{"id":21465,"date":"2016-01-14T09:01:21","date_gmt":"2016-01-14T17:01:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/ryan-haley-offer-new-answer-to-trump\/"},"modified":"2016-01-14T09:01:21","modified_gmt":"2016-01-14T17:01:21","slug":"ryan-haley-offer-new-answer-to-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/ryan-haley-offer-new-answer-to-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"Ryan, Haley offer new answer to Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON<\/strong> \u2014 Two fresh faces in the Republican Party \u2014 House Speaker Paul Ryan and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley \u2014 are offering messages of diversity and openness to immigrants that could answer the GOP establishment\u2019s increasingly desperate search for an antidote to the loud pronouncements of presidential front-runner Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

Delivering the GOP rebuttal to President Barack Obama\u2019s State of the Union address Tuesday night, Haley, a daughter of Indian immigrants, called for welcoming legal immigrants to the country as long as they\u2019re properly vetted, and for resisting the temptation \u201cto follow the siren call of the angriest voices.\u201d<\/p>\n

She acknowledged Wednesday that her comments were partly aimed at Trump, telling NBC\u2019s \u201cToday Show\u201d: \u201cMr. Trump has definitely contributed to what I think is just irresponsible talk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan, the Wisconsin Republican beginning his third month as speaker of the House, has been pledging to offer a bold agenda that will position the GOP as a positive alternative to Obama and the Democrats. Last weekend he helped convene an anti-poverty summit with some of the GOP presidential candidates \u2014 Trump was absent \u2014 where he pressed for \u201ca safety net that is designed to help get people out of poverty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such rhetoric from two young and charismatic officeholders cheers establishment Republicans who fear that the rise of Trump and of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz \u2014 with their frequent strong words on immigrants in the country illegally \u2014 could ruin the GOP for years, eliminating any chance of winning the White House if either is the nominee and turning off swing voters, minorities and women.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpeaker Ryan and Gov. Haley provide an important contrast, particularly with independent voters, to show what the Republican Party is really about, and it\u2019s not about Donald Trump,\u201d said Brian Walsh, a Republican strategist. \u201cThe key, though, is continuing to shine a light on leaders like the two of them, and that will depend in part on who we nominate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether Haley or Ryan can do anything to sideline Trump or Cruz remains to be seen. That\u2019s not their explicit goal, and Haley, in particular, drew a backlash from some conservatives for her State of the Union rebuttal.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump should deport Nikki Haley,\u201d conservative talk host Ann Coulter said over Twitter.<\/p>\n

And at the Capitol, Haley\u2019s comments on immigration were being interpreted by House conservatives including Rep. Steve King of Iowa, a Cruz supporter, as a call for unlimited legal immigration into the country, something they reject.<\/p>\n

\u201cI keep trying to remember when a principled conservative has been given the opportunity to provide that rebuttal,\u201d King told reporters, adding that Haley\u2019s comments would indicate she\u2019s not one.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are looking for someone who fits the profile that they want to be the face of the Republican Party and that\u2019s the rationale,\u201d King added later in an interview, speaking of party leaders. Asked if he would want Haley as the face of the party King said laughingly: \u201cI think she\u2019s beautiful so I\u2019d be happy if she\u2019s the face of the party.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump himself criticized Haley in an interview on \u201cFox & Friends,\u201d calling her \u201cvery weak on illegal immigration.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet for a GOP establishment that has struggled with how to respond to Trump and Cruz, Haley and Ryan stand as a welcome rejoinder. Their messages are not too different from what has been heard from some of the mainstream presidential candidates, notably former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. But Bush and other establishment Republicans have struggled to break through, while Ryan and Haley, as prominent elected officials in their own right, have their own platforms.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat Paul Ryan is trying to do is put forward a substantive, thoughtful policy agenda for the country,\u201d said moderate Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa. \u201cEvery presidential candidate should be doing the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time party leaders are mindful that Trump and Cruz are channeling very real voter anger and a backlash against Washington, which is at least partly a creation of GOP leaders\u2019 failure to make good on repeated promises to effectively oppose Obama.<\/p>\n

Conservatives warn that activists will not respond well if GOP party leaders start aligning themselves with Obama against Trump, as some interpreted Haley\u2019s remarks.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump\u2019s response the next day will just be \u2018Well you heard President Obama and the Republican leadership response echo each other, they\u2019re on the same team.\u2019 That\u2019s his thesis,\u201d said conservative Rep. Dave Brat of Virginia. \u201cAnd his thesis seems to be correct.\u201d<\/p>\n

Haley\u2019s standing with conservatives was not likely to benefit from the White House decision on Wednesday to praise her, with press secretary Josh Earnest saying she deserved credit.<\/p>\n

However, Ohio Republican Chairman Matt Borges said Trump\u2019s approach could become a liability, though he said there\u2019s time to correct course.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo Republican has won the presidency without winning Ohio, and you cannot win Ohio with a divisive message,\u201d Borges said as the Republican National Committee convened its winter meetings in Charleston, South Carolina. He said he delivered that message to the candidate personally.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Borges said, Trump and the party will have the opportunity to shift. \u201cPart of this is just the primary process playing out,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cI think he understands that we have to have a unifying, inclusive message.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press writer Bill Barrow contributed from Charleston, South Carolina.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 Two fresh faces in the Republican Party \u2014 House Speaker Paul Ryan and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley \u2014 are offering messages of diversity and openness to immigrants that could answer the GOP establishment\u2019s increasingly desperate search for an antidote to the loud pronouncements of presidential front-runner Donald Trump. Delivering the GOP rebuttal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":21466,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[65],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-21465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-nation-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21465\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21466"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21465"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=21465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}