Paul Ryan's Rollout Hits More Bumps

The rollout of Congressman Paul Ryan's campaign for the Vice-Presidency has hit more bumps in the road. Already damaged by revelations about Ryan's support for the abolition of Medicare and Social Security, his campaign faced new questions about his views on the stimulus package and his backing of Congressman Todd Akin's controversial views on abortions due to rape.

First, the stimulus package story. Ryan has claimed to be a long-time critic of the
stimulus package enacted following the financial collapse of 2008. "'This
trillion dollar spending bill misses the mark on all counts,' Ryan said in a
statement at the time issued by his office." (Boston Globe, 8/17/12)

However, did Ryan then request funds for his congressional district from the very same stimulus package he claimed was ineffective and wasteful? "Audio from 2010 provided Thursday by WBZ indicates that Ryan, responding to a caller, said that he would not vote against something and 'then write to the government to ask them to send us money.' He added, 'I did not request any stimulus money.'"
(Boston Globe, 8/17/12)

Yet, copies of four letters from Ryan's office indicate that he did precisely that. One letter requested funds from the Department of Energy for the Wisconsin Energy Conservation Corporation. In his letter, Ryan wrote that the grant would
"create or retain approximately 7,600 new jobs over the three-year grant
period and the subsequent three years." (Boston Globe 8/17/12)

In another letter, Ryan wrote to the Secretary of Labor asking for stimulus money and noting that it would help place 1,000 workers in green jobs.

These words come from the same man, Ryan, who said that the stimulus  package wouldn't create jobs. Why would Ryan do such a thing? Because he wanted to have his cake and eat it, too. He wanted to piously proclaim to the nation that he disdained the stimulus package as wasteful and ineffective, and then use it to funnel money to companies in his district, using the argument that it would create jobs. (In many circles, that is known as being hypocritical, if not deceitful.)

Ryan hit yet another bump in the road over abortion. Todd Akin, the Republican
senatorial candidate from Missouri, propounded a novel view of rape which
confounded and flabbergasted the scientific community. Akin claimed that when a woman is truly raped (called by him forcibly raped), her body naturally
produces a defensive reaction that automatically prevents her from getting
pregnant.

This view is also held by people who spend their lives in the darkness of mushroom caves. There is not one whit, one scintilla, one iota of truth to Akin's theory.

However, for those who choose to believe it, this idea provides its own rewards.
Believers can conclude that any woman who claims to need an abortion because
she was raped is lying. Nature ends all "true" rapes spontaneously. So,
those who share Akin's beliefs need not trouble their consciences about rape
victims being denied an abortion. They weren't really raped, you see.

If I were a woman hearing Akin's self-righteous justification for denying abortion requests that require pregnant women to carry the developing embryo of the rapist for nine hellish months and each day be reminded of the rape, I
would be annoyed. No, I would be angered. No, I would be livid.

Well, where does Paul Ryan fit into the Akin controversy? "Akin and Ryan cosponsored a 2011 bill, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortions Act that would redefine rape as 'forcible rape,' narrowing the scope of what's considered rape in cases of abortion." (ABC News, 8/20/12)

Now that he is the Republican Vice-Presidential candidate, Paul Ryan has been rushing about modifying his previously-held views to make them more acceptable to a skeptical voting public. In other words, Ryan is flip-flopping. That's what happens when you hang around too much with Mitt Romney - the ultimate flip-flopper.