Republican Golden Boy, Paul Ryan, received a great deal of coverage in today’s New York Times article “A Young Republican with a Sweeping Agenda” including being asked questions that for some reason are not showing up in the online edition, but are probably the most insightful on his positions. Given that they aren’t readily apparent in the online article, I’m re-publishing some of them here to show yet again how out of touch Mr. Ryan is from his constituent’s views and from the majority of Wisconsinites.
From the sidebar column headlined “From the Mind of a Lawmaker” I bring you PR – Paul Ryan along with a MCM (MadCityMan) special response:
R – Whether he considers himself part of the Tea Party Movement – ” Kind of. I guess so. I never really thought about it like that.”
MCM response – “You must not be doing much thinking if you haven’t decided on this one. Your hero Michelle Bachmann has set-up a Tea Party Caucus, and I’m sure she’s asked you to join.”
PR – On Representative Michele Bachmann, Republican of Minnesota – “She’s a boundless ball of energy.”
MCM response – “She might be a boundless ball of energy, but she is also a basket full of loony ideas. Do you support her positions?”
PR – Whether Sarah Palin is qualified to be President – “She has as much qualification as the current occupant of the White House.”
MCM response – “A former beauty queen; half term governor from the 48th largest state in the nation; who served as the mayor of Wasilla, a town of at most 9,780 residents; who attended 4 different schools to get her B.S., uses a hand prompter to remember a single digit number vs. a Senator from IL, the 5th largest state; three term state Senator, community organizer, author, graduate of Columbia and Harvard Law School, President of the Harvard Law review… Somehow this equality of qualifications doesn’t compute, Mr. Ryan.”
PR – Why he wins his District – “I have 67 cousins in Janesville.”
MCM response – “That might help you in Janesville, but not sure even this prolific of a family will get you much further in your political career.”
PR – What level of debt is allowed in his home – “No credit card debt. A mortgage.”
MCM response – “Does your wife have any say in this? Maybe it was the way the question was asked, but I would think she would in today’s modern family. “
My conclusion – Mr. Ryan, is an out of touch, conservative, politician with a giant war chest, who needs to see some real competition in his Democratic leaning District and who needs to have his constituents wake up to how extreme his viewpoints are, even if he is young and has hair as thick as Blagojevich’s albeit in a more contemporary cut (as the New York Times journalist claimed).
Outstanding and a great catch. i dont read the nytimes daily, the only thing I make sure and catch is Frank richs column on Sundays. I will need to check this out, when I am in the mood. I cant read a story on the golden boy anytime around dinner!!
One thing though that is a pet peeve of mine. He is a Republican politician. He is not a conservative. There is a difference!
Thanks for the comment. Good point about him being a Republican. From his responses the NYT interview it sounds like he thinks he’s a tea party person too. Appreciate the feedback.
These are supposed to show how “out of touch” he is? Sometimes you guys really reach.
1 – Kind of is a very reasonable answer to this question considering how varying “the movement” is. Answer yes and you’ll say so you believe in whatever the looniest, fringe groups do. But obviously in terms of taxation & budget, he certainly is in line with what many groups support.
2 – 100% the type of answer you’d get if you ask any Democrat about Howard Dean after the famous yell. Or Rangel or Maxine Waters. Politicans always give these sort of comments about characters like that. It’s a polite way of not touching it. About like telling some one, “that’s an…interesting…choice of colors you decided to wear today.”
3 – No major disagreement – I won’t argue that was a stretch, but not that terribly large of a stretch considering he was a half-term Senator with charisma & who delivered a great speech when he became the nominee.
4 – but I thought you wanted your politicians to “be human” and not be “automatons with no sense of humor.” Or does that only apply to Feingold & those you agree with?
5 – why would you presume his wife wouldn’t have say in this? Today’s modern family has women earning a living and making budget decisions just as often as men – your attitude seems to presume the his wife would be out spending their husband’s money recklessly or something. Again, it’s really funny how far you’re going to pick nits & fabricate issues. The fact of the matter is the approach he mentions – mortgage debt is ok but no credit card debt is a good thing. There are entirely too many greedy fools who don’t understand 18-28% interest compounded daily is a bad thing.
MCM – I’m quite certain you have many philosophical, ideological and practical/implementation areas you disagree with Ryan. I’d find a discussion of any one of those things much more interesting than the list of petty items you’ve come up with here.
Hi Locke,
This wasn’t my list, it was the list the New York Times published in their article on Paul Ryan. I was just responding to his answers.
