Ohio Rep. and Democratic Presidential candidate Tim Ryan joined CNN Newsroom co-host Jim Sciutto on Wednesday to go on a passionate, profanity-laced, if not factually challenged rant against Mitch McConnell and the National Rifle Association. Sciutto did not care to challenge Ryan on any one of his numerous arguments, such as they were, instead choosing to aide Ryan is his diatribe against McConnell. The Democrat used the words "shit" and "ass" while assailing Republicans. There was no push back.
Sciutto lamented that McConnell won't bring any gun control legislation to the floor without support from President Trump and asked Ryan if Trump could be persuaded to move. Ryan harshly criticized Trump and McConnell, "Yeah, I mean, he's going to show up, go to these events today in Texas and Ohio, and then he's going to slow walk this thing and Mitch McConnell is going to do what he's done every damn time."
Ryan was just getting warmed up. He then encouraged McConnell to read the Constitution:
What he's got to recognize is he is in a co-equal branch of government. These Republican senators need to go off and grab the Constitution, dust it off, and read Article I, which creates the Congress. Article II creates the presidency. The first article of the Constitution says we are governed by the people.
The Second Amendment part of the Constitution was never discussed by either Sciutto or Ryan, with Ryan eventually telling McConnell to "Get off your ass and get something done." Ryan then hyped a plan to create a "caravan" to go to "see Mitch McConnell tomorrow."
Sciutto, the ever objective former Obama official, then asked Ryan if Congress could overcome Republicans who are more concerned about their NRA ratings and potential primary challengers. Ryan hoped so and encouraged Republicans to read Profiles in Courage and offered an example of such courage: Democrats voting for a piece of Democratic legislation, Obamacare. He then challenged Republicans who might we worried about losing re-election or getting primaried, "Bullshit. Do something."
Maybe it's Ryan and Sciutto that should read the Constitution. The government does not exist to "get something done," it exists to protect the rights of the people, including the right to bear arms in self-defense, espicially when those rights are vulnerable in the wake of extreme passions. Just because Tim Ryan and other Democrats are passionate about gun control to the point of cursing on national television, does not mean their arguements make sense.
Here is a transcript for the August 7 show:
CNN
CNN Newsroom
10:10 AM ET
JIM SCIUTTO: Senator McConnell says he won't move until the president tells him to, in effect. We have heard from our reporters on The Hill that Republicans privately, of course, not publicly, but many Republicans privately say that if the president gets behind measures whether it be red flag laws, bans on high-capacity magazines, universal background checks, if the president does, then there's the possibility of movement. Have you heard anything from this president to indicate to you that he will get behind substantial measures, or do you think he will do what he did after Parkland, for instance, which is make a public statement then back off?
TIM RYAN: Yeah, I mean, he's going to show up, go to these events today in Texas and Ohio, and then he's going to slow walk this thing and Mitch McConnell is going to do what he's done every damn time. He just follows the president. What he's got to recognize is he is in a co-equal branch of government. These Republican senators need to go off and grab the Constitution, dust it off, and read Article I, which creates the Congress. Article II creates the presidency. The first article of the Constitution says we are governed by the people. And Mitch McConnell better understand that. We're going to apply as much pressure as humanly possible. Jim, I can't tell you how sick we are about this. This is happening in too many communities. It's happening in Dayton and El Paso and all of this other stuff, and we're sitting around here waiting for Mitch McConnell to get his marching orders from Donald Trump, who's causing white nationalists to go around shooting people of color in the United States. I mean, give me a break. Come on, Mitch McConnell. Where are your guts? You're supposed to be from Kentucky. Everybody I know from Kentucky got guts, okay? So get your and do something because the American people are fed up with you. We're fed up with you stonewalling everything. People are dying on the streets just a couple hours from your house and you're sitting there doing nothing. Call the Senate back into session. Get people moving. You can maybe move some Republicans on this because of the tragedies. And you're going to do nothing and we're going to be sitting here again a few weeks, a few months from now holding parents in our arms that are crying saying, why did this happen again in the United States? Enough, Mitch McConnell. Get off your ass and get something done. We're fed up, Jim. I'm telling you, you don't have to spend much time. You're there right now. I think I know where your camera is, I can’t see your shot, but right behind you there's bullet holes in a bar and we walked through there the other day. The bouncer gave us a tour. There were people stacked up in the back of that bar that that kid walked up to. If he'd have got in there, if those cops weren't standing close by to shoot him, if he'd have got in there, we would have lost hundreds of people. And Mitch McConnell is doing nothing. This is unacceptable. Trump is a dereliction of duty, completely, and he's going to try to distract us. I'm here to say Ohioans aren't forgetting. We're going to see Mitch McConnell tomorrow. And we're inviting every surrounding state to get a caravan and meet us in Louisville, Kentucky, tomorrow night. Details to follow.
SCIUTTO: Listen, I hear your emotion. I hear your frustration. I know you're not alone because I've heard it from folks here in Dayton. I've heard it in El Paso and sadly, I've heard it in a dozen other places where I've covered shootings like this before. The question is, can that move the immovable objects of the Senate Majority Leader, of Republicans who are concerned about getting primaried because they don't have a perfect score from the NRA? It's the fundamental question. Is this time different? Do you see anything different this time that's going to make a real change?
RYAN: I think there's an accumulation of emotion. I know there is with me. I get moved from tears to outrage. And I think that there are moderate Republicans, sensible independents in places like Tennessee, in places like Ohio, in places like Indiana. Maybe we can get -- and West Virginia. Maybe we can get a few Republicans that will put their country and these families before their own political interests. Go read "Profiles in Courage." Do whatever you have to do. I was in Congress with a lot of members, Jim, who lost their seats over voting for the Affordable Care Act. You know what, whether you like the Affordable Care Act or not, they voted and they knew they were probably going to lose their seat. But they did it anyway. And what I'm saying is, isn't it worth it? What are you going to tell your kids? Yeah, I was in Congress. I got an extra term out of it because I didn't do anything on gun control. Bullshit. Do something. What are we here for? This is a citizens' legislature. Why are you in Congress? Why are you in Congress? You have the opportunity to actually save lives. If you lose your seat, you're going to go make a million dollars in the private sector anyway. So what do you care? Go make a million dollars, go be with your kids, go buy a beach house but do something before you leave, like pass comprehensive background checks and close the Charleston loophole and let's try to get these weapons of war off the street. You could walk out of the United States senate with your head held high that you actually accomplished something as opposed to pad your pension.
SCIUTTO: Yeah. Listen, you're issuing a challenge to sitting lawmakers. We heard the former Republican Governor of Ohio, John Kasich, just a short time ago on our air issue the same challenge. Will lawmakers on the hill take up that challenge? We've seen them fail before. We're going to be watching. Congressman Tim Ryan, we appreciate you joining the broadcast this morning.RYAN: Thanks, Jim.
