Paul Ryan Sure Seems to Beg a Lot, But He’s Not Very Good at it

Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the House Oversight Committee and prominent Republican Congressman, has decided he won’t run for re-election in 2018, opting instead to return to the private sector. Apparently, making lots of money in relative privacy seems more appealing than getting screamed at by angry constituents at a town hall in Utah while shilling for a failing party. Totally fair.

But then I learned this detail, from CNN’s Manu Raju, and I stopped caring about Chaffetz:

Chaffetz said that Speaker Ryan said “please, please don’t this” when he told him he was going to quit

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) April 19, 2017

Two reactions here. A, it’s hilarious that Chaffetz would burn Ryan on the way out like that. B, the words “Paul Ryan” and “begging” rang a bell, and then I remembered this juicy tidbit from the recent healthcare debacle:

Ryan got down on a knee to plead with Rep. Don Young, an 83-year-old from Alaska who is the longest-serving Republican in Congress and remains undecided.

That’s two incidents of semi-public begging in the last month, and neither one of them worked out in his favor. There’s only one conclusion to draw: Paul Ryan needs to beg harder.