Paul Ryan is No “Fresh Face”

By: Meredith Kelly

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According to POLITICO, increasingly desperate national Republicans are confident that somehow Paul Ryan – a nine-term Washington incumbent, failed Vice Presidential nominee, and the current leader of a do-nothing Republican House – is going to emerge from a bruising Republican convention as their nominee and save the party in November.

There are two major flaws with this plan. By, July, millions of Republican primary voters will have chosen their preferred candidates of Donald Trump or Ted Cruz, and the convention machinations that would result in Paul Ryan emerging as the nominee would surely leave the Republican base outraged and the party even more irreparably fractured.

But even more laughable is this contention from the report: “Top Republicans say ‘fresh face’ is code for ‘Paul Ryan.’”

If national Republicans are going to insist that a failed nationwide candidate is somehow a “fresh face,” we at the DCCC refer you to this fresh memo from October 2015, which outlines Ryan’s old, reckless and extreme Conservative ideology. The memo predicted what has since come true – that Paul Ryan would be unable to manage his unruly caucus and accomplish even the most basic duties of the House, including passing a budget. Also critical when considering Paul Ryan as a general election nominee? Ryan is more conservative than even John Boehner, and his dirty, conservative laundry has already been extensively aired to – and rejected by – the 2012 general election voters.

“The suggestion that Paul Ryan could become the GOP’s presidential nominee and save their chances in November is both damning for their party and flatly ridiculous. Through their support of Trump and Cruz, Republican primary voters have clearly shown that they are utterly fed up with the Washington establishment, yet national Republicans are desperately banking on the former VP candidate, nine-term congressman and Speaker of the House to take the reins of the party in a brokered convention. 

“Paul Ryan is no ‘fresh face’ and this desperate effort provides further evidence of how chaotic and fractured the Republican party has become,” said Meredith Kelly of the DCCC.

Read the memo HERE.