Associated Press
Just at a surface level, the idea of Paul Ryan stopping by a soup kitchen is strange, if not ridiculous. The right-wing congressman, a proud admirer of Ayn Rand's philosophy, no doubt sees soup kitchens as outlets that create dependency. This is, after all, the "don't simply feed fish" guy.
Indeed, his extremist ideology drove Ryan to write the radical House Republican budget plan, which would be deliberately brutal towards the very people who rely on charity and public benefits to get by.
But given this background, it took real chutzpah for Ryan to show up at an Ohio soup kitchen, smile for the cameras, and pretend to do real work. The Washington Post's Felicia Sonmez reported that Ryan and his team "ramrodded their way" into a kitchen over the weekend so he could manufacture a photo-op.
Brian J. Antal, president of the Mahoning County St. Vincent De Paul Society, said that he was not contacted by the Romney campaign ahead of the Saturday morning visit by Ryan, who stopped by the soup kitchen after a town hall at Youngstown State University.
"We're a faith-based organization; we are apolitical because the majority of our funding is from private donations," Antal said in a phone interview Monday afternoon. "It's strictly in our bylaws not to do it. They showed up there, and they did not have permission. They got one of the volunteers to open up the doors."
He added: "The photo-op they did wasn't even accurate. He did nothing. He just came in here to get his picture taken at the dining hall."
By the time Ryan showed up for his impromptu, 15-minute visit, he was too late -- according to the Post's report, the hall had already been cleaned after the food had been served and the patrons had left. But Ryan wanted to look good for the cameras, and walking around an empty soup kitchen wouldn't make much of an impact.
So Ryan put on an apron and volunteered to wash some dishes, though he ended up "washing pots and pans that did not appear to be dirty." Antal added that he was discouraged about letting Ryan "wash clean pans, and then take a picture."
Like most Romney/Ryan attempts to appear compassionate towards the less fortunate -- folks Mitt Romney himself condemned in his infamous "47 percent" video -- the photo-op was just for show.
Update: According to NBC News reporters on the scene, it turns out there were some dirty dishes, left for the congressman by a volunteer to clean as part of the photo-op. Alex Moe and Betsy Cline have more on the details that were not included in the original Washington Post report.
Leave a Comment:
I hope everyone can see through this stunt.
Do you think FOX will give them the society's comment?
Stunt indeed! What's next? showing up at a nursing home, pretending to care then walking into their TV Room and changing the channel without asking before zipping away to the next photo op?
Disruptive. Narcissistic. Completely Faux.
He'll have to change the channel to Faux News. Can't have those old folks watching MSNBC - they might actually learn the truth.
Of course it's a PHOTO-OP! He is a POLITICIAN folks. Nothing to see hear, move along.
usually with photo ops the candidate does perform the stunt even if it is set up, most know better than to pose with a clean pot they did not wash
"Nothing to see hear, move along." At least grammar check your comments if you're going to try to defend a fake person.
@ Beautiful49 grammar check may be needed however Hank was not defending ryan, what you need to check is your ability to read sarcasm.
You can see immediately when Lying Ryan puts on his apron that the kitchen is already clean. You can see that the pots are already clean, so how stupid does Ryan think the American people are that they would not see through his scam? What I find most disturbing about this, he involved his children. What teaching them to lie isn't sufficient, now you want to teach them how to run a con. PATHETIC.
I was absolutely disgusted, by the display of obvious deceit, by Ryan. You could see by the look on his wife's face, that she was not at all pleased by the situation. What frightens me, is that Romney seems to be gaining ground in the race for the White House. How can someone vote for a man that has outright LIED to us for so long, and shrug off his comments about the "47% of Americans that will never take responsibility for their lives"? His extreme right wing policies, that will take us back to the Dark Ages, are so out of touch, it scares the heck out of me. Making abortion illegal, even in cases of rape and incest, appalls me. As for the economy, it took us 8 long years to get into this financial mess, because we financed houses people could not afford, and went to war with a country that did NOT threaten us in ANY way. It will take at least 8 years to recover from it. I am voting for Obama. He cares about those that are not able to care for themselves, has compassion that Romney does NOT have, and sees the world through eyes that have struggled to make it in this world. Obama could have gone to work for some big name law firm when he got out of Harvard, but he instead chose to work in his community, and help those that need a hand up. Romney is a corporate raider, and has NO clue how everyday Americans live. He was born with a silver spoon, and can NOT connect with the majority of us. I am a 50 year old white gal, raised in Seattle, and I went to integrated schools ALL of my life. I honestly feel in my gut, that if Obama were ALL white, and not half black, this would not be such a tight race for the Presidency. It is ridiculous, that in this day and age, people still see color as an obstacle, and not an asset. WAKE UP ROMNEY-ITES!!! Unless you are one of the 1%, and you vote for Romney, you are only screwing yourself. The problem is, you'll be screwing the rest of us too. When you mark your ballot, ask yourself this question: Do you want to let a good, HONEST man finish the job he started, or do you want to elect a man that has CONSISTENTLY lied to us, countlessly flip-flopped, and sent thousands of American jobs overseas, so that he and his friends can make the BIG bucks? Don't let the color of Obama's skin influence your decision; remember where we were 8 years ago, then vote your conscience.
