A new video from House Speaker Paul Ryan's office is fueling speculation that the Wisconsin Republican could wind up with the GOP presidential nomination at a contested convention, despite his repeated assurances that he is not interested in running for president. 
 
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 Ryan's progressively insistent denials can't seem to stick, largely because last year he at first insisted that he would not "be a candidate" for speaker of the House following John Boehner's unexpected retirement announcement. Roughly a month later, however, he was sworn in. 
 
 Here's a review of what he calls two "different" situations: 
 
 That Time When Ryan Denied Calls Before Accepting 
 
 Many have pointed to Ryan's reluctance to immediately accept the speakership back when his name first came up following Boehner’s retirement last September as a reason to question his statements about 2016. 
 
 On the day House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy withdrew his name from consideration for Boehner's job, Oct. 8, Ryan, the then-House Budget Committee chairman and former 2012 GOP vice presidential candidate, said that he was "disappointed" in McCarthy's decision and called for new candidates, but didn't put himself in the running. 
 
 "While I am grateful for the encouragement I’ve received, I will not be a candidate," Ryan said in a statement. 
 
 Sam Loeb/AFP/Getty Images 
 
 Three weeks later, he was sworn in as speaker of the House after another alternative to McCarthy failed to materialize. 
 
 Ryan’s Denials About 2016 
 
 The Wisconsin Republican -- whose communications-savvy office has released similar videos in the past -- has aggressively downplayed the possibility that he could wind up as the GOP presidential nominee at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, which he will chair as the speaker of the House. 
 
 “There are people out there campaigning. That’s who should be president,” Ryan told reporters last month. "Let’s just put this thing to rest and move on.” 
 
 "Get my name out of that," he said of the speculation in an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt from Israel earlier this week. 
 
 Ryan's political operation moved quickly to shut down a nascent "Draft Ryan" for president movement in March, disavowing the group and threatening legal action. 
 
 In a recent interview with Politico, when reminded of the similarities between the speaker’s race and the calls for him to get involved with the presidential race, Ryan said, “It was a different situation. I'm already in Congress. That's a totally different situation.” 
 
 Ryan appeared to be suggesting a distinction between the jump from being a rank-and-file House Republican to Speaker, and the jump from not even being a presidential candidate to becoming the GOP nominee. 
 
 On Thursday, Ryan's office came out most forcefully against the possibility of a presidential run in a Shermanesque statement -- a clear and direct statement from a candidate definitively saying he/she will not run for a particular position -- from spokeswoman AshLee Strong: "The speaker is grateful for the support, but he is not interested. He will not accept a nomination and believes our nominee should be someone who ran this year." 
 
 AP Photo 
 
 The term originated with Civil War Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman, who didn't want to be nominated in the 1884 election, telling supporters, "I will not accept if nominated and will not serve if elected." 
 
 That quote has been cited by other politicians as a clear way to say they are not going to run, including President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1968, when he used a tweaked version in announcing he was not going to seek re-election. 
 
 Fueling the Fire 
 
 Facing the prospect of a Donald Trump or Ted Cruz nomination, top Republicans have continued to float Ryan's name as a potential nominee through the spring. 
 
 The release of the campaign-style video from Ryan -- who remains one of the most popular Republican figures in the country -- comes as Republicans grapple with the implications of a likely contested convention. 
 
 Liberals & conservatives are going to disagree with one another. No problem. That’s what this is all about.https://t.co/GmKdRtQdWC — Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) April 8, 2016 
 
 The slick, 45-second video, titled "Politics These Days," recaps the message Ryan delivered in a speech to Capitol Hill interns last month, where he bemoaned the divisive tone of election-year politics at a time in the GOP race when Trump was threatening to "spill the beans" about Cruz's wife, Heidi, after an anti-Trump group ran a series of Facebook ads using photos of Trump's wife, Melania. 
 
 "What really bothers me the most about politics these days is the notion of identity politics -- that we're going to win this election by dividing people, rather than inspiring people," Ryan, who has periodically commented on the presidential race out of concerns about damage to the GOP brand, says in the video. 
 
 Boehner said recently that Ryan should be Republicans' pick for a nominee if the party is unable to select a candidate on the first ballot, though he later walked back that comment through a spokesperson. 
 
 Ryan’s predecessor isn’t the only one looking to the 46-year-old for hope. 
 
 "[Ryan] does represent the kind of vision and values that as a Republican you would want to put forward," Rep. Tom Cole, R-Oklahoma, said in a C-SPAN interview last month. 
 
 Despite the denials, all eyes will once again be on Ryan when he returns to Washington, D.C., from overseas next week. ||||| House Speaker Paul Ryan released a video Friday promoting his unity strategy for the House GOP. But the clip, which shows Ryan giving a speech to a rapt audience, plays like a campaign ad. 
 
 The video, titled “Politics These Days,” is part of Ryan’s agenda for House Republicans, which he is calling “#ConfidentAmerica,” according to the Speaker’s website. 
 
 “What really bothers me the most about politics these days is this notion of identity politics,” Ryan says in the clip. “That we’re going to win an election by dividing people, rather than inspiring people on our common humanity and our common ideals and our common culture on the things that should unify us.” 
 
 Ryan has repeatedly dismissed the idea that he will enter the Republican presidential race. He flat out denied Monday that he would be the “fresh face” that the GOP was looking for to take the party’s nomination at a potentially contested convention in July. 
 
 “I’m not that person. I’d like to think my face is somewhat fresh, but I’m not for this conversation,” Ryan said. “I think you need to run for President if you’re going to be President, and I’m not running for President. So period, end of story.” 
 
