Who is Paul Ryan? Romney's VP choice is follower of militant atheist activist (The smears begin)

America Blog ^ | 08/11/2012 | John Aravosis

[SeekAndFind]

A quick observation: How important could God be to Paul Ryan if his number one inspiration for going into public life is the works of militant atheist activist Ayn Rand? Republican leaders always claim that God is their number one inspiration, Jesus their favorite philosopher. Ryan's is a woman who made it her life mission to kill God and replace Him with man. Ryan can claim he's Catholic until the cows come home - he's obviously not that religious if his number one reason for being a politician is the philosophies of an avowed atheist activist.

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Mitt Romney has chosen uber-conservative GOP House members Paul Ryan as his vice presidential candidate.

Ryan is most famous recently for his draconian bugget proposal that even fellow Republicans eventually walked away from.

Here is a quick bio on Ryan - what's interesting to me is that he only has a bachelor's degree. While that's not, in the modern era it's not at all uncommon for presidential candidates to have gone to graduate school as well (though, as the GOP now has disdain for a college education, per Rick Santorum, this likely won't hurt Ryan with the Republican minions).

This also means that Ryan's supposed "expertise" in economics and budgeting comes from undergrad courses in economics. Milton Friedman he ain't.

The other problem with Ryan's bio is that he has next to zero experience outside of Washington politics. His only real work experience outside of government (or "consulting" to the family business), is working as a waiter at Tortilla Coast, as a trainer at a gym, and driving the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile.

Ryan's health is also a serious concern. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “‘(My father) died of a heartattack at 55, my grandfather died of a heart attack at 57, my great-grandfather died of heart attack at 59, so I’m into the health thing,’ says Ryan." (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,4/26/09) Ryan is a big fan of militant atheist right-wing philosopher Ayn Rand:

"The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand," Ryan said during a 2005 event honoring Rand in Washington, D.C., the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported in April 2009.

During the 2005 gathering, Ryan told the audience, "Almost every fight we are involved in here on Capitol Hill ... is a fight that usually comes down to one conflict -- individualism versus collectivism." The event was hosted by The Atlas Society, which prominently features a photo of Rand on its website and describes itself as a group that "promotes open Objectivism: the philosophy of reason, achievement, individualism, and freedom."

Ryan also said during a 2003 interview with the Weekly Standard, "I give out 'Atlas Shrugged' as Christmas presents, and I make all my interns read it. Well ... I try to make my interns read it.” He noted that he "looked into" Rand's work when he was younger, but reiterated that he is a Christian and reads the Bible often.

In 2009, Ryan posted two videos on his Facebook page raving about the importance of Rand's views.

"If 'Atlas Shrugged' author Ayn Rand were alive today, here's the urgent message I think she'd be conveying," Ryan wrote alongside the first video, titled "Ayn Rand's relevance in 2009." So his favorite philosopher isn't God - but an avowed, militant atheist. That should go over well with the base.

And here's the bio from an oppo doc. Name: Paul Davis Ryan Born: Jan. 29, 1970 Home: Janesville, Wisconsin Education: BA, Economics/Political Science, Miami University, Ohio, 1992 Janesville Craig High School, 1988 Career: Legislative Director, United States Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas, 1995-1997 Aide, United States Senator Robert Kasten of Wisconsin, 1992Economic Adviser, Speechwriter, Empower America, 1993 - 1995Former Speechwriter, Jack Kemp Vice Presidential CampaignFormer Speechwriter, Office of the Director of National Drug Control Policy Former President, Ryan Incorporated Elected Office: Representative, United States House of Representative, 1998-present Organizations: Member, Community Solutions and Initiatives CoalitionCo-Chair, Congressional Sportsmen’s CaucusMember, Ducks UnlimitedMember, Janesville Bowmen, IncorporatedBoard Member, Rock County Junior AchievementMember, Saint John Vianney's Parish Member, Saint Mary’s Parish More on Ryan:

1. The Ryan budget raises taxes on the middle class - married couples earning between $100,000 to $200,000 a year would see their tax burden raise about $2700 because of eliminated deductions, while households earning more than $1 million a year would save $300,000.

2. Ryan cuts Medicaid by 45%, leaving 19m people without health care.

3. Ryan's budget would add $3.1 trillion to the deficit, more than would be added under current law.

4. Would end Medicare as we know it, moving the eligibility age up to 67 from 65, and putting caps on spending. If senior don't like it, he'd give them a voucher to go get violated with a private insurance plan that would likely cost them their entire life savings.