"How can someone vote for a man that has outright LIED to us for so long, and shrug off his comments about the '47% of Americans that will never take responsibility for their lives'?"
Sad to say, that's the nature if the American electorate.
By the way, in #27.1 and #56 one of our more persistent trolls, Robbywobby, is engaging in a particularly pathetic attempt to spin this story to lyin' Ryan's advantage.
Uuuuh, the soup kitchen is privately funded? Hello? The actual story contains other photos of the Mrs smiling? The dishes were in fact dirty? They didn't actually "ramrod" in? Too bad you went to your blog with this "story" too soon, eh?
Oh no! FACTS!! Run away lefties, run!!!
Really guys! How idiotic can you be? Every president or candidate does multiple photo opps. Obama is the king of them. Are yall seriously so petty that you need to talk through the ins and outs of dirty dishes? Find something productive to do. This story was a big freakin lie like everything else that comes out of her mouth. At least she put an update in with the truth, most don't even do that. Such awesome "journalists"!!!
Somebody must have put out a call for help from other trolls. Gee, I wonder who that could have been. (eye roll)
Typical-these kooks use religion at will and the heck with your apolitical policy! Proof positive of how mixing religion with politics is bad for both!!!
Paul, I will take your comments about religion in this instance with a grain of salt, but, having worked for a branch of the SVDP Society for 7 years here in CT. I can tell you that they are an apolitical organization that, while based in Catholicism, does not espouse any faith. Look into them. They do an AMAZING job working for the poor, the homeless, the mentally ill. It burns me to my bones to see Lyin Ryan using them to his advantage. The people who use those services are forced to because of GOP policies, starting with the Reagan years and his policy of putting the mentally ill out on the streets. He is a morally disgusting person (I won't even call him a man).
Tracy I believe you mistook Paul's comment. What he was saying is that Ryan- the kook in his comment- is using religion at his will for his own political gain. When Paul says "to heck with your apolitical policy" what he's meaning there is that this is what Ryan said about that institution's policy. Ryan didn't care that they were a-political he just marched in and abused their charity for a political photo-op. Paul is then concluding that this is why melding of religion and politics is bad- because a. people like Ryan only use religion to tug at the public's emotions and not because it is or isn't what they truly believe and b. because when politics is mixed with religion you end up trumping the rights of the religion for the sake of politics or vise versa. In this case the desire of this charity to stay a-political was trumped by Ryan's desire to get his photo-op. Melding of church and state, in this instance, would mean that this church loses it's rights as a religious place of worship and as an extension, a religious place of charity.
Ryan didn't even have the manners to ask permission he just barged in. Rude.
I noticed that as well! That is LARGELY indicative of what he thinks of "those people!" They should have chased him out and thrown dirty pots and pans at him!
But, isn't TeeVee, Politics, -indeed life in the 21st Century- all a staged illusion?
"Reality Show" is an oxymoron, kind of like "Compassionate Conservative".
That is what I keep telling my shrink. (and they say I'm crazy?)
Remember Bush and the "Plastic Turkey"? To be honest I always thought that was worse than the "Mission accomplished" thing which was a whole new category of reprehensible. But to go to the actual soldier in the actual war zone and and say in effect "This photo is all your life is really worth to me" is pure disrespect not only on a grand scale but also a deeply personal one
Looks like Ryan's wife is carrying a freshly-cooked pan of air out to the waiting invisible patrons.
KJ, CR, IA
I like me some fresh cooked "air" - Good catch , you know it was empty , just like Ryan's suit.
lol What a fake! A blue blood would never do that. I wonder how long that lasted...long enough for someone with a I Phone to snap a picture. Ryan doesn't know what hard work is. That's why he looks so awkward.
Actually many "wealthy" Americans do donate time -but they actually do something and usually avoid getting noticed.
