Monday afternoon, the Paul Ryan Rumor Mill started up and started grinding out all kinds of rumors that Speaker Ryan is going to leave the House before his term is up.
It started with Nevada Rep. Mark Amodei, no fan of Ryan's, speculated about it on Monday, saying, "The rumor mill is that Paul Ryan is getting ready to resign in the next 30 to 60 days and that Steve Scalise will be the new Speaker."
At first it sounded like wishful thinking, but then the rumor started crawling into my inbox from all sorts of assorted sources,
Randy "Ironstache" Bryce, jumped right on it, asking for $3 donations to help encourage Ryan to retire.
Right now, it just seems like rumor and little more. Ryan is denying it from the Czech Republic where he is visiting and speechifying.
“The speaker is not resigning,” AshLee Strong, Ryan’s spokeswoman, said in a statement sent to The Hill.
There is so much anger over the appropriations bill that I could see rumors coming out of the Tea Party hard right bunch, and Scalise would be their first choice to fill Ryan's shoes. Plus, Ryan has more or less achieved his goals of cutting taxes and driving up the deficit. It might be a good time for him to exit.
Watch this space, we'll update as we know more.
