Stephen Colbert Nabs Speaker Paul Ryan’s First Late-Night TV Appearance Testing His Resolve To Not Be Nominee
UPDATE with video: House Speaker Paul Ryan made his first late-night TV appearance last night on Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show, which celebrated its second night with former CBS News exec Chris Licht as EP/showrunner. Ryan attempted to convince Colbert that he does not want to be the GOP’s White House nominee, despite speculation he might come out of a contested convention as the candidate of choice.
“Has the ship sailed?” Colbert asked.
“Yes, it has,” Ryan said via satellite.
“And was that ship the S.S. Yes, on its way to Nomination Harbor?” Colbert pressed.
“No, it was HMS Not Gonna Happen on a one-way voyage to How Could I Be Any Clearer,” Ryan snarked, keeping pace.
When not taping a comedy bit for Colbert’s show on Licht’s second night, Ryan spent part of the day trying to convince a growing number of GOP politicos eager to skip the Cleveland convention kerfuffle lest it impact in a not-good-way their own re-election fights. “I think that we should go. This is our convention making our nominee, so I think everybody should participate,” he told CNN yesterday afternoon, but not with any real vim. Ryan also is chairman of the Republican National Convention
Several senators up for re-election, including the party’s 2008 nominee John McCain, and some congressmen too, are suggesting they will skip the confab. Add to that list former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who dropped out of the race and said he’ll give Cleveland a miss, CNN reported. Trump has forecast there “could be” violence if anyone but him gets the nomination.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYcYV0FQiFw&w=970&h=546]
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