It's Got to Be Paul Ryan

With the sudden withdrawal of Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the presumed next speaker of the House, on Thursday, Republicans are going back to the drawing board to find a replacement for the outgoing John Boehner. One familiar name is being bandied about by politicians and the media: Paul Ryan. Though Ryan has said he's not interested in the position, quite a few columnists are weighing in on why he should reconsider:

• "No other figure within the party combines Ryan’s philosophical radicalism and tactical pragmatism," Jonathan Chait writes in New York. "If he accepts the position, it would formalize a standing he has held for years. He is already the president of Republican America."

• "Ryan may be the only Republican with the national standing and conservative credentials to defy the Cruz ultimatums," declares a Wall Street Journal editorial. "He’d be assailed with the usual sellout and surrender epithets, any future presidential ambitions might suffer, and he’d have less time for his young children. But he could save the House majority from self-destruction."

• "He has consistently pushed the envelope on substance, understanding that the party needs a serious policy agenda to counter that of the Left," states a National Review editorial. "He is a knowledgeable and effective defender of conservative policy. Sometimes we think he is wrong on both substantive and tactical matters, but we never doubt that he is wrong for the right reasons."

• "Ryan is respected by most people on both sides of the divide," writes Ramesh Ponnuru at Bloomberg View. "No other House Republican has the same reservoir of goodwill. No other House Republican is considered as good a spokesman on such politically perilous issues as entitlement reform."

(More Paul Ryan stories.)