Yep, just like I thought. Now Paul Ryan can say he tried, but couldn't get them to agree to his terms, sparing him the career-ending position of Speaker of the Freedom-Hating, Immigrant-Baiting, Debt Ceiling Defaulting, Government Shutdown House of Representatives.
That won’t be an issue for Ryan with one big exception, the Freedom Caucus. The Freedom Caucus is comprised of about 40 hard-line members who want the House Republicans to be much more aggressive. They are the also the group who forced out Speaker John Boehner by threatening a Motion To Vacate The Chair.
According to Freedom Caucus rules, you need the support of four-fifths of the caucus to secure their endorsement. That means anyone who is opposed by more than 8 members will not be able to be endorsed by the group.
Already 10 Freedom Caucus members have publicly expressed their opposition to Ryan or his key demand, which is enough to sink his candidacy.
Ryan could either change his demands or any of these Representatives could change their position. But as it stands now, things are not looking up for Paul Ryan.
Click through to see their tweets. It's really a weird day indeed when Paul Ryan is deemed to be a RINO. So who will be next on the chopping block?
Update: What's most ironic about this is that the Freedom Caucus is famous for hostage-taking. They love to grab the hostage and hold a gun to its head, whether it's the debt ceiling or budget resolutions. So watch them whine when Ryan takes a hostage:
Rep. Matt Salmon (R-AZ) told The Hill that the conditions Ryan said would be necessary for him to jump into the House speaker's race — including pledges of support from three influential House GOP caucuses and a guarantee of time off to spend with his wife and three young children—were "rubbing a lot of people the wrong way." Salmon appeared to take umbrage in particular with Ryan's desire to keep family time sacred.
“It’s like interviewing a maid for a job and she says, ‘I don’t clean windows, I don’t do floors, I don’t do beds, these are the hours I’ll work,’" he told the publication. Salmonsaid something similar Wednesday to TPM.
