HUFFPOST HILL - Paul Ryan Becomes First Notable Person From Wisconsin

Arthur Delaney
Updated

We got so drunk during last night's debate we hardly remember what happened, but we think some weird guy named Ted drove us home. Ben Carson said it's important to remember professionals built the Titanic while amateurs built the Ark, though it's probably even more important to remember that amateurs also built this terrible skateboard ramp. And Rand Paul's filibuster of the budget deal only lasted 20 minutes -- don't laugh, it happens to lots of guys. This is HUFFPOST HILL for Thursday, October 29th, 2015:

RAND PAUL FILIBUSTER BUST - As Fake Patrick Henry once said, "Give me brevity or give me death!" Stephen Dinan: "Mr. Paul, a Kentucky Republican seeking his party’s presidential nomination, vowed during a campaign debate Wednesday night to filibuster, and came to the Senate floor Thursday afternoon to lay out his objections. 'This is the No. 1 threat to us. Were accumulating debt at $1 million every minute. Someone’s got to stand up and do something about it,' he said. 'I will continue this filibuster as long as there are enough votes here to allow it to continue,' he said. His office had vowed he would speak 'at length' -- but his actual speech was relatively short, lasting just 20 minutes." Womp womp. [WashTimes]

BOEHNER DELIVERS FABULOUSLY BOEHNER-ESQUE FAREWELL - These are the best parts: "I leave with no regrets or burdens. If anything, I leave as I started -- just a regular guy humbled by the chance to do a big job…. One thing I came to realize is that this battle over the size and scope of government has been going on for more than 200 years. And the forces of the status quo go to an awful lot of trouble to prevent change. Real change takes time….Yes, freedom makes all things possible. But patience is what makes all things real.... My colleagues, I’ve described my life as a chase for the American Dream. That chase began at the bottom of a hill just off the main drag in Reading, Ohio. At the top was a small house with a big family … a shining city in its own right. The hill had twists. And it had turns. And even a few tears … nothing wrong with that. But let me tell you, it was all just perfect. Never forget, we are the luckiest people on the face of the Earth." Here's to you, John! [Speaker.gov]

C-SPAN did a dramatic closeup of Boehner's tissue box during his speech.

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(Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg/Getty Images)

HARRY REID FONDLY RECALLS MOMENT BOEHNER TOLD HIM TO FUCK HIMSELF - It's a little dusty in here. Ryan Grim and Sam Stein: "Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has kept a famously clean mouth throughout his long career. But that doesn't mean the Mormon from Nevada doesn't appreciate a good cuss out every now and then. Reflecting in his Senate office on his 'special relationship' with outgoing House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, Reid recalled one particular moment that earned his respect. In the midst of tense negotiations leading up to the 'fiscal cliff' at the end of 2012, Reid was angry that Boehner was delaying the inevitable moment when he would turn to Democrats to help pass a compromise bill, and was instead hung up trying to win over the far out wing of his party. Reid went to the Senate floor and accused Boehner of running a 'dictatorship' and worrying more about his own political future than the fate of the nation. That was too much for Boehner. 'I stepped out of bounds, he thought, so he said, 'Go fuck yourself,'' Reid told HuffPost. 'OK, I can accept that. Wasn't the first time. I appreciate his being honest with me. And I have found that always to be the case with John Boehner, so I will miss him.' 'To be honest with you, I kind of liked the way he handled me,' Reid added." [HuffPost]

BREAKUP OF THE 'BIG FOUR' - Great Paul Kane story: "For almost nine straight years, Boehner, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) have led their respective caucuses together -- longer than any other quartet of party leaders in congressional history.... About as different personally as any four people could be, Boehner and his three cohorts have learned each other’s rhythms and tactics, their bargaining ploys and their dead-serious moments of candor. They have overseen a historically unpopular Congress, yet if not for their own battle-tested negotiations, things might have been a lot worse. 'Very well, I know all of them very well,' Boehner said Wednesday in an exit interview with congressional media. He acknowledged that one motivation in forging this week’s budget deal was that his expected successor, Rep. Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), would have had to make in­cred­ibly difficult decisions in his first week on the job without having any real relationship with Pelosi, Reid and McConnell. 'When you throw somebody new into the mix at the last second and something has to happen, it really isn’t fair for them or frankly for the others,' Boehner said." [WashPost]

SPEAKER PAUL D. RYAN IN D HOUSE - Mike McAuliff: "A House Speaker who was relieved to quit his job handed the gavel to a successor who never wanted it Thursday as the House of Representatives voted to replace John Boehner with Paul Ryan. Ryan, 45, who ascends to the speakership after a tumultuous several years for his party, was overwhelmingly elected, with 236 members of the the GOP casting ballots in his favor. He pledged to heal the divides in Congress that plagued Boehner for most of his five years in the chair, both in the GOP and the full House. 'I never thought I'd be speaker,' said Ryan, who hails from Janesville, Wisconsin, and was his party's vice presidential nominee in 2012. 'Early in my life, I wanted to serve this House. I thought this place was exhilarating because here, you can make a difference,' Ryan said, before nodding to the chaos that led to a government shutdown in 2013 and a near default on the debt in 2011. 'Let's be frank. The House is broken,' Ryan said…. But he went on to say that he would do his best to fix the dysfunctional legislature, and appealed for both honesty and charity from all members. 'I am not interested in laying blame. We are not settling scores. We are wiping the slate clean,' Ryan said." [HuffPost]

Sam Johnson, scourge of Nazis and Social Security gun-grabbers, will be interim chair of Ways and Means. Pat Tiberi and Kevin Brady want the job.

