Paul Ryan, reliable Republican suckup

This quote from today's Washington Post had a deja vu quality to it:

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said every Republican lawmaker is rejecting calls from some conservative leaders to oust Hastert. "You are seeing a rally-around-the-speaker effort more than anything else," he said.

When had I heard that before?

Why, almost exactly two years ago, in the Oct. 8, 2004 Washington Post, when another House Republican leader was under fire -- and eventually ended up under the bus. Ryan then:

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) called the charges against DeLay "gutter politics at its worst" and said: "You're going to see a big rallying around Tom. It will do nothing but bolster support for Tom DeLay."