5. Wants to privatize Social Security.

6. Supports allowing states to jail women who get, and doctors who perform, abortions. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 9/26/98)

7. Would outlaw abortion, even for rape and incest (Associated Press, 9/26/98).

8. Ryan voted for the auto bailout, then criticized it (Janesville Gazette, 5/3/10).

9. Ryan voted for the Bush tax cuts, but felt they were too small (States News Service, 5/4/01).

First Read notes some other problems with Ryan: There are also holes in Ryan’s budget-hawk armor: He voted for some of the biggest drivers of the deficit/debt -- the Bush tax cuts, the Iraq war, and the Medicare prescription-drug benefit, all of which weren’t paid for. Moreover, Ryan voted against the bipartisan Simpson-Bowles recommendations.

Has never held statewide office and has no foreign-policy experience. Both could be liabilities. And while Romney has criticized Obama for not having private-sector experience, the same is largely true of Ryan: As the New Yorker has written, Ryan briefly worked for his family’s business as a “marketing consultant,” but most of his adult life has been spent as a congressman, congressional aide, or speechwriter/analyst at Jack Kemp’s Empower America think tank.

Fun fact: Ryan's childhood nickname is "P.D.," which in French means "f*g."

[SeekAndFind]

RE: what’s interesting to me is that he only has a bachelor’s degree

What more does he need?

Will getting a PhD like Paul Krugman or Secretary of Energy, Chu (of Solyndra fame), prove anything?

[SeekAndFind]

RE: It is a philosophy that is much closer to the Founding Fathers than libtardism.

Notice how the author chooses to highlight, of all the things Ayn Rand espouses, her ATHEISM.

It’s as if he’s trying to push the impression that Paul Ryan is in his heart of hearts, an atheist himself.

Otherwise, why highlight the words “militant atheist” in the title of the article alongside Paul Ryan’s name?

These guys are so sneaky and hoping that there are enough intellectually lazy people out there who would only gain their impression of Ryan through this title.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: You sought and found. Good work.

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Thanks, if you want more details, here is the link:

http://www.ontheissues.org/House/Paul_Ryan.htm/

[Milton Miteybad]

Here is a quick bio on Ryan - what's interesting to me is that he only has a bachelor's degree. While that's not, in the modern era it's not at all uncommon for presidential candidates to have gone to graduate school as well...

However, I'm certain Mr. Ryan can produce a valid transcript from his alma mater, proving whatever credentials he may have. The assclown at the top of the Democratic ticket cannot. In fact, we have no irrefutable, ironclad proof that Barry Hussein Soetoro has even a bachelor's degree. We've had to take his word for it for all these years, and frankly, given the whopper he told about the $838 billion 2009 stimulus plan and how it would keep unemployment under 8%, there is nothing whatsoever that Barry the Boob could say that would merit any level of belief at all.

In fact, insofar as strict proof goes, we don't have any evidence that Joe Biden is a university or law school graduate, either. We do have a great body of audio-visual evidence, however, that he uses raw sewage for brains; but, unfortunately, no irrefutable evidence that he has the academic credentials he's been claiming all these years.

The more I think about it, the closer I come to the conclusion that Barry the Boob and Drunken Joe Biden are merely sniveling intellectual poseurs, and it's up to them to prove that they aren't.

[ponygirl]

No, but it makes me like him even more!

[onemiddleamerican]

So, I see Aravosis is still around. From Wiki:

John Aravosis (born 27 November 1963) is an American Democratic political consultant, writer, gay activist and blogger. Aravosis, an attorney who lives in Washington, D.C., is the founder of AMERICAblog and a co-founder of StopDrLaura.com.

Aravosis is a lawyer and worked on Capitol Hill as a foreign policy adviser for Ted Stevens, a Republican senator in the late 1980s and early 1990s before becoming a Democrat. He subsequently worked at the World Bank, the Children's Defense Fund, and then started his own political Internet consulting business in 1997 and AMERICAblog, a liberal news blog dealing in politics (because, according to its masthead, "a great nation deserves the truth"),[1] in 2004. He has also written as a stringer for The Economist and Radar[citation needed]. He has a joint law degree and masters in foreign service from Georgetown,[2] where he studied under former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

In June 2009, The Advocate listed AMERICAblog on its list of top fifteen gay blogs.[3] The blogs were not ranked.

