“Let me be clear: I do not want nor will I accept the nomination for our party.”
That’s what Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan told reporters at a hastily called press conference late Tuesday.
It sure sounded a lot like Civil War general William Sherman who once declared: “I will not accept if nominated and will not serve if elected.”
Or maybe Lyndon Johnson who said: “I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party.”
With Donald Trump and Ted Cruz likely to arrive at the GOP convention short of the number of delegates they need to clinch the nomination, there is this reality: Someone has to be the nominee, even if it’s not one of those two.
And when looking at the polls showing Hillary Clinton beating both Trump and Cruz in battleground states with a stick, there is a still a big possibility someone else emerges as the nominee.
Paul Ryan says it won’t be him.
Of course, he also said he would never be speaker.