The Paul Ryan Origin Story Is a Heaping Pile - By Charles P. Pierce

[kpete]

The Paul Ryan Origin Story Is a Heaping Pile
By Charles P. Pierce
at 1:08PM

I thought I'd seen the apotheosis of Beltway beat-sweetening in the early 1990's, when we were treated to a soprano chorus of hosannahs to the Staggering Genius Of Newt Gingrich. But, I fear, that may only have been the historical warm-up to the oratorio of humjobbery that is going to break loose now that the zombie eyed granny-starver, Paul Ryan, Pericles Of Janesville, has hit the big time.

...................................

Exhibit A can be found on the front page of the New York Times today, in which four actual reporters conspire to tell the tale of how Ryan rose from adversity to a position in which he can focus his zombie eyes on your granny and arrange for her eventual starvation. (We don't find out until almost the end of the piece that Ryan's worth between two and seven million bucks, but that's apparently okay because he's not as rich as his running mate and, apparently, installed his own cabinets.) Gaze in awe at how completely salient biographical facts go spiraling down the ol' memory hole....

But the death of his father when Mr. Ryan was only 16 punctured his life of math tests and bike riding, and in that fissure, the seeds of his worldview were planted. "Paul went to work at McDonald's and began to pull his own weight, and becomes class president the same year," said his brother Tobin. "It is remarkable that he chose a path of individual responsibility and maturity rather than letting grief take a different course." He added: "Some of his political views did begin to coalesce around the time of my father's passing." His self-reliance followed him to summer camp, where as a counselor he canoed and hiked, and into young adulthood, where he took up deer hunting, a fact noted in his engagement notice in 2000 in The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. "Ryan is an avid hunter and fisherman," the paper reported, "who does his own skinning and butchering and makes his own Polish sausage and bratwurst." It followed him into college, where he immediately took a passionate interest in the canon of conservative economic theorists and writers — Ayn Rand and Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman and Ludwig von Mises — who inspired the up-and-coming generation of libertarian-minded activists and lawmakers.

How can you possibly write that passage and dismiss idly as a "contradiction" the ironic — not to mention hilariously hypocritical — fact that, after his father passed, and while working the fry station and toting canoes at a YMCA summer camp, Ryan was also the beneficiary of Social Security survivor's benefits? These did precisely what they were designed to do, which was to help young Paul Ryan get the education that would help him become the adult Paul Ryan who's been on one government payroll or another since he left college, and who goes around telling half-dim audiences that people on government assistance are mired in a "culture of dependency."

If it weren't for FDR and LBJ, and for the munificence of the American taxpayer, Paul Ryan would still be in Janesville, looking for a job.



Read more: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/paul-ryan-new-york-times-profile-11644919#ixzz23RsWmkT9

[librechik]

1. Then this morning I hear that Ryan is a millionaire several times over. How did that happen?

I'm sure he never profited off his contacts, insider knowledge and the many unique opportunities sucked up during years of working in the Capitol for powerful men. That would be wrong.

do I have to use the sarcasm smilie?

[lunatica]

2. After getting Social Security help he then became a self-made man

[bullwinkle428]

3. K&R alone for the simple inclusion of "oratorio of humjobbery"!

[cali]

4. One more time: Ryan comes from a well off family

In fact, his great grandfather founded what is now a very large company:

http://www.ryancentral.com/index.html

His father was a prominent attorney. His grandfather was a U.S. Attorney appointed by Silent Cal. He would have been able to go to college without the Social Security benefits.

Do your homework, Mr. Pierce. As for the NYT article, it's just bullshit and pathetic.

[spooky3]

5. great comment in replies to the NYTimes article to which Pierce referred and linked:

" dc lambert
nj

@ Jacob handelsman: Romey and Ryan may have a " philosophy of self-reliance, personal responsibility and fiscal discipline" but that is ALL they have. I can have a 'philosophy' of running the marathon but if I sit on my couch all day and call myself a marathon runner while yelling at my wife to get herself in shape, then what would you call me? And if I ran on a platform of actually being a marathoner, then what would call me?

Romney - born rich, propped up and supported at every juncture, never fearing poverty or even failure (Daddy & his friends to the rescue) is about as 'self reliant' and full of 'personal responsibility' as my dog, who also imagines herself ruler of the universe. And Ryan, who went to college on social security, imagines he 'did it all himself' like my 5 year old who once imagined he steered the amusement park boat when it was actually on a track. He proudly talked about it for years, my 5 year old--how he 'steered the boat himself,' how good a captain he was. Until he grew up.

Our leaders 'create their own reality' just like my 5 year old, never growing up and actually accepting true responsibility or self-reliance, which is a responsibility to self and others and the society that helps create you and support you, and a reliance on the self as well as others, understanding that we are all interconnected, that there really is a track we all built under that water."