DC Memo to Paul Ryan: Don't run for President!

Jonathan Bernstein of the Washington Post says Paul Ryan would be ill-advised to listen to the Republicans who are so enamored with him they think he should enter the presidential cattle call. The Weekly Standard noted that Ryan was mentioned by name ten separate times in the GOP presidential debate by five different people: Rick Santorum, Tim Pawlenty, John King, Newt Gingrich, and Herman Cain.

The others would turn on him in a minute, if he joined the field, Bernstein says. 

Suddenly, none of the other candidates would be praising him; indeed, it’s not unlikely that candidates currently willing to say nice things about his Medicare and budget ideas without fully endorsing them would get off the fence and actively turn against them.

And guess what?  Ryan has a voting record that no one's looked at yet:

Questionable votes he took in the past (TARP, anyone?) would suddenly be raised just as often as his supposed courageousness is now praised. Serious People outside of the GOP who like him now would shy away once he was forced to spend time on abortion and marriage and the other things that Republican presidential candidates have to talk about (and there’s plenty of ammunition for them on purely budget matters, for whatever that’s worth).

Ryan's not running, from all indications.  It makes you kind of wish he would.

More from Bernstein here.