Ryan's Despicable Soup Kitchen Antics

The St. Vincent De Paul Society operates a soup kitchen in my hometown of Youngstown, Ohio–a town I left many years ago but a place that has never left me.

Like most faith based organizations doing important work for those in need, St. Vincent is completely and wholly dependent on private contributions to fund their efforts—which is why it is essential that the operation remain completely apolitical if they are to hope to survive in a world where charitable contributions are increasingly hard to come by, particularly in a town like Youngstown that was suffering even before the recession took hold.

It is, therefore, not difficult to understand why Brian Antal, president of the St. Vincent De Paul Society, was horrified to learn that GOP vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan decided to participate in an impromptu “drop in” on the soup kitchen as the candidate made his way to the airport following an event at Youngstown State University—a drop in that would never have been approved by Mr. Antal had the campaign followed the proper procedure and sought his approval before seeking to take advantage of the charitable enterprise for a photo opportunity.

Says Mr. Antal-

“We’re a faith-based organization; we are apolitical because the majority of our funding is from private donations. 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.”

And it only gets worse from there.

It turns out that by the time Congressman Ryan and his family showed up at the soup kitchen, the food had already been served, the recipients of the church’s food line had left the building, and everything had already been cleaned up. There would be little for the Congressman and his family to do but shake the hands of the few volunteers who remained at the kitchen and be on their way.

However, never try and separate a cynical politician from a good photo opportunity.

According to Mr. Antal, who describes himself as an independent voter, “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.”

You see, undeterred by the fact that there was nothing to do in the quest of a more perfect photo opportunity, the Ryan family donned their white aprons and got busy washing pots and pans—pots and pans that had already been washed- as the TV cameras rolled and the still photographers snapped their photos.


And while the photographs and news footage would tell the story of Congressman Ryan as a caring conservative just looking to extend a helping hand, with each click of the shutter and roll of the video camera, St. Vincent was being put deeper and deeper in jeopardy of losing critical funding that allows their doors to stay open.
As Mr. Antal noted, “I can’t afford to lose funding from these private individuals. If this was the Democrats, I’d have the same exact problem.”

Upon learning of the mistake the campaign had made, certainly Mr. Ryan’s spokespeople came forward to apologize and set the record straight, right? Certainly the Romney-Ryan campaign made the effort to issue a statement that would inform anyone who is a donor to the charity— or considering becoming one—that, while their intentions were noble (false photo ops aside), they had inadvertently caused a problem for the soup kitchen and that nobody should hold the charity responsible for playing politics as that was not what had occurred. Surely they would have done this in an effort to help St. Vincent out of a jam the campaign had created, yes?

Nope.

You see, the GOP ticket—led by a man who actually wrote a book called “No Apology”— doesn’t roll that way.

So, rather than help St. Vincent get the story out there so that the campaign could correct any potential problem they had caused, the Romney-Ryan team sent out Chris Maloney, the Ohio communications director for the GOP presidential campaign, who said, “Our campaign and Congressman Ryan were pleased to bring attention to the meaningful charitable contributions the St. Vincent De Paul Society makes to people in need.”

Wow. Who behaves this way?

Even knowing the rules they had broken and the potential problems they had caused, the Romney-Ryan people continued to seek political advantage in the situation rather than simply doing the right thing.

While I am disappointed that Mr. Ryan would engage in so cynical an effort at the expense of a charity doing important work for the many in Youngstown who are in need—all in the name of a good photo op—I am particularly incensed that he did this in my hometown.

Like most Americans, I have a special allegiance to where I come from. I know the suffering that has enveloped this northeastern Ohio town and I don’t like some politician taking advantage of these difficulties to further his political prospects while damaging the important efforts of those who live the Youngstown experience each and every day.

The good news is that Youngstown residents are politically savvy people who know how to handle a politician like Paul Ryan. They’ll make their displeasure known when and where it counts—at the ballot box on November 6th.

This is one photo op that will do Paul Ryan little good.

contact Rick at thepolicypage@gmail.com and follow me on Twitter @

TLDR:
Ryan shows up at soup kitchen uninvited after everyone has already left, washes pots and pots that are already clean for the photo oportunity, puts the soup kitchen in jeopardy by breaking it's apolitical laws, then offers no apology.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickung...or-for-gop-tickets-disrespect-for-the-poor/2/

 

Yeah man, really shocking how bizarre this whole thing is. To call politicians bottom feeders would be an understatement IMO.

Bothers me that they jeopardize the food source of an area for a pr stunt. Really disgusting, regardless of where one stands politically.

 

This is politics. Kiss a baby, pretend to wash dishes in a soup kitchen, drink beers with police officers, etc. It's messed up.

 

Apparently John Stewart made fun of this whole situation last night. I'll see if I can find some videos. In the meantime, here's the link:

Paul Ryan's soup kitchen visit gets lampooned on late-night TV - NBC News Entertainment

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2WVJNxOpvY&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/ame]
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_7Lp5hK6yM&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/ame]
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-october-16-2012/10-16-12-in--60-seconds

 

It kinda makes you wonder. I mean Sarah palin came out of nowhere and was such a dingbat, most normal people took one look at her and said, damn, I'd rather have Obama than have that idiot (doncha know) as v.p. and old man war MCcain. Now you've got Paul Ryan doing stuff that is just as dumb only a few weeks before the big day. Nobody had ever heard of Obama, and suddenly this unheard of, half Kenyan black guy, from the other side of the tracks with the most charisma and charm anyone ever saw looked like he had a functioning brain on capable shoulders comes out of nowwhere to steal the election.

People stopped saying, who the fuck is this guy and started saying, wow, after 8 years of Bush, we will not be the laughing stock of the world any longer. It's too convenient that they (Obama and anyone who runs against him) are such polar opposites in their beliefs and I'm talking beyond the typical red and blue b.s. most simpletons can't see beyond.

My wife and I were talking of voting this morning and we both don't like either candidate. My wife goes, maybe we should just leave that part blank......


Shitty that the media decided a year ago who would run and everyone who can't turn their damn tvs off keep these fucking brainwashing outlets brain washing people. Lately, I've noticed that any criticism of the way things are results in extreme emotional reactions from people IRL and online.

As I said in another thread, it doesnt matter who drives the car if the direction remains unchanged. It just sucks being in the backseat when nobody up front cares.