[onemiddleamerican]

Dear Democrats.

Make this election a choice between an admirer of Ayn Rand and an admirer of Karl Marx

Please, do ...

BINGO!

[MarkL]

what's interesting to me is that he only has a bachelor's degree. While that's not, in the modern era it's not at all uncommon for presidential candidates to have gone to graduate school as well

And the lawyers and "highly educated" politicians have done SO WELL running things into the ground... But wait, gotta take a swipe at the "uneducated, unwashed that make up the republican base!

(though, as the GOP now has disdain for a college education, per Rick Santorum, this likely won't hurt Ryan with the Republican minions).

There we go!

This also means that Ryan's supposed "expertise" in economics and budgeting comes from undergrad courses in economics. Milton Friedman he ain't.

And as I mentioned before, so many of the "educated" economists that infest government and finance have done so well! And again, another swipe at republicans, who are fans of Milton Friedman, who this author probably reviles.

If the leftists take off with the sort of "guilt by association" because Ryan agrees with some of the tenets of "Atlas Shrugged," then how much greater must the guilt by association be for a man who sat in a church for more than 20 years, while racist hate was spewed from the pulpit, and even raising his daughters in that church, meaning that not only did he believe in the teachings, but he intended to pass them on to his children!

Mark

[Misterioso]

I can’t wait for Obama to say “Ayn Rand.”

[Misterioso]

Thanks for the voting review which will come in handy as the defecation begins.

As will a chamber pot.

[WOSG]

This hit piece is nuts. I am a Catholic and an Ayn Rand fan. Speilberg makes great films, but it doesnt make me Jewish (or atheist) to be a fan of is.

If you are a Christian, Ayn Rand is STILL a good author, and you dont have to give up your beliefs in God to appreciate her own philosophy. The battle between producers and the Statist moochers comes alive in her great books “The Fountainhead” and “Atlas Shrugged”, analogous to how CS Lewis lays out the struggle between good and evil in the Narnia tales. The virtue of self-reliance and self-determination is well-expressed, and its that philosophy, and its view that all forms of collectivism are the same subjugation of human liberty, that is harsh, uncompromising and illuminating at the same time. Liberals hate Ayn Rand because it undercuts liberals claim to collectivist moral high ground.

Another hit piece designed to suppress the Romney/Ryan vote, just like the desperate Obama team attack ads. “Hey, forget the lousy economy, didja know Romney killed a woman?”

[Scotswife]

not 100%.

Like many Christians he doesn’t buy into objectivism.
He does appreciate her economic message and anti-socialism.

I think I read that he requires his staffers to read Atlas Shrugged.

[markman46]

who is John Aravosis and why do I need to care about his blog posting bs

[Impy]

I first read that just the other day. It was on his Wikipedia page.

[SaraJohnson]

He’s a Catholic atheist? Hmmm. LOL

[linn37]

trash

[SeekAndFind]

RE: who is John Aravosis and why do I need to care about his blog posting bs

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Since you ask.... here it is:

Apparently, he is prominent enough to have his own Wikipedia entry.

From Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Aravosis

John Aravosis (born 27 November 1963) is an American Democratic political consultant, writer, gay activist and blogger. Aravosis, an attorney who lives in Washington, D.C., is the founder of AMERICAblog and a co-founder of StopDrLaura.com.

Aravosis is a lawyer and worked on Capitol Hill as a foreign policy adviser for Ted Stevens, a Republican senator in the late 1980s and early 1990s before becoming a Democrat. He subsequently worked at the World Bank, the Children’s Defense Fund, and then started his own political Internet consulting business in 1997 and AMERICAblog, a liberal news blog dealing in politics (because, according to its masthead, “a great nation deserves the truth”),[1] in 2004.

He has also written as a stringer for The Economist and Radar[citation needed]. He has a joint law degree and masters in foreign service from Georgetown,[2] where he studied under former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
In June 2009, The Advocate listed AMERICAblog on its list of top fifteen gay blogs.

[CSM]

“John Aravosis”

Lemme guess, ole John is a leftist that has no concept of the actual teachings of either Christ or ayn rand! He is mad at both because they conflict with his collectivist mindset.

Only a leftist would be this devoid of logic.