Obama on all legislation.
20
The resistance is working. More garbage blows away in the wind. Vote. Vote. Vote. McConnel needs to go away as well. The devil always loses in the end if you can wait it out. Anyone gonna miss these creeps?
7
...and the horse he rode in on.
15
Good riddance mr. speaker.
2
No more Ayn Rand disciples, please!
4
It's pretty hard to imagine someone as young as Ryan RETIRING, so this could simply be him avoiding a stressful costly race to keep his House seat so he can concentrate on running for POTUS (or perhaps Senator or Governor). He's only 48, and should have a long career ahead of him. BTW: he's always absolutely hated Trump -- didn't campaign for him -- repudiated Trump on several occasions -- and probably seeks to distance himself. Remember, he really did NOT want the Speaker job, and took it with great reluctance.
3
Donald Trump is a one-man wrecking ball - not just for the people who work for him in the White House, but for the G.O.P. writ large. The irony is that he claimed his profession was a builder.
I suppose this is what his base voted for - someone to shake things up. Be careful what you wish for. Beyond destroying just the people who work for him and his party, he may well do permanent damage to the fabric of our nation.
2
Paul Ryan leaves the house speakership, which is a good decision for him. The nightmare scenario in his case surely is the impeachment of Trump and subsequently the almost certain removal of Pence because Pence has been far too close to the administration for too long and will not avoid legal trouble. Ryan is probably delusional enough to have presidential ambitions that would be destroyed by a crushing defeat in 2020 if he, as the speaker of the House, became the Republican president following the removal of Trump and Pence.
We should always remember that Ryan is leaving his post with the stock market clearly on a downward trend that is only going to get worse, ballooning deficits and a gutted health care market where premiums are already rising at a pace that far exceeds any increases seen with the ACA. The administration is already a failure and all that is needed now to blow this mess up is a war that Trump et al. are clearly itching for.
6
Wahoo! No more idiotic science-fiction Ayn Randian economics from the Republicans' resident "economist" and Speaker of the GOP House (of Cards). Actually, Ryan is not a real economist, but he does play one on television.
Remember, Ryan is the guy whose family survived on SSI after his father died, who in adulthood worked diligently as a GOP leader to privatize or get rid of Social Security for everyone else who needs it to survive.
Of course, no one can work with the mercurial, self-serving, megalomaniacal President D.J. Trump, and come out unscathed.
See Frontline, "Trump's Takeover" @ https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/
Not to worry, I am sure Mr. Ryan will do just fine somewhere on K-Street in depths of the D.C. swamp lobbying for the special interests of big business and the rich and against the interests of struggling working people, the elderly, and the sick.
6
I'm a Dem and not a fan, but any of the potential GOP replaCements are much crazier. The Dems are going to have to say if there staying with Pelosi, who I like, but is a particular enemy thus organizing force for the extreme right wing.
2
Absolutely wonderful. There must be a reason like maybe he recognized he was an abject failure or that he couldn't succeed because we have a non functional government.
1
Coward!
8
A welcome parting of the Red Sea which continues the division of the slavish Trump base from more typical Americans.
Ryan led the effort for the enormous tax cuts for the rich that will add $1.8 trillion to the federal deficit, and he did not rein in the Russophile Nunes who performs aerial acrobatics on attacking the FBI and defending Trump while ignoring the cyberattacks on American elections.
At least taxpayers will be spared any further expense of Ryan living in his office.
Excellent job draining the swamp!
4
Good riddance to this deficit-exploding, Ayn Rand spewing, lying gutless little jerk.
11
What a coward. If things were going great for the GOP, and President Trump was not president, Ryan would stay put, run for re-election and spend his campaign cackling about how HE got his "his dream" tax bill passed. But Ryan is getting out of Dodge because soon it will be clear just how much this tax giveaway to the rich and mighty push the deficit to unprecedented levels and NO ONE but very rich corporations and individuals are making out -- and they'll make out like bandits. Ryan doesn't want to be around when the Affordable Care Act starts going downhill now that there is no incentive to sign on, and most of all, when the Republicans take a shellacking in the mid-terms. Don't let the door hit you in the butt.
