Maureen Dowd on Paul Ryan: "Cutest package cruelty ever came in"

[highplainsdem]

From the 8/19 Brisbane Times (will probably be in the NY Times tomorrow):

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/world/cutest-package-cruelty-ever-came-in-20120818-24f0z.html

Cutest package cruelty ever came in
August 19, 2012
Maureen Dowd


I'd been wondering how long it would take Republicans to realise that Paul Ryan is their guy. He's the cutest package that cruelty ever came in. He has a winning air of sad cheerfulness. He's affable, clean-cut and really cut, with the Irish altar-boy widow's peak and droopy, winsome blue eyes and unashamed sentimentality.

Who better to rain misery upon the heads of millions of Americans?

He's Scrooge disguised as a Pickwick, an ideologue disguised as a wonk. Not since Ronald Reagan tried to cut the budget by categorising ketchup and relish as vegetables have the Republicans managed to find such an attractive vessel to mask harsh policies with a smiling face.

The young gun and former prom king is a fan of deer hunting, catfish noodling, heavy metal and Beethoven. He's a great dad who says the cheese, bratwurst and beer of Wisconsin flow in his veins. He's so easy to like - except that his politics are just a teensy bit heartless.

-snip-

[GoCubsGo]

1. I don't generally care much for Maureen Dowd.

But, she's right here, although I don't agree that he's all that cute.

[tridim]

2. Do other women think he's "cute"?

I find him creepy, but I'm a guy.

He looks like an evil version of Steve Carell.

[Lebam in LA]

6. I am with you

Cute has never crossed my mind with looking at this creepy lil guy

[lunatica]

7. To me he looks like he forgot to put his upper dentures in

And he parts his hair like it's 1920.

He has the kind of looks where the first time you see him he appears somewhat handsome for a few seconds, then it fades away when all the parts seem to simply not go together very well. The second impression is the one that lingers.

Romney is the same way. At first glance the manly chin and the touch of gray at the temples appear to make him handsome, then you see his eyes are too small, glinty and sunken and his walk is prissy.

The handsome in both of them wears off very quickly.

[Auntie Bush]

13. I"ve been thinking that for a long time but hesited to say it.

Here is the perfect opportunity. Yeah, he looks like he left his upper and lower dentures on the dresser. Poor fellow! He's going to be a beauty when he gets old with that toothless concave mouth. Now I'll go wash my mouth with soap.

While I'm at it...did anyone ever notice how bent over Romney's back is and his feet go quickly back and forth like a cartoon? drawing

[lunatica]

15. Romney walks in real time like he's in a speeded up film

I know exactly what you mean.

[treestar]

16. Haven't seen Rmoney's walk

Anyone have a clip of it? I'm curious.

[summerschild]

18. I think the magic underwear causes that..

[lunatica]

24. He might be trying to hold it up by keeping his knees together

[Ship of Fools]

30. He has no arm swing. Sign of some kind of mental disorder, can't remember what ...

[Raine]

41. EXACTLY, the more I see of them the more I realize how strange looking they are. nt

[Ruby the Liberal]

10. No. His features are too harsh and

looking past that, his soul is black.

[southernyankeebelle]

11. Cute does not equal smart. FDR was not cute but I'd take him any day because he was smart.

Women don't elect men because they are smart. No more than men elect women like Palin because she is cute.

[MADem]

12. I think the "Eddie Munster all grown up" model works pretty well, too.

But I think the Evil Carell thing is most definitely there!

Maureen Dowd needs to stop acting like a teen-aged girl, IMO. It's unseemly after a certain age. The whole "cute" boys and "cheerleader" girls schtick went out with meeting up at the malt shop and necking on Lover's Lane--yet she persists in shopping it at every opportunity. If it's not "High School Musical" with her, it's "Manly guys and sexpot gals." Who the fuck THINKS --never mind LIVES-- like that in this day and age? I don't think she's playing it for laughs, either--she thinks she's a cross between the "girl reporter" and Carrie Bradshaw. It's very off putting.

People don't vote for "cute" anymore, Quayle gave that the kiss of death but good, and she demonstrates her lack of understanding of the mood of the electorate this time around when she flogs those kinds of scenarios--even to make valid points about how Ryan is an asshole.

She just needs to work up a new schtick, and bring her mental and chronological age a bit more into alignment.

[hifiguy]

17. Amen to that. Her "Mean Girl" act is

tiresome and not becoming in a middle-aged woman.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

14. Yes,

I think many mindless Republican women find him quite attractive and in reality he is at least average...as opposed to Mitch McConnell who decidedly resembles a turtle or Eric Cantor who looks like a smarmy weasel most of the time. TMZ was flooded with requests for pictures of a shirtless Ryan...go figure.

