Paul Ryan learned the hard way when he posed as a soup kitchen pot scrubber in Youngstown the past week end. It was so...um... humanizing for a vice presidential candidate to take time out from his busy schedule to don an apron in the dining hall of St. Vincent de Paul to wash some pots whether they needed it or not.
It was clearly a political act that backfired on any ideas that Ryan might have had about showing his affinity with the day jobs of ordinary folks.
From the Youngstown Vindicator, we are told of the backlash from the intrusion into the lives of kitchen crews:
"The president of Mahoning County's St. Vincent de Paul Society is 'shocked' and 'angry' that Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan used the soup kitchen for a 'publicity stunt.'
"Bryan J. Antal, who runs the society said the campaign 'ramrodded themselves in there without getting proper permission for the visit."The dining hall's coordinator, Juanita Sherba, said she had agreed at first to the visit, but now realizes it was a "mistake".
Shucks, the Ryan people said, the candidate simply wanted to call attention to the "Meaningful charitable contributions the St. Vincent de Paul Society makes to people in need."
And I might add, will have to do so with still greater effort if the brutal Ryan budget ever settles into our simple workaday lives..
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4 comments:
'Just finished listening to the Tuesday debate. What I learned is that if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen. Maybe Ryan was practicing (on already clean pots).
St. Vincent de Paul's soup kitchen would be well-advised to brace for longer lines if the Romney-Ryan ticket prevails on Nov. 6. High on their list of government social services for steep budget cutbacks are federally financed feeding programs, notably food stamps. Although Mitt himself has lumped food stamp clients among the 47 pct. of deadbeats who needn't expect any mercy from his economic policies, the fact is that a significant number of them are working families whose low incomes qualify them for such subsidies, including millions of children. Others include disabled persons who can't hold a steady job and seniors whose Social Security is insufficient to cover their subsistence needs. For those who dispute such claims, please do the math on Mitt's proposed tax and spending-cut plan. Or study Budget Committee chairman Ryan's proposed federal budget.
David Hess,
How about we just elect a president whose policies promote economic growth and job creation so that people don't need soup kitchens in the first place? Our country is clearly not doing that under President Obama.
People want jobs not handouts.....
Soup kitchens, that's what's wrong with America. It was so obvious.
Of course there were no soup kitchens during the Reagan and Bush years. Thankfully, each one of the poor magically turned into one those Thousand Points of Light, causing a huge soup surplus. It was all polkadots and moonbeams in America.
I think that was way back when, when young Paul Ryan's family was subsisting on his father's Social Security Benefits. But that wasn't a handout, that was a prepaid campaign contribution.
BTW the way, skip TPFans' house on Halloween, he's just passing out teabags and vouchers for a an old roll of Necco candy.
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