Why I'm Not Surprised Paul Ryan is Waving the White Flag of Surrender. The Real Reason He's Leaving.

Puddytat at Daily Kos

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/4/11/1756223/-Why-I-m-Not-Surprised-Paul-Ryan-is-Waving-the-White-Flag-of-Surrender

"SNIP.........

While pundits across the country are picking their jaws up off the floor with Paul Ryans’ announcement that he’s not running for re-election, I’m not surprised. I’ve expected this shoe to drop for quite some time now. Like me, he sees the handwriting on the wall.

It isn’t Trump or the insane Freedom Caucus that’s responsible for his departure as the pundits are fond of saying today. He doesn’t really mind chaos. In his mind, if we’re watching chaos over there, we won’t see what he’s doing over here. And while the media is busy with Trump Tweets, Republicans are doing terrible things that pass by largely unnoticed.

It’s not that I’ve got a political crystal ball in my home, but I’ve been watching the GOP Golden Boy for many years. He’s had it his way for far too long. The granny-starving extremist was able to present himself as a fresh-faced moderate in his district because compliant media portrayed him that way. Re-elected in his gerrymandered district time after time, he became complacent. He never really had to campaign — that “R” behind his name was all it took to get votes.

And then he got national attention and the gig was up. His last town hall over 2 years ago (invitation only) was a raucous event with constituents taking him to task over his votes and key issues. He hasn’t held a town hall, even his invitation-only ones, since then. He can run, stay in Washington hiding from the locals, but can’t avoid public attention and scrutiny anymore. They know who he really is now.

.........SNIP"