Paul Ryan: GOP Has Got to Expand Appeal

Paul Ryan made his first talk-show appearance since the 2012 election, so obviously it's time to ask him about his ambitions for the 2016 election and watch him dodge the question: Calling such talk "premature," Ryan added, “I’ve got an important job to do. I represent Wisconsin, (and) I’m chairman of the Budget Committee at a time of a fiscal crisis.” More substantively, he took on his party's future, saying the GOP "obviously" has to "expand our appeal. We have to show our ideas are better at fighting poverty. How our ideas are better at solving health care." And then on gun control, he seemed open, saying, “the question of whether or not a criminal is getting a gun is a question we need to look at.” More from the Sunday dial, as per Politico:

• Dianne Feinstein on Sandy Hook: It was an “epiphany. This is the hardest of the hard. You reach a point where enough is enough. I can see the NRA is venal. The NRA has become an institution of gun manufacturers.”
• John McCain on immigration reform: "We can’t go on forever with 11 million people living in this country in the shadows in illegal status. We cannot forever have children who were born here, who were brought here by their parents when they were small children live in the shadows as well. I think the time is right.”
• Newt Gingrich on gun control: “The term 'assault weapon' is propaganda. This is a serious question where we ought to look at the facts and not create propaganda.”
• Feinstein on Hillary Clinton in 2016: "I think she's accomplished an incredible record and really has really unbridled popularity. I am a fan. I would love it if she would run."
• Bob Corker on Clinton's Benghazi handling: “The deception around the Benghazi issue did not come from the State Department, and no doubt emanated from Susan Rice."
• Stanley McChrystal likes Chuck Hagel: "Of course he'll build relationships as he goes. He has already got a lot of credibility. I don't think it will be a problem."

(More Sunday morning talk shows stories.)