NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) compared GOP party conflicts to an Irish family reunion or “creative tension” rather than a civil war.
Ryan, who has Irish ancestors, made the comments during one of the earliest speeches at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday.
“It’s tea party versus establishment, libertarians versus social conservatives. There’s infighting, conflict, backfighting, discord. Look, I’m Irish, that’s my idea of a family reunion,” Ryan said, sparking chuckles from the crowd.
Ryan went on to say that he actually saw a party trying to figure out the best way to move forward.
“I don’t see this great divide in this party. What I see is a vibrant debate. We are figuring out the best way to apply our principles to the challenge of the day,” Ryan continued. “I like to think of it as creative tension. For the most part these disagreements have not been over principles or over policies, they’ve been over tactics. So I think we should give each other the benefit of the doubt. But we, your representatives, have to earn this benefit of the doubt.”