1. He’s scared to completely say he is a Tea Partier, because he realizes how toxic this is.
2. What do Dean, Rangel or Waters have to do with Bachmann? She is a nut job, none of these are.
3. Glad you grudgingly agree, but suspect you’ll vote for Palin when she gets your party’s nomination.
4. Has nothing to do with automatons, just a response to his limited political appeal outside his District.
5. It was the tone implicit in his response that bothered me and I qualified this by saying that it could be the way the question was asked, i.e. level of debt ALLOWED… makes it sound like he’s the one controlling all decisions.
1 – it’s only toxic because as I said, how wide ranging their views are. PP below says, since he voted for TARP, he doesn’t fit with that so he must then be a racist along with the rest of the Tea Partiers.
2 – my point was people in either party don’t directly call out their own very often when they say or do disagreeable or questionable things. I read his answer on Bachman as anything but a ringing endorsement, sort of like you’d say to a Rudy type of kid. “Sure does try hard” type comments mean you’re not good but I don’t want to be mean.
3 – I am a man without a party. Never registered with either though I don’t deny I vote for Republicans more often than Democrats in most races, the letter following the name carries no weight whatsoever in my choice. I refuse to participate in partisan primaries because I have no right to tell either party who should get their nomination. I’m not at all a fan of Palin, though I think the way she’s been treated has been pretty awful. I’d never say never, but since I wouldn’t vote for President out of pity/sympathy, it’s pretty tough to imagine a scenario where I’d vote for her.
4 – that’s fine, whatever. He was trying to be funny & it was self-deprecating humor at that. Put those words in Feingold’s mouth & people here would’ve laughed & not picked at it.
Bachman is a nutjob? Why? Because she is conservative through and through. I will tell you who is a bonafide nutjob. Alan Grayson. What a vicious jerk!!!
To each their own. I happen to like Alan Grayson and wish we had more like him. Anthony Wiener is another great voice in the House.
If you so admire Michelle, I’d suggest you take a look at this blog to find out why you shouldn’t – http://dumpbachmann.blogspot.com/
Aside from “conservative” your description above could fit Senator Feingold to a T:
out of touch politician with a giant war chest, who needs to see some real competition, and who needs to have his constituents wake up to how extreme his viewpoints are
Locke.,
1. Again i cant stress this enough. What the legit players of the “tea” party movement are most upset about are things like TARP, Medicare Part D, etc… WHich Ryan took a leadership role in helping pass. So he obviously is NOT a true member.
So if he does not fit in their mold, then he either fits in the Koch Industry/Dick Armey elites scaring the “tea partiers” up into a frenzy to make sure they dont have to pay their share of taxes(I would put him in this classification personally),
Or he is part of the racist faction of the “tea party” whose biggest concern is that we have a “kenyan”as president.
Wherever he slots in, to say he never thought about it like that is a bold faced lie, I am certain he thinks very hard about how to make sure they support him. Any republican running is.
2. First off you cant compare Howard Dean to Waters/Rangel. The scream, as we know with the benefit of hindsight, was a ridiculous thing put through by the msm. He was an outsider and never had a chance. Secondly, possibly true, but we saw President Obama back away when given the chance to defend Rangel the other day. If you are truly for the people and not a party hack you would not be defending Bat shit crazy Bachmann.
3. I think MCM hits the nail on the head.
4. I actually agree with you here. There is no way he would ever tell the truth why he wins his district so he needs to make a joke(and for ryan its a good one).
5. I would like to see how he lives compared to his salary ($174,000). He comes from a family of money and has been spoon fed his whole life. Unlike the Paul ryan the fed gov cant go asking mommy and daddy for more money.
Forgot as I mentioned earlier, we also have the benefit of hindsight with Senator Feingold. We can look back and see that he was right voting against all trade deals, voting against the patriot act, voting against the war, etc… Except for his vote to approve the obviously unqualified John Ashcroft, what would those extreme viewpoints be?
#3– I will never understand how you guys thought Obama was qualified to be President but Palin wasn’t to be VP.
#5 — Proud, do you never tire of bashing the rich?
To answer your last question, I think Feingold has extreme votes, you think Ryan does. It’s just a matter of perspective, something you and MCM can’t ever seem to get through your heads.
They will never get it. Well, at least not until the power has shifted back towards the people. These libs forget we are a center right country!