 There are, however, countless theories about what could happen should a contested convention take place and this quasi-campaign video from Ryan will only add fuel to the fire. On Twitter, many users speculated that the Speaker may be planning a shadow run at the convention, despite his previous denials. ||||| President Obama and House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) walk past each put during a lunch celebrating St. Patrick's Day for Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 15, 2016. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) 
 
 Update: Ryan commented further on the intrigue surrounding him and the GOP nomination on Thursday. He said, "It’s not going to be me, it should be somebody running for president." He also said he chided Boehner for talking him up as a potential GOP nominee. "I saw Boehner last night and I told him to knock it off." We'll let everyone decide just his Sherman-esque those statements are. 
 
 When a politician says something, there's often more than one way to interpret it. It's what Twitter and, arguably, this blog are for. But ultimately, deciphering a politician's true intention is in the eye of the beholder. 
 
 And Paul Ryan's interview with CNBC's John Harwood on Tuesday night will likely have to fall into that gray area: Did he or did he not keep the door to a presidential run open? 
 
 Ryan told Harwood he hasn't given much thought the idea of accepting a last-minute nomination at a contested convention this July. 
 
 Plus, the facts don't add up to a guy who's toying with running for president: A committee set up to persuade him to run shut down, apparently at the urging of his aides. And to the casual observer, Ryan seems much more focused on his new job as speaker than trying to launch a clandestine presidential bid. In his interview with Harwood, Ryan indicated he doesn't even want the job (right now, at least). 
 
 "I actually think you should run for president if you're going to be president, if you want to be president," he said. "I'm not running for president. I made that decision, consciously, not to." 
 
 But. Ryan also wouldn't, in Harwood's words, "categorically" rule out accepting Republicans' nomination if it was offered to him at the convention in July. Here's the key passage: 
 
 "You know, I haven't given any thought to this stuff. People say, 'What about the contested convention?' I say, well, there are a lot of people running for president. We'll see. Who knows?" Ryan said. 
 
 His aides immediately sought to clamp down on the buzzy nature of Ryan's "Who knows?" comment, focusing on the fact that Ryan said he consciously made the decision not to run. 
 
 On Paul Ryan/CNBC interview, key line overlooked: PR: "I'm happy where I am, so no." He ruled it out, as he's done many times in the past. — AshLee Strong (@AshLeeStrong) March 16, 2016 
 
 But Ryan's interview is creating buzz -- even among former House Speaker John Boehner, who Politico reports endorsed Ryan for president if no one wins the nomination outright -- for two reasons: One, he's one of Republicans' undisputed leaders. He's the speaker of the House. He's in charge of presiding over the convention itself. And he's the party's 2012 vice presidential nominee. 
 
 Ryan is fully aware of the goings-on of a convention and likely even more acutely aware of the weight his words carry at such an uncertain time for his party. The "Who knows?" remark, this argument goes, wasn't just a slip of the tongue. 
 
 And two, his interview with Harwood came as Donald Trump was in the process of sweeping at least three, and possibly four, of the five states voting in the GOP nominating process on Tuesday. The realization is sinking in among Republicans, Tuesday by Tuesday, that Trump is the most likely candidate to be their nominee (though a contested convention is also possible). 
 
 Taking this a step further, Ryan has said he'll support whoever the nominee is, but he has also denounced Trump's actions twice in this campaign. It's safe to say Ryan is not a fan of the idea of Trump leading the GOP ticket in November, if it comes to that. Even leaving open the idea of someone wresting the nomination from Trump at a convention is notable. 
 
 House Speaker Paul Ryan condemned efforts "from the left" to disrupt political rallies, but said all presidential candidates must help curb violence. He blamed budget-blocking attempts in the House on anxiety among voters leading up to the elections. (Reuters) 
 
 [Paul Ryan is rapidly emerging as the GOP's anti-Trump] 
 
 You can also read what Ryan said another way: He's not ruling out accepting the nomination at a contested convention, because why rule anything out that hasn't happened yet? "Never say never" and all that. Ryan played it off with Harwood like he honestly hadn't thought about the idea yet, so how could he know how he'd react if it came to that? 
 
 "I don't see that happening," he said of the idea of a contested convention. "I'm not thinking about it. I'm happy where I am, so no." 
 
 His aides point to "so no" as Ryan shutting the door on the idea of accepting a nomination at a contested convention. 
 
 And Ryan's spokeswoman, AshLee Strong, had this to say about Boehner's endorsement: "The speaker is grateful for the support, but he is not interested. He will not accept a nomination and believes our nominee should be someone who ran this year." 
 
 But you could also argue it's not clear whether "so no" was referring to the idea Ryan hadn't thought about a contested convention, or that he wouldn't accept the nomination if it were offered to him. 
 
 In some ways, Ryan brought this speculation -- however annoying it might be for him -- on himself. If he really had absolutely zero intention of accepting the party's nomination at any point this election cycle, he could have simply said so. 
 
 And he still can. For now, though, what you read into Ryan's latest comments is up to you.
– Paul Ryan is making not running for president look a lot like running for president. Time reports the speaker of the House released a 45-second video Friday that "plays like a campaign ad." In the video, titled Politics These Days, Ryan gives a speech lamenting that the GOP—and politics in general—is currently trying to divide people rather than unite them, according to ABC News. Rumors that Ryan will seek the Republican presidential nomination at a contested convention have dogged him for months, and Time states "this quasi-campaign video from Ryan will only add fuel to the fire." Ryan says he isn't interested in being the Republican nominee, even going so far as to threaten legal action against a group that sought to get him the nomination. "I think you need to run for president if you’re going to be president," Time quotes him as saying. He says even if offered, he won't accept the nomination at the convention. But he's said something similar in the past. A month before he was sworn in as speaker of the House, he said he wouldn't even be a candidate for the position. Ryan, one of the most popular figures the party has, will also chair the Republican National Convention.