Many things have been said about Paul Ryan lately … including that he is good looking, which boggles my mind.
But the one that is beginning to make the most sense to me is the description of him as the “intellectual soul of the Republican party.” Originally meant as a compliment, the statement resonates deeper with each unearthed hypocrisy.
I am not asking the man, or anyone, to agree with what I believe. I know that either you already essentially agree with me, or you will die before you take a drag off my social liberalism. Engaging politics on a more nuanced level than the way you root for your favorite team is as quaint and antiquated an idea as … “Leave It To Beaver” … or habeus corpus.
But I expect candidates to be basically truthful, and when caught making glaringly obvious omissions, being mistaken, or outright lying … to own up to it. However, that can be perceived as weakness and therefore is antithetical to #winning … which is apparently all that matters.
An example: Paul Ryan wants to repeal Obamacare. In 2010, Paul Ryan specifically requested funds from a program funded by Obamacare. To me, this could have been a minor inconsistency. We all benefit from things we don’t like. For instance, have you ever worn cotton?
It would have been easy to say “I plan to take advantage of all funds made available to my state, regardless of whether I think that the federal government would be ill-advised to make them available to us.” But no. When The Nation reported on this, a Romney spokesman said that it was a Bush-created grant program … even though the letter specifically cites HRSA-11-017, which is clearly funded by the Affordable Care Act (the actual name of Obamacare) and a program created by FDR (Public Health Services Act).
Another example: Paul Ryan voted for the 2011 Budget Control Act. He now claims he didn’t support the defense cuts that are part of the bill … citing his own bill to offset said cuts, which has yet to be voted on in the Senate. If you vote for a bill that says “X happens if Y doesn’t happen” … and Y doesn’t happen … then you voted for X to happen. His argument is like saying “I vote for war, unless the enemy surrenders” … and then saying “I didn’t vote for war, I thought they would surrender!”
There are more popular examples. These aren’t even the things he said in that RNC speech … I’m not dealing with that, as it is well-tread ground. And yes, that’s a Fox News link.
You may remember, that I was going to try to be more zen about this … so I apologize for falling off the wagon. Times are tough. But you should be insulted by the fact that Paul Ryan, and the rest of his party, think you are too stupid to take out your phone and Google “Budget Control Act” or “HRSA-11-017.”
At least when Clinton lied to us, his indiscretions were not easily verifiable to anyone with an internet connection. You needed ultra-violet light and stuff … and last time I checked, that wasn’t a feature in the upcoming iPhone.