Thursday, October 22, 2015

The Kool Kidz and The Prom King

The House Freedom Caucus is not pleased with Rep. Paul Ryan’s requirements for their endorsement of his run for Speaker, but some of them will let him get the job.

Members of the House Freedom Caucus — the conservative hardliners who have been roiling GOP leadership in recent weeks — emerged from a meeting Wednesday on Rep. Paul Ryan’s speaker candidacy willing to give him their “support” as a group. In a caucus vote, about two-thirds of the members said they were comfortable supporting Ryan as speaker, according to those present. However, they did not reach the 80 percent support line that the caucus requires to give its endorsement. After the meeting members also said the group would not concede to the conditions Ryan has given publicly to accept the speakership.

[…]

While caucus members said they would not be giving Ryan their endorsement, they said they believed he now had the votes to win the speakership both in the conference and on the floor.

“We are not meeting all his demands,” Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-SC) told reporters.“But if he wants to be speaker, he has the votes as of tonight.”

Later they will vote on his application to sit at the Kool Kidz table in the cafeteria, and they agreed that the theme of the prom should be “My Way or the Highway.”