2
What an accomplished career! Never balancing the Federal budget, increasing deficit spending, increasing debt and increasing Federal welfare roles! Good work for one lifetime.
Now he can go home to milk mother teat of all welfare payouts. He will take home something shy of $200k and medical benefits for the rest of his life. All as gift for bankrupting the future of America.
Good riddance.
5
Good riddance to the Vichy arm of the GOP
4
I'm already preparing to boycott whatever corporation hires him afterwards. He'll be an executive vice president or a consultant, but he'll really be a conduit to government trying to grease the wheels further for his cronies.
9
I wish that Ryan had become a moderate republican rather than trying to be all things to all people. What I really despise is the extremists in the senate and the house - on both sides of the aisle.
2
Tea party was bankrolled by Koch brothers to get Paul Ryan in power. Congressman Ryan's job was always to pass deep tax cuts for wealthy Americans and corporations (run by wealthy Americans) and repeal estate tax. Now that the job is done, there is no reason for him to stay. Job well done Congressman Ryan
6
I'd love to be at the dinner table at the Ryan home when daddy explains to his children that he is one of the 3 people in DC most responsible for saddling their generation of Americans and beyond with many trillions in debt. Quite a legacy!
"Wow, Daddy, you did that? But why?"
15
Anyone else willing to bet that this won’t be the last we see of Paul Ryan? I’ll be keeping my eye on him in 2020.
3
One of the deplorables. It's tough to find anything nice to say about him. His attitude towards and treatment of President Obama permanently soured my view of him. He led the Republican dissent machine that prevented much useful work from getting done between 2008 and 2016. He had a chance to work with President Obama and achieve genuine legislative victories that would have been good for the country and for both parties - since they would have been bipartisan achievements. But he didn't. He not only managed to block Democrat attempts at doing any work but also managed to split his own party and leave it in a complete mess. Ryan's only efforts were to pander to his money lenders and lead the country backwards. He will not be missed and his tenure has been a blot on the office of Speaker.
13
Although he was not as conservative as many rank-and-file Republicans would have liked, I felt that Paul Ryan was overall a competent speaker who did his job well and had talent for compromise and negotiation—to whatever extent those are still useful skills to have in today’s hyperpartisan, divisive political environment. I’m actually sad to see him go, though I can’t say I really blame him, as the party has gone in a completely different direction in the past two years than he would like it to go, and he and the President are not on the same page on a wide range of issues.
Oh well. It’s not like it’s going matter anyway, since Nancy Pelosi will probably be Speaker of the House again come next January. *sigh*
The "deficit hawk" boosts deficit to $1,000,000,000,000 with tax cut and spending increase and then retires.
8
Only congress members can afford to retire at age 48 with a full pension and health benefits.
10
Ryan claims to be resigning to spend more time with his family, not that he has finally come to terms with his re-election chances.
Our politics would be in a better place if members of congress actually moved to DC with their families and put their children into the same schools and mingled with other congressional families on both sides of the aisle like they used to do in the past.
4
I guess someone else from the Republican party will have to try and fulfill Ryan's "dream" of gutting Medicare, Medicaid and the entire ACA.
5
"He pointed to the recently enacted overhaul of the tax code and increased military spending as his signal accomplishments."
Yes, he'll be remembered for those things. No wonder he wants to "spend more time with his children."
2
He'll leave office with a good job, a great pension, great health insurance. What more could any employee ask for? Oh, that's right, he never bothered to think that the privileges and perks he had as a member of Congress might insulate him from what life is like for the rest of us.
Ryan knew when he took the job that he was going to be the head shark in a shark tank. He didn't have to take the position. But, having taken it, he could have served his country better. He, like the rest of the GOP in DC, and a good many of the Democrats, has danced quite skillfully for his rich owners. We the people haven't benefitted quite as much if at all. His legacy, just like the legacy of this Congress and administration will be one of a falling standard of living for most Americans, more anxiety for us, and poor leadership at every level of government.
