Updated: The Freedom Caucus poised to kill Paul Ryan’s Speakership bid

  Paul Ryan’s bid to become Speaker of the House might be over before it ever began. Paul Ryan was apparently a reluctant candidate so he decided to try to lay out some rules upon which, and only which, he would agree to run. After setting the groundwork he had a meeting with the Freedom Caucus in an attempt to assuage some of their misgivings with the former vice-presidential candidate.

  It did not work. It is now being reported that as many as 75% of the Freedom Caucus members are opposed to Paul Ryan and it seems mainly due to the list of demands he put forth. Without the Freedom Caucus behind him there is no way Paul Ryan will become the Speaker of the House.

  Here is more:

“He had a shot before he started running his mouth,” one senior GOP aide to a senior House Freedom Caucus member said when reached by phone early Wednesday.

The aide said he expects that “at least 75 percent of the members are going to oppose Ryan” after what Ryan demanded from Republicans in Tuesday evening remarks and in written demands for a potential Speakership bid.

“It’s highly unlikely that Ryan would ever be able to get 218 votes on the floor of the House,” a senior House GOP aide to an influential lawmaker outside the House Freedom Caucus told Breitbart News.

According to Freedom Caucus rules the group will not endorse a candidate unless he has 80% support within the group and Paul Ryan is hovering around 25%. Paul Ryan’s camp has stated he will not run for the position if he does not have an official endorsement from the Freedom Caucus:

And if Ryan does not get a Freedom Caucus endorsement—an official one from the group—he will not run for Speaker, his spokesman Brendan Buck confirmed to Breitbart News. “No,” Buck confirmed flatly to Breitbart News when asked if Ryan would run without an official endorsement.

  Unless something changes drastically shortly it appears as if Paul Ryan will not be the next Speaker of the House and Harry Reid will not have his preferred candidate in that leadership position. 

  UPDATE: It is now being reported here that the Freedom Caucus has flipped and will be supporting Paul Ryan, that did not take long…

Malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium