For the first time, Paul Ryan has indicated that he’d be willing to run for Speaker of the House… Though there are a few catches.
For starters he wants his party to unify and fully endorse him. He also wants to see some change in how the job is structured. Right now he feels the position is too focused on fundraising. He’d like to see the Speaker focus more on conveying the message of the party.
“What I told members is if you can agree to these requests and if I can truly be a unifying figure, then I will gladly serve, and if I am not unifying, that is fine as well — I will be happy to stay where I am.” said Ryan.
There are definitely some upcoming challenges facing the next House Speaker. The upcoming debt ceiling debate stands out as the most important. Can he navigate this minefield and get the other side to agree to some austerity measures like spending cuts?
What are your thoughts on Paul Ryan as Speaker of the House? Will he be able to accomplish what Boehner could not?
Now let’s move on to a new poll and how Donald Trump is fairing…
In the latest ABC News/Washington Post Poll Donald Trump leads in both expectations and voter preferences.
For the question, which candidate is most likely to win the GOP nomination… Trump leads with 42% of the vote followed by Ben Carson with 15%.
When asked who has the best chance to win the general election Trump leads with 43% followed by Ben Carson with 16%, Jeb Bush with 13%, and Marco Rubio with 11%.
Some other interesting takeaways from the poll include 47% who view Trump as the strongest leader. Dr. Ben Carson leads with these two categories Most Honest 33% and Best Personality 24%.
The only candidate attribute that Trump or Carson didn’t lead on was Best Experience. That went to Jeb Bush with 31%.
Bottom line Trump continues to roll and is dominating just about every different poll out there, including our own.
The Washington Post even came out with this headline today, “Is it time to concede that Donald Trump is likely to win the GOP nomination?”
Before I sign off, let’s get to some reader feedback…
From my letter on the possibility of Trump and Carson skipping the next debate:
“During both of the last two Presidential Elections people in Texas were calling MSNBC and CNBC “OBAMAVISION”.
Why did the GOP EVER agree to let these LIBERAL HACKS host one of their debates?”
All My Best,
The Birds of Fire
My comment: You bring up a great point. The GOP has done a CNN debate and are about to have a CNBC debate. Do you think the Democratic Party is going to have a Fox News debate? I won’t hold my breath.
“These are not really “debates”. Why not just give each participant ten minutes to describe their platform, and ask the media companies to fund it as a “public service announcement”? Let anyone who wants to skip do so. More time for the others.”
-Jim
My comment: Jim, it would be great to see something like this. I guess the bickering makes for better TV. However I think it would be great if the first debate wasn’t a debate at all. Allow each candidate to share their platform. Then we can move on to actual debates once we see where everyone stands.
“I think that no one in single digits should be in next debate…and questions should not be aimed at pitting candidates against each other…if not then candidates should agree to debate questions and not each other”
-Bernice
My comment: Bernice, I’m not sure what the number is, but I too would like to see this field thinned out.
Here is a comment on one reader coming to my defense against the grammar police…
“Hey van let me remind you of your childhood with a swirly.u obviously new what he meant as u corrected it spelling and structure are obsolete it’s up to spellchecker and sexiteries to fix the error I’ll bet my length run on spelled wrong rant is driving u mad have a good day sir”
-Ben
My comment: Ben, I see what you did there. Thanks for reading.
Next we have two comments from readers who have completely different views on our letters. I had chuckle when I had these two come in one right after the other…
“Several of the comments are full of Bull S***. Please remove me from your E-mail listing.”
-Anthony
“PLEASE KEEP ME ON YOUR LIST!!! THANKS!”
-Frances
My comment: Anthony, sorry you feel that way about our reader feedback. I can’t control what comes into our email box. I enjoy it all including yours.
Frances, thanks for reading and will do.
That’s all for today… Please be sure to let me know what’s on your mind.