1 – true enough. But I thought you guys were the ones arguing for nuanced. I’m against bailouts and too big to fail as anyone, and as such I was disappointed by anyone R or D who voted yes on them. And while that applies to Ryan, he clearly struggled over the issue – even publicly saying so. Though I still disagreed with his decision, he presented the best, most thoughtful explanation of why he voted that way – and I don’t believe anyone in Congress deliberated more carefully. Most free market capitalists struggle with where the lines are for government intervention and there are plenty of Tea Party people who fit that bill.
That’s absolutely garbage. Just trash.
Every politician weighs how to appeal to the various constituencies in their voting district. Shocking as this apparently is to you.
2 – Rangel may not have been the best example because the exception to the rule is that once charges are filed it’s OK to back away. Point is, part of being a member of either of the parties is to be slow to criticize your own. If you think there’s a difference between the two in this area, you’re really not paying attention.
Holy crap, if you think Ashcroft was unqualified, what must you think of Kagan?
I have to disagree whole heartedly with your explanation to number 1. Ryan was one of the leaders in trying to get the original bail out passed. Remember the one that Paulsen wrote up in 3 pages saying we give him unlimited money to bail out wall st and that he is answerable to no one in what he does with the money or where it goes. There was not even the tiniest bit of free market capitalism involved. It was so extreme that the vast majority of the republican party couldnt get on board.
I would say that he was scared that his masters on wall st would go broke and he would need to whore himself out to new donors so he did not care how they got the money as long as they did.
finally I said the racist faction is one of the factions. If you read my post I did not put him in that one,I just pointed out that it is a faction.
Then you obviously didn’t listen to what Ryan was actually saying during this time. I most certainly did because I was fundamentally against the bailouts and would have thought he was too, so I listened to his interviews, and read his articles. He clearly struggled with it – didn’t really like them but provided a thorough explanation of why he thought they were necessary and what he thought would happen if they didn’t. I disagreed – carefully listened and considered and ultimately still disagreed. What I heard was someone who put more effort and consideration into the issue than anyone else, but I still disagreed.
For you, it’s a matter of, Paul Ryan = Bad. Good for you.
Um, No.
In other words: since he’s doesn’t agree completely with some of the Tea Partiers, he’s either an elite manipulating people or a racist. You need to read about the false dilemma logical fallacy.
Since you don’t agree with me, you’re either a fool or a jerk.
And just to be perfectly clear, that’s an analogy. I think you’re neither.
Huh what makes you even remotely think we are a center right country? is it the dems major election wins the last 3 cycles? or maybe its the polls that all poll towards liberal ideology.
What polls are you referring to? I have ONLY seen where most Americans consider themselves to be conservative over liberal. Do you NOT UNDERSTAND how many people wish they could take their Obama vote BACK? The Dems only won in 06 and 08. You are about to have your socks blown off with GOP wins in Nov. Are you not paying attention? We are taking our country back away from this radical leftist socialist agenda!!! This is not the freakin change people were looking to believe in!!!!!
I am talking about issue polls not partisan polls. Poll people and see if they think gays should be allowed to marry. Poll people and see if they think everyone shoulod have healthcare. Poll people and see if we need financial reform. Poll people and see if we should take care of the 9/11 heroes. Poll people and see if we should hold BP accountable for every cent of the oil spill. And the list goes on and on and on…..
can you tell me about his radical leftist socialist agenda? I have yet to see even a hint of it.
Forgot:
#3 is simple Palin writes crib notes on her hand to remember talking points and still gets them wrong. Although i do appreciate her keeping tabs on russia from her front porch.
#5 – i never once bashed the rich, I just think they need to pay their fair share. The country works better when there isnt such a disparity between the rich and the poor(working on a new post about this to explain it further).
I dont think ryan has extreme votes, I know he votes with wall st’s best interest in mind and not the best interest of his district. I have explained that in detail. I just wondered some specific examples of Feingolds extremism.
PS: the vote to put his party over the heroes of 911 was a pretty extreme vote.
If you want to play the 9/11 card and oversimplify, I could say Feingold put his vote against the Patriot Act over the heroes of 9/11. If you don’t think that’s fair to say about Russ, it’s not fair to say about Paul.
Here’s one more of Feingold’s extreme positions: Against a ban on partial-birth abortion. When asked if killing a baby that had slipped entirely from the birth canal would still be a “choice” that the mother had a constitutionally protected right to make, Feingold said it would be up to the woman and her doctor. (!)
Wouldn’t you say a proponent of infanticide is a bit extreme?