Upyernoz on Paul Ryan deigning to accept the mantle of leadership:

That’s one less raising star in the Republican Party we have to worry about. Sure he will make himself a pain in the ass as speaker, but this pretty much guarantees that he won’t ever be president. And if history is any guide, he will probably end his tenture [sic] either completely disgraced or merely wildly unpopular.

Being third in line for the presidency — as dictated by the Constitution — is as close as Mr. Ryan will ever get to the White House.  I can’t think of any Speaker of the House that ever went on to become president; at least not in the last 100 years.

He also didn’t win any friends with his demands that he not be held to the regular rubber-chicken routine that the Speaker has to go through for his party — campaigning, fund-raising, and traveling — so that he could spend more time with his family.  That’s a noble thought and thoroughly in keeping with the GOP “family values, but it would have a little more meaning if Mr. Ryan was inclined to think that other people were entitled to the same need.  But he’s not.

In 2009, for instance, Ryan voted against the Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act, which would have allowed federal employees to substitute up to four weeks of available paid leave to take parental leave. The bill passed a then-Democratic House with 24 Republican votes, but the legislation never made it to the Senate floor.

So I hope my pal ‘noz is right; that by Paul Ryan picking up this bagful of bobcats and starting out by alienating both the far-right House “Freedom” Caucus by being cast as a RINO and the advocates for sane family values will bring a swift and merciless end to any rise in the Republican Party.