Coming in at number 2, the Janesville Republican stuck his foot in it when he took on the pope, says Salon. Ryan is perhaps most amusing when he tries to belittle the pope's concern for the poor. Ryan says that, unlike US capitalism which is "true free-enterprise," the pope's homeland, Argentina, has "crony capitalism." Oh, really!? American business is not at all invested in cronyism, nor are politicians like Ryan himself? You judge, since ye be judged. The complete entry:
2. Paul Ryan lectures his hero, the pope, on capitalism.
It seems that another conservative Christian politician thinks he knows better than the pope. Rep. Paul Ryan, the sham “compassionate conservative,” who happily held the line against extending unemployment benefits for 1.3 million struggling Americans, has lately insisted that he really cares about the poor. So much so, that he now considers Pope Francis more of a role model than his previous role model, Ayn Rand — quite a shift. The deeply caring congressman recently told the Milwaukee [Journal] Sentinel how glad he is that Pope Francis is talking about the poor, and how we should all be helping each other out more, “soul to soul.”
But still, despite his avowed love for the pope, Ryan points out that the pontiff is kind of dumb about capitalism. Not his fault, though. He’s from a non-capitalist country. “The guy, ” Ryan said — wait, “the guy”? Isn’t that kind of disrespectful? — “is from Argentina, they haven’t had real capitalism in Argentina. They have crony capitalism in Argentina. They don’t have a true free-enterprise system.”
Ryan has said that he, like “the guy” from Argentina, wants to figure out how to solve poverty. If the past is any indication, the solution will involve plenty of discipline, deprivation of needed government help, and possibly neckties — or as Ryan prefers to call it “tough love.”
Holy holy holy.