[eShirl]

20. oh, he's cute as a bug's anus

[Rosa Luxemburg]

31. no, he looks a rat that came out of the sewer

I apologize to rats

[Grammy23]

33. Thanks for the laugh---

I have been having a lot of angst over the election and the possibility that it will be stolen by the Repubs. Also having a lot of grief over the assumed Republican ticket. Sad about those who have abandoned Obama over his "broken promises" .... even knowing the dastardly plan the Republicans put in place on Day One.

So when I read your comment, I had the first really good laugh about all of this I have had in days. Rat, indeed. Or maybe weaselly is more like it. In any case, I need to lighten up about all of this as I feel myself being sucked into all of this election crappola. I can do what I can to make a difference, get out and vote and then wait to see how things play out on Nov. 6th. Laughing now and then is good for the soul.

Thanks to the others who made comments on this thread as reading them one after the other is what contributed to my glee.

[Starry Messenger]

3. What the fuck is cute about him?

He looks like Crispin Glover's character in Charlie's Angels.

[Fawke Em]

22. LOL! I think he looks like Crispin Glover's "McFly" character

in "Back to the Future!"

[Starry Messenger]

25. It's the hair!

[Jazzgirl]

32. LOLOLOL!!!

The creepy thin man rises!

[ananda]

4. Sorry, but I do not think Ryan is either cute or attractive.

Is it just me?

I find his look a real turnoff.

[1-Old-Man]

5. He looks like Howdy-Doody, while pulling the wings off flies.

[Worried senior]

8. I also

don't think he's cute.

[Blecht]

9. Drivel as usual from Dowd

I feel stupider for reading it. Just because she focuses her juvenile venom at somebody who deserves it this time is no reason to give her any props.

I am kicking myself for clicking on the link -- the OP did warn us in the subject line that it was from her.

[Vattel]

21. I couldn't agree more.

[emilyg]

28. Can't stand her. Waste of time.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

37. Touche! That was spot on. I have no one to blame but myself. nt

[tanyev]

19. Former prom king AND Biggest Brown Noser.

That really says it all.

[madrchsod]

23. what happened to maureen?

she actually wrote something way beyond my exceptions.so my tip of the hat to her for one excellent summation of little pauli.

[SoapBox]

26. ...vomit

He makes me sick.

[UTUSN]

27. R#23 & K for, I get the "cruelty" part really well, the "cute" part not so much

[gulliver]

29. It's worth it just to learn the term "widow's peak"

And I love the Rush Limbaugh quote: Rush Limbaugh hails Ryan as ''the last Boy Scout'', noting that the tall, slender 42-year-old is a true believer: ''We now have somebody on the ticket who's us.''

Interestingly, that quote was removed from the version on the San Jose Mercury News:

http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_21319974/maureen-dowd-paul-ryan-is-cutest-package-that

[Grammy23]

34. Maybe he does have a certain "boyish" charm---

But like others have noted on this thread, once you take a closer look, the first impression kind of fades. His eyes are droopy, his ears stick out, his hair is funny looking and on some of the photos, he has been caught with some weird expressions. I think they figure he has youth on his side and his "Aw shucks" attitude. That attitude, however, falls away when he gets down to business and that is what the American voters need to think about. He has a nasty attitude toward those who are struggling and just trying to make it from one day to the next. He got HIS and by God, he is going to keep it and take some more if he can get his mitts on it. He has a heart as black as coal. And even with his sainted mother by his side, we must never forget that. He is one cold hearted Muthah.

Boyish charm won't win anyone when (and IF) they figure out what he is really about. It is our job to make sure the REAL Paul Ryan is revealed. We can only hope that someone in the Democratic Party can take note of this flaw in the man and make that a featured topic every day until the election. (Mitt's hands aren't clean. There is plenty to critique about him, too.)

[CBHagman]

35. I'm glad to see that both Katrina Vanden Heuvel and Maureen Dowd...

...have zeroed in on the heartlessness of the Ryan proposals. For months we've had to put up with coverage from a swooning press that suggested Ryan was worth considering for suggesting anything at all. How low can our standards go?

[LongTomH]

36. "Cute but cruel" kinda reminds me of this quote from Sir Terry Pratchett....

"Beauty. Grace. That's what matters. If cats looked like frogs, we'd realize what nasty, cruel little bastards they are. Style. That's what people remember." -- Granny Weatherwax in Pratchett's Lords and Ladies.

[B Calm]

38. He looks like Ann Coulter to me!

But then I thought Sarah Palin looked like Rush Limbaugh with lipstick on!

[meow2u3]

39. RAyn is a cross between Count Dracula and Theodore Bundy.

And he acts accordingly: a scary, cruel, heartless monster in attractive packaging.

[Raine]

40. "cute"??? I think he's weird and creepy looking. nt