This is a case of it being the thought that counts and since you can see Ryan almost giddy as the camera is rolling we can pretty much imagine what he was thinking. "this will show those ignorant unfortunates that I can fake it like a pro"
The families that Romney and Ryan come from would consider this beyond their station in life. I pretty sure Ryan has never worked a day in his life. Neither has Romney. I doubt either one knows how to wash dishes. This is probably the first and last time he has.
I think he probably worked as a kid, and decided he didn't like it at all, so he went into politics.
Your comment is so empty and without fact. Ryan started working as soon as his dad died, helped take care of his mom and grandma who lived with them as she was sick. And to spend this much energy on such, makes me wonder if you work or just draw government money?
Cue the mini violins---you can bet that Ryan didn't change his gramma's diaper.
I find that really hard to believe. I don't think Ryan worked a day in his life, or else he wouldn't be the way he is.
di hate to bust your bubble i bet u got 7 kids because u don't believe in b.c either
or blind about everything to you people live lol
Look, I don't know Ryan's family history or whether he worked as a kid. I'd rather believe he did. I'd rather believe that he waited tables or even tried retail. I'd like to believe that very few people *haven't* worked in some job in a store, restaurant, or something else that requires elbow grease. I can believe that Ryan has done some manual labor and I'd like to think it's true.
My only problem with this photo-op is how bereft it is of any actual helping. If he cleaned a few dirty dishes, that's not going to make up for the fact that he missed the bulk of the work, which was to actually feed poor folks and cleaning up the place. Someone leaving a handful of dirty pots for him to clean for his photo op doesn't at all count. If you go to a Soup Kitchen, the WORK is to feed the poor *and then* clean. The bigger issue is of course is what kind of staging is being done for this perfect photo op.
I'm all for the set up: Going to the kitchen unannounced. That's perfectly alright. Christian Bale did it to visit the victims of the theater shooting (though he did inform the town's mayor in advance as a courtesy), but if you pop in on a Soup Kitchen and the serving is all done... well, it's just lame sauce, and @!$%#ery. I mean--fakery.
Everything that Paul Ryan says and does is a lie. You cannot trust him. This is just a stunt. He is so disconnected from Americans especially the poor that would go into a soup kitchen. From His own statements I am 100 percent sure that he has never met a poor person or cares about them. This guy is a loser and he will always be one. He has no heart and no soul. He is fake. This was just a publicity stunt and if given the chance Ryan would cut everything including food stamps, soup kitchens, and Medicaid for the poor and disabled. This man hates the poor. He is not going to help them. Remember the "Let them die" chant from the Republican Convention? This is Paul Ryan's view as well. You cannot trust a Republican when it comes to the poor and disabled. He is a fake and will always be one. This stunt proves that.
Love the crisp white apron. Can't help wondering if he was late on purpose -- any earlier and he might have had actual contact with the people who ate there.
I bet he had plenty of body guards with him.
Of course the timing was planned. Can't have him meeting any of those people, after all.
Poor people are icky.
This is a SNL skit waiting to happen. Can you see the guy trying to put a hairnet on Ryan?!
To be fair, he did donate new aprons to the soup kitchen. I'd give him a pass on the clean aprons. On the other hand, his manufactured photo-op was very forced. According to the linked article, he had no permission to do this, and the St. Vincent de Paul society would not have given such permission to any candidate.
Yep, Daniel Kim-2618103 is right. The director said that a volunteer let them in the building, and that it was not a sanctioned visit. No political visits are allowed as the organization is apolitical and risks losing donations by showing preference to one group over the other. He had to make a public statement "outing" the visit as not sanctioned to protect the organization's status.
Nice that he donated aprons. Be better had he donated FOOD!
I've washed a lot of pots, and I've washed pots in commercial kitchens. You roll your sleeves all the way up, and you lose the fancy watch.
Absolutely. That's a good call on the picture. Also, when in a licensed commercial kitchen, you wear a hairnet. The aprons, according to the article, were donated by the campaign, so their pristine condition is understandable.
Reminds me of Bush with his rolled up sleeves "clearin' brush"
indeed. Amazingly clean pot though. I will have to say that the people who really did the work are very good at it, or the Ryan people brought in a stunt pot so poor Paul didn't have to touch poor people food.
Where'd the trademark dimpled smile go, washing a clean pot take that much concentration?
First thing I saw.
There's a video where he also washes a stack of serving trays (like the one Ann's carrying in the back of this pic). The trays are all stacked in the sink, but when he lifts one up to wash it, it takes a swipe on the inside with some soap and a quick rinse to clean - he worries more about getting excess soap out than grease - there's nothing on the outside. If they'd been dirty, the outside would have needed a scrub, too.
