Welcome To Ryan Watch

By vouchey in News on Jun 23, 2004 11:49AM

By now everyone in Illinois has heard the "avant-garde" Parisian club allegations made in Jack and Jeri Ryan's divorce proceedings (also check out the Smoking Gun). The shock is still rippling through the state, and is now reaching the Beltway. The next few days will be precious for Jack Ryan, since how he manages the damage control will make or break his damaged campaign's future.

Chicagoist sees two important points in how Ryan is dealing with the scandal. First, he is trying to portray what happened as not a big deal:

"What's in those documents at its worst is that I propositioned my wife in an inappropriate place. That's the worst."

"As you know, there [are] no allegations of infidelity or breaking any laws or breaking any marriage vows or anything like that."

We tend to agree with him, assuming there isn't more to the story. Leading us to our second point, which is that Jack Ryan seems to be creating a pattern of lying to reporters and Republican leaders. Tribune columnist Eric Zorn and veteran Chicago reporter Carol Marin point these facts out in their columns today. And the Chicago Tribune does a good job of outlining the beefs Illinois Republican leaders have with candidate Ryan. In the days before the document release, Ryan told GOP leaders that there wasn't much to worry about, and failed to mention the sex clubs, causing the GOP leaders embarrassment when they gave him unqualified support.

Sun-Times columnist Lynn Sweet does a great job of telling us how to gauge Ryan's viability over the coming days. And in that vein, Chicagoist predicts the following steps:

1. Ryan denies importance of allegations
2. State and national GOP leaders pressure him to step down
3. Ryan refuses
4. More pressure mounts, Ryan portrayed as goat
5. Ryan steps down, new GOP nominee appointed two days later

It's a lot to consume, Ryan's head is probably reeling now, and it will take at least a week for him to realize that he's completely sunk.

Finally, Chicagoist would like to give the Sun-Times props for covering every angle of this story, by detailing exactly what happens in sex clubs (scroll down for story). Nice work Sun-Times!