Paul Ryan twirls Terrible Towel, touts Trump
Published 4:45 pm Monday, July 18, 2016
- Mike McMullen, an alternate delegate from the 12th Congressional District stands with House Speaker Paul Ryan while they both hold a Pittsburgh Steelers' Terrible Towel Monday morning. Ryan, a Green Bay fan, twirled McMullen's Terrible Towel while speaking to attendees of the Pennsylvania convention delegation's breakfast gathering at the Republican National Convention.
WESTLAKE, Ohio – House Speaker Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican and Green Bay Packers fan, stood before a roomful of Pennsylvania delegates to the Republican National Convention on Monday morning and waved a Terrible Towel.
“I want to win this election so darn badly that I am willing to do this,” he said before twirling the iconic rally towel of the Pittsburgh Steelers above his head.
The gesture fired up the faithful inside a DoubleTree hotel in suburban Cleveland, where Ryan promoted the presumptive GOP nominee, Donald Trump, as a better option for president than Democrat Hillary Clinton.
He also pumped up the Republican agenda in Congress.
“We see a country, that I think we all see, which is not heading in the right direction,” he said. “We see a country where our fellow citizens, 7 out of 10 of them, think this country’s headed in the wrong direction.
“We know it’s going in the wrong direction, and so the question in these kinds of moments, in these kinds of times, is what are you going to do about it?”
U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pennsylvania, complimented Ryan for shaping what he described as a ground-up agenda that House Republicans have supported.
“Here’s a guy who’s smart,” said Shuster, of Everett. “He’s brought our conference together. He’s working very hard.”
Ryan, who was Mitt Romney’s running mate on the GOP’s 2012 ticket, not long ago was the subject of national attention when he said he was “just not ready” to back Trump.
But, on Monday, he described Trump as the clear choice.
Ryan described President Barack Obama’s administration as leading from behind in foreign policy. He also emphasized the GOP’s plan to fight poverty “thoroughly and fundamentally.”
“We think there’s a better way to get people from welfare to work, get people back in this economy. That is something we’re going to take on,” he said.
“We want to make sure that everybody in this country can realize the American idea. The American idea is a really simple idea. Remember? The condition of your birth does not determine the outcome of your life. Where you start does not determine where you end.”
Dave Sutor is a reporter for The Johnstown, Pa., Tribune-Democrat. Follow him on Twitter @Dave_Sutor.