9
Goodbye to the Speaker who is and was derelict in his duties especially in regard to ethics, taking away insurance from people who need it, and the posturing he did with Trump. Ethics of certain Representatives, and they know who they are, and his own ethics, such as failing to remain in office to see the tax bill and its application through. We all know that tax bill will create more chaos for society and will definitely need overhaul or significant patching. But no, there he goes, giving a goodbye speech focusing not on why, but how he is leaving in all of his self-described pre-election honesty. And since under Ryan's leadership, the House appears to be an extension of the WH, I choose to see this resignation (not retirement, he'll run for something else ... God forbid the presidency) as another strangely behaved individual leaving the Trump WH.
1
Heh. Ryan punts again. Someone with more of a soul and more empathy for others would have worried more about what kind of morality he demonstrates to his offspring. I'm sure he will sleep well at night, knowing that his work in government has made the lives of millions of people less secure. But why should he worry--he's got his lifelong pension and healthcare.
5
After 20 years on the government dole, Ryan will have to find a job, I guess. Not sure who'd hire him. But I am pretty sure that, like all Washington legislators, he'll enrich himself considerably in short order.
1
Is "spending time with family" the new cliche for lack of moral courage much as 'thoughts and prayers' is the cliche for lack of action on issues that matter?
i fear we will not be hearing the last of Ryan even after his 'retirement" from the House. Watch him cash in his chits from those he supported for more ambitious plans.
27
I am getting ready for those corporations that will put Ryan on their board of directors. And when they do, I will boycott each and every product of those companies.
7
Remember how the G.O.P. used to talk about "tax-and-spend Democrats."
Well, Paul Ryan is a "borrow-and-spend Republican." $1.5 trillion in deficit-funded tax cuts as largesse for his donor class. Who are the "takers" now? Privatize the profits. Socialize the losses.
The Democrats should take the mantle of the "Party of Fiscal Responsibility" - and run on it starting this November.
28
The debt accumulated by the federal and state governments is estimated to have been caused over 85% of the time by Democratic leaders.
1
"Spending more time with your family" is a convenient cover for the obvious failure of Ryan's political career, so he's calling it quits. For a guy who accepted a VP spot on a Republican ticket with Romney, someone who actually had integrity, Ryan quickly found out how far the party fell when Trump became its heir apparent. Now he knows what a disaster the party has become, and he knows the Republicans are doomed with Trump in the White House. He is running like a rat from a sinking ship. So long, Paul. The damage you and your party did will long outlive you.
19
I'd truly like to believe Romney has integrity, but the evidence doesn't support it. I'm remembering the time he said he would represent only the half of US citizens who earn enough to owe income tax, despite the fact that the half who don't earn enough to pay income tax ARE taxpayers nonetheless -- FICA, real estate, sales, etc. -- and they DO contribute to our economy. Low wage workers who work hard (often at multiple jobs) and pay the taxes they owe deserve to be represented in government. It's not just ethically right, it's required by the constitution.
Good for his family but what about the negative impact on so many families in the USA because of the bills he ushered through Congress. Cheers to the 1% I guess and crumbs for the rest of us.
11
Good riddance to bad rubbish. Ryan is and always was a fraud. His representation of himself as a wonkish finance/budget guy was belied by his ardent support for republican policies that have been shown to be fraudulent, e.g. trickle down theory, or voodoo economics as it was famously called during the Reagan years. I'll remember him for shepherding a disastrous tax cut through congress, then following that up with a massive spending bill thereby exploding the deficit and debt burden of this country. I look for him to cash in after his retirement. Shameful, but all too typical for republicans these days.
19
Palmer's Medicaid Public Option Plan Decreases the Deficit and Covers 34 Million More Citizens https://lonniepalmer.com/managing-the-medicaid-public-option/
Ryan is just following Hunter Thompson's admonition: "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro." Monetize, monetize, the Koch money's just too good to pass up. If there ever were an empty suit and even weirder persona, it's Paul Ryan.
12
I suppose it would be too much to ask for McConnell to do the same.
31
When Obama won the presidency in 2012 Mitch McConnell predicted that the Republican Party was in danger of becoming a regional right-wing party, no longer a national party. Since trump was elected Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell have done every thing possible to make McConnell's prediction com true.
17
The Democrats are going to do the GOP an enormous favor by taking back the House in 2018---because Republicans would not possibly be able to find anyone to be Speaker!