THE FIRST 'TORTILLA COAST' SPEAKER - Ryan's time as a server explains why he's such a good tipper. @BrendanBuck: A colleague passes along. As seen outside @tortillacoast


DELANEY DOWNER - "Real gross domestic product -- the value of the goods and services produced by the nation’s economy less the value of the goods and services used up in production, adjusted for price changes -- increased at an annual rate of 1.5 percent in the third quarter of 2015, according to the 'advance' estimate released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the second quarter, real GDP increased 3.9 percent." Unnecessary quotation "marks" courtesy the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

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BUT IS IT GOOD FOR THE CRUZ? - Ryan Grim and Igor Bobic say yes. "Ted Cruz, who entered the Republican nomination contest needing every card to come up aces for him, hasn't been getting anywhere near the attention of the front-running outsiders or new establishment favorite Marco Rubio. But things are looking pretty good for the Texas tea partier, even after Rubio's standout performance in Wednesday night's debate. Cruz built a strategy months if not years ago, and it's working about as well as it possibly could. The short version: If he's the second choice for enough voters, he'll have the broadest base of support left when the dust clears. He effectively articulated this strategy during this week's primary debate. 'If you want someone to grab a beer with, I may not be that guy. But if you want someone to drive you home, I will get the job done and I will get you home,' he said, among the weirdest come-ons a candidate has ever offered voters." [HuffPost]

CNBC's moderators might have been rude, but they weren't wrong.

IT DEPENDS ON WHAT THE MEANING OF THE WORD 'INVOLVEMENT' IS - Amanda Terkel: "GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson disavowed ties to a questionable nutritional supplement company Wednesday, despite the fact that he has given speeches for the firm, appeared on its website and said he loves its products. 'I didn't have any involvement,' Carson said during Wednesday night's CNBC debate in Boulder, Colorado. 'That's total propaganda.' In 2009, Texas-based Mannatech Inc. settled charges brought by the state attorney general that alleged the company had used 'deceptive' and 'illegal' materials claiming its products could cure Down Syndrome, cystic fibrosis, autism and cancer, according to the Wall Street Journal." [HuffPost]

CASINO OWNER READY TO MAKE BET - A number of donors to Jeb Bush’s campaign were reportedly jittery about sticking by him even before Wednesday’s lackluster performance in the Republican debate, but in the fierce competition among GOP presidential candidates to win seven- or eight-figure checks from multibillionaire businessman Sheldon Adelson, Marco Rubio has already emerged as the frontrunner, the Guardian can reveal. That is due in no small part to the Florida senator’s championing of some of the casino owner’s top policy concerns, including Israeli security, and Rubio’s frequent outreach to the mega-donor, say GOP operatives and donors. Adelson looks poised to make a multimillion-dollar donation to the pro-Rubio Conservative Solutions Project nonprofit or an allied Super Pac, also called Conservative Solutions, say three GOP sources familiar with Adelson. [Guardian]

SPOTTED at Stan's: PSLGOPL, NIBS, BOWD, HuffPost Hill

SHORTER HARRY REID: 'WHO'S COMING WITH ME?' - Harry Reid, who's retiring next year, thinks Marco Rubio should quit the Senate, too. "'Why shouldn’t he [resign]? He hates the Senate,' Reid said in an interview with POLITICO on Thursday. 'Why should the taxpayers of this country and people of Florida put up with having only one senator? Doesn’t seem fair to me.'" [Politico]

BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - 'Fat Guy Across America'
Hits New York, the New York Times reports. "A convoy of motorcyclists roared by. 'Is this what a city motorcycle gang is like, a bunch of yuppie guys?' Mr. Hites asked. His wife responded, 'Don't say 'yuppie' that loud, you'll get shot. They want to be gangsters.'"

@samsteinhp: “That was inappropriate” -- Bernie says of campaign aides remarks that Hillary Clinton would make a good VP

SENATE STAFFERS SUPPORTING CAFETERIA WORKERS - Sherrod Brown also involved, Bridget Bowman reports: "More than two dozen staffers, donning stickers that read 'Senate Staff Solidarity,' took up two tables in the Dirksen Senate Office Building cafeteria Wednesday afternoon. The 'brown bag boycott' sought to bring attention to the plight of Senate workers and show support for the workers’ push for union representation. 'We want to have a visual for the cafeteria workers that there are people that support them, and their effort to improve their lives and have dignity at work,' said a Senate staffer who asked not to be named because she was acting in a personal capacity." [Roll Call]

COMFORT FOOD

- A rich person who probably lives on Capitol Hill complained to Emily Yoffe about all the not-so-rich trick-or-treaters.

- Bad Lip Reading of the Dem debate.

- Beware the aggressive owl on the Capital Crescent Trail.

- Pink flowers in the desert thanks to El Nino.

TWITTERAMA

@SimonMaloy: MEDIA: I have a difficult question for you
REPUBLICAN: well, that's just liberal bias
MEDIA: hmm, very savvy of you to argue that

@JohannaBarr: Happy bday @BobRoss. I remember when @JackieGoldstein and I called PBS 15 yrs ago to find out if you were dead learned you were and cried.

@mollyesque Stages of Profile Writing
1. X is fascinating!
2. bored of X
3. starting to hate X
4. going to take X down!
5. ugh, I was too easy on X

@elisefoley:
Paul Ryan sits down at a diner.

“I’d like to have my
(⌐■_■)
( •_•)>⌐■-■
(•_•)
regular order."

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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.