:) Yeah, I've washed in industrial kitchens. Sleeves up past the elbows, and you walk away with a damp apron from the overspray and red skin from the hot water. This was only a picture op, and it was wholly disingenuous - because he didn't even see the function of the place he came to visit or the people it served. It's as though to him everything is a play, something less than real.
It's like running for President.......
Wash a clean pan, flip flop.....wash a clean pan, flip flop...wash a clean pan, flip flop
I gess it should be... wash a clean pot flip flop
I think I am on to something here - my first poem, I was bad in English but good in math so don't expect much. Do the 47 percent clip and have Jon Stewart do it after shuffling his papers.
"Run for President"
Wash a clean pot, flip flop
Wash a clean pot, flip flop, flip flop
Wash a clean pot
By Retired Moocher
Play the "I will take advantage of current events" bit in the 47 percent tape.
Jon "America do you see what he is saying, play it again"
Jon "America do you understand what he is saying?, play it again.
Now a poem by Retired Moocher.
I like the perfectly crisp, clean white apron. The already cleaned pots, and the polished and dried work station. And where the h*ll are the suds?
first thing i noticed, how clean his apron was, compared to the lady walking behind him, who really was working.
Isn't that his wife? I doubt she was doing any work.
Yep, that's Ann carrying a tray used as a prop in the video they shot. I guess you can only re-wash something just so many times.
Paul Ryan makes a good case for the following utterance:
"White people get stranger every day!" John Sayles, Brother from Another Planet. Such a film for Ryan and his ilk would be as alien as a visit to mars! -Kevo
Probably the first time he ever wash dishes.
The watch was a good catch. Nobody would be washing a pot with that on, even if it was waterproof- too much chance of banging it on the side of the pan or sink.
Oi. Just another Republican lie.
Hell, I don't even do the dishes with my FAKE jewelry on!!!!
Washing a pan that doesn't need it . . . giving tax breaks to people who don't need it . . . I'm sensing a pattern . . .
Loved your posting. I hope you don't mind but I used it as a caption for the article I shared. Reason being some people just look at the pic and really think this jerk actually is doing charity work so wanted to make sure they read your comment since it has so much impact.
This must be the government waste Mr. Ryan was talking about!
Lyin' Ryan, the Great Pretender! Hey Paul, you didn't clean that!
This "photo op" is a perfect metaphor for the Romney/Ryan campaign - the "hard work" has already been done, nothing for them to do now except to "pretend" that they are doing "good"!
Obama/Biden 2012!!
that's good
that's good
I'm sure that watch has sentimental value -- it's probably the one he wore when he ran his three-minute mile.
I heard it runs three minutes fast.
What is the wifey doing? Bringing another pan to faux wash?
Obvious stunt from start to finish.
How did he justify this stunt to his children? He made them participate.
This man isn't qualified to be a parent, let alone Vice-President.
For a supposedly devout Catholic he should re-read the Book of Matthew. It uses a very good word to describe just this type of behavior. Hypocrite.
He is teaching his children how to be an @!$%# and how to fool people into getting what they want. Great role model for kids. They say they worry about the future of our children. What a laugh!!!!!!!
That is exactly my immediate thought, that Ryan was using "the least of these" for political gain.
He is still wearing his watch. If he was really cleaning a bunch of pots wouldn't he take it off?
What an absolute phony. Rmoney and Ryan are like snake oil salesman, or used car grifters.
The scary thing is that a large portion of the population will vote for them. Half will be fooled by these frauds, the other half out of pure hatred towards Obama, democrats, liberals, you get it.
They are worse. Salemen and grifters are out to make a buck at least. These wealthy elites don't even need the money.
Mendacity, thy name is Republican.
Bravo!!!
Just another example of Romney/Ryan tactics to pretend that they care about the underpriviliged. If they really cared, they would leave Medicare/Medicaid, Social Security, etc alone. Whoops, I forgot, if they don't do away with these social programs they won't be able to deliver on the big tax cuts they promised their wealthy donors.
Just a thought, 50 years from now if these programs have been dismantled how much will the tax cuts be worth to future generations having to live in a country with third world healthcare, social programs, etc.
Dear Ryan,
For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
Matthew 25:42-45
"Compassion? Sincerity? I can fake that. I am a Republican, after all!"
I'm looking forward to the republican spin. I'm thinking it will go pretty far to the right then spiral off into the dark space where they send all Romney's flip flops.
I guess this is a case of the dirty pot calling the clean pot dirty so he can wash it.