8
The timing is impeccable. The CBO announces the results of their analysis of the tax cut Ryan championed. The looming fiscal crisis created by the cut will quite possibly push the country into a recession. Imagine having to campaign on that platform.....
21
The fraud is leaving. He pretended to be responsible and committed to reducing the deficit, all he wanted to do was pass tax cuts for corporations and his fellow millionaires. Now that the going is getting touch for Republicans, poof! he's gone. Not a stitch of patriotism or love of country in him, Paul Ryan was in it for the money.
22
Paul Ryan has done nothing to earn our respect. He's chosen to go along with insanity for donor largess. He will likely segue into a cushy high paying job. As bad as Mr. Trump is, it's Paul Ryan among many that's enabled him.
However, for just one second I want to believe that by not seeking reelection when the report comes from Mr. Mueller he will begin impeachment proceedings. I would be more optimistic if I didn't think the Republican members of Congress are fine with Mr. Trump out of the way and Mr. Pence their new president. Because he won't be a sideshow but will continue the same policies. Luckily, he is unlikely to have a Republican congress to work with, but at least sanity will prevail until 2020 when we can have a do-over.
9
He got the tax cuts for his rich buddies and now he's going to ski off into the sunset before he ever has to answer to voters.
Next item on the checklist is a self-aggrandizing book within 18 months.
17
So the damage is done, now Ryan takes his cue from other GOP cowards who realize it's better to exit intact than to get publicly shellacked in the mid-terms.
9
All this talk about not being there for his kids is his own fault-- he could have moved his family to DC the way most reps used to.
7
How is this news? He said as much last year after he got the tax cuts through.
3
"His retirement will kick off a succession battle and could also set off another wave of retirements among Republicans not eager to face angry voters in the fall."
I hope they all leave. But that appears to be a statement supporting Democrats. I don't. A lot of them should leave too. What a conundrum: The Republicans were ready to lead (have lead?) the country into the abyss while Democrats were ready to totter at the brink. We need a real third party. Okay, in these times, I tilt at windmills, big and small.
4
I can't help but wonder whether Ryan is going to throw his hat into the ring and challenge Trump for the nomination.
4
My takeaway is the question of how many of Ryan's constituents could afford to take a family vacation to Austria over spring break...?
20
Let us hope that he doesn’t succeed at gutting Social Security and Medicare as a parting shot. He has been trying harder than anyone to do so. Ironic given he, his mother and family survived on Social Security benefits after his father’s death.
21
Ryan's cute blue eyes and insincerely sincere demeanor worked for him for years. We believed him because he gave us an empathetic look over and over again. People need to be aware of all the ways they can be manipulated. It is not just words.
13
It's a sorry state of affairs when the GOP's "brightest star" and most powerful figurehead is a spineless tool like Ryan. It is, further, an indicator of the rot in the GOP that its leader cannot or will not commit to leading. His signature accomplishment? A terrifyingly awful tax bill riddled with loop-holes that will saddle middle-class Americans with higher taxes a few years down the road, long after Ryan is gone. He accomplished little except rewarding wealthy donors, obstructionism, posturing, and cowering while Trump destroys or maligns precious institutions of government. He must certainly know that he had no further political capital to spend and, I am sure, also know that he possessed neither the tools nor courage to be a true American leader. Good Riddance.
11
One by one the Republicans are turning in their resignations. May the GOP wither away and end this dark period for ever!
12
I am beginning to feel glimmers of hope that the legal structure of our country could survive the Trump debacle. If it does, historians will look back and marvel at how close we came to destroying the Constitution and representative government. They will certainly wonder why the voters of this country cared so little about our fragile ship of state that they eagerly made a mobbed-up grifter with no government or public service experience the captain of the ship. Imagine putting someone with no experience in seamanship in charge of a nuclear submarine. The new captain is not just inexperienced, he has wrecked several enterprises, such as casinos, that have no history of failure. Furthermore, there is appalling evidence that the captain of our nuclear submarine has not just colluded with the enemy but is actually on the enemy's payroll. Given this knowledge, the people responsible for reining in our captain, the Congress, couldn't care less and are all smiles. It's just one big photo op as the nuclear reactors on our submarine begin to melt down.
4
I hope this is good news. Good news is surely needed. Things are totally falling apart.
5
I was looking forward to seeing his concession speech when he lost to his Democratic opponent. Now he has taken that joy away from me.
15
What was his share of the tax cut? He and others who are retiring must have their pockets lined well and will now enjoy the spoils leaving the younger generation to pay for it. I hope the reporters compile a list of what each retiring officials got from the loot and publish it so that the rest of the losers in the tax cut can know why and what of the tax cuts. Ryan is the low life with little or no moral compass.
13
Sometimes even the best seat on the Titanic, supported with fossil fuel largesse, isn’t a sure bet to get you home. Mitch?
5
Complete lightweight. He could have really done something for this country AND his party by standing up to a broadly unpopular president and exercising the kind of moral leadership a renewed political center could have rallied around. Instead, he enabled a deranged sociopath who will now almost certainly face impeachment after November. Did he really need this brief, disastrous stint as Speaker to pave the way to a 7 figure salary with a major corporation, which is clearly his only real goal? Who, really, is going to pay that as a reward for his prized tax bill, knowing the Democrats will eventually regain power in Washington and undo all of it?
5
Ryan is a spineless weasel who benefited from America’s social safety net at a young age when his father died. He has spent his entire political career ensuring that such benefits will not be available for future generations. Instead he has work tirelessly to guarantee that the rich and corporations will be richer than they already are.
14
Good riddance to bad rubbish
19
Blow to Republicans? As much as if Pelosi retiring would be a blow to Democrats. Ryan's favorability ratings have been in toilet since the day he became Speaker (remember all his whiny stipulations?). Good riddance!
8
So now he becomes Head Moocher.
I have nothing but disdain for this hypocrite.
18
The biggest idiots of our time: Paul Ryan, James Comey, Donald Trump, ..
6
Blaming Paul Ryan for damage to the GOP is like blaming a leaky lifeboat for the sinking of the Titanic.
15
@Charles Burnham:
In a sense you're correct: Ryan's more like having been a lookout up in the Titanic's crow's nest, looking through the wrong end of the binoculars, fervently proclaiming, "steady as she goes, all clear ahead!"
Between Ryan and McConnell the GOP has become an entity far, far removed from the comparatively sane, moderate party known and beloved by my late grandfather several decades ago. Extremism begets extreme outcomes. Our nation's ever increasing polarization reflects just that.
By the way, is the inclusion of "Ph. D." intended to impress? It fails to do so, but rather is ostentatious.
2
Mr. Ryan used to be an admired and somewhat ethical politician in Washington. Once Trump was elected, he became a lacky, brown-noser, yes man, spineless human who was terrified of Trump if he didn't walk the line. How do you look yourself in the mirror, Mr. Ryan? Now let's hope Mitch McConnell makes a similar announcement.
14
No, he was never admired by decent well informed people. They had to gerrymander the guy and take millions in out of state cash to keep him in office.
12
History will not be kind
Perennial meaningless statement.
Most people cant even name the last 2 speakers, let alone what they did.
He will be remembered, if at all, as the guy who was VP candidate with Romney.
Oh, as to the second one before Ryan, hes trying to make a buck by championing marijuana.
The marijuana industry is using the Nixon to China strategy.
3
Boehner and Pelosi
Finally Paul Ryan's conscience, decency and self-respect caught up to his Republican Party gone amok. As the number wizard, he sure did'nt know basic economics. With Obama he did not want to increase the deficit. And what was his crowning achievement? A complete tax overhaul with a deficit ballooning to the stratosphere. How ironic is that! Besides supporting a President whom he denigrated before the elections he was reduced to a cowardly yes-man with no self-respect.There is nothing this man has brought to the table benefiting America and Americans. He wants to be there when his daughter becomes a teenager. Will he be honest and tell his daughter about the his time in the House? How can he spin his dismal performance to his daughter unless he lies. Bottom line, he is not seeking re-election because he knows he will not win. Period.
11
I feel for his daughter. He will control every aspect of her teenage years. While he’ll probably let his sons run amok.
2
@NNI:
I'm not so cure about your conclusion, but I agree wholeheartedly with everything else you've written here.