Wisconsin Republican Congressman, Paul Ryan Claims He Was Inarticulate

(USA Today Photo)

The distinguished gentleman proving

why one should never apologize unless one means it.

By Victor Meier

Following the story about Wisconsin Republican Congressman, Paul Ryan there is clarification regarding Representative Ryan’s comments.

Apparently and according to Paul Ryan he was merely being inarticulate. That may have been the case, it doesn’t appear that way, however, I will give Rep. Ryan the benefit of doubt. So, please Mr. Ryan…by all means, articulate further regarding your comments about “inner city men” for us.

Here is Mr. Ryan’s official statement in its entirety:

After reading the transcript of yesterday morning’s interview, it is clear that I was inarticulate about the point I was trying to make. I was not implicating the culture of one community-but of society as a whole. We have allowed our society to isolate or quarantine the poor rather than integrate people into our communities. The predictable result has been multi-generational poverty and little opportunity. I also believe the government’s response has inadvertently created a poverty trap that builds barriers to work. A stable, good-paying job is the best bridge out of poverty. The broader point I was trying to make is that we cannot settle for this status quo and that government and families have to do more and rethink our approach to fighting poverty. I have witnessed amazing people fighting against great odds with impressive success in poor communities. We can learn so much from them, and that is where this conversation should begin.

Right away my BS meter begins to peak when Rep. Ryan starts with “After reading the transcript” as if he were having some sort of out-of-body experience. Like during his interview he was possessed by the homeless holy spirit, speaking in tongues and has no idea what he said. Furthermore, if these are such essential principles to your ability to effectively legislate then wouldn’t one have a more firm grasp upon one’s assertions, beliefs and convictions. For goodness sake, people’s lively hoods and in some cases their very lives are depending on what legislation is enacted.

Secondly and quite obviously Ryan calls his comments “inarticulate” which brings one of my favorite quotes from the movie The Princess Bride and the famous words of Inigo Montoyo, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” No, Representative Ryan, you actually were very articulate in conveying your message. Allow me to reiterate your points and in your words. “We have got this tailspin of culture, in our inner cities in particular, of men not working and just generations of men not even thinking about working or learning to value the culture of work, so there is a real culture problem here that has to be dealt with,” so say Paul Ryan. Also, keep in mind the point I made in the preceding article; rural poverty affects more Americans than urban poverty.

In any event, that’s what Rep. Ryan said and then he went on to further his claims and substantiate his beliefs by sighting the Bell Curve and the work of (pseudo) Social Scientist Charles Murray. Paul Ryan is arguing that in Murray’s so-called research (and I say that with great confidence as many traditional scientists refute Murray’s work based on a lack of actual scientific principle) claiming “disadvantaged communities” are disadvantaged because of an inability to compete with Caucasian men. This is simply because these “disadvantaged men in disadvantaged communities” are intellectually and morally inferior. I’ll let that sink in.

It appears as if Rep. Ryan believes he can Jedi Mind Trick the American people into believing his own spin? “I was not implicating the culture of one community,” Ryan said. With all due respect Mr. Ryan, yes you were. In fact, that is exactly what you were doing. Those were your words. Nobody misquoted you or paraphrased your statements inaccurately. That was your emphatic sentiment alone. You supported your beliefs by sighting the Bell Curve. Ryan claimed that residents of the inner city have a “real culture problem”. The “Inner City” is a community and you accused them of having a real culture problem relating to their work ethic and claimed that it was multigenerational.

California Representative, Democrat Barbara Lee is also the former Chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus and for obvious reasons took exception with Ryan’s comments. Representative Lee levied her own criticism of the Congressman’s comments. “Let’s be clear, when Mr. Ryan says ‘inner city’, when he says ‘culture’, these are simply code words for what he really means, black,” Representative Lee said in a statement Wednesday. In an interview with Joy Reid, Rep. Lee stated that Rep. Ryan had reached out to her and that she had not backed away from her assertions.

Representative Ryan claims to be making a broader point about poverty and how we as a nation deal with the subject. That is merely more lip service by the distinguished gentleman from Wisconsin. The House of Representatives following Ryan’s leadership alongside Speaker of the House, John Boehner have blocked 7 attempts by the Obama Administration to created jobs. The House has forced President Obama to sign executive orders in order to provide relief and support to many hard working Americans. The Republican lead House of Representatives have not introduced one piece of legislation proposing even one job.

Narrative is cheap and when one is insane enough to keep repeating oneself, unfortunately there are a great many people who will believe what a person is saying no matter how contradictory the information is. If a person repeats something enough times to enough people it eventually becomes true. Paul Ryan said, “You can’t just say I’m paying my taxes, government’s going to fix that. You need to get involved.” Yes you absolutely can and in fact that is part of getting involved.

Paying taxes and supporting social programs is the most patriotic act in a democratic government. That is what taxes are designed to do. It seems to work well enough with every other government function and you don’t hear Republicans saying that you can’t just pay your taxes and hope the government will protect you from terrorists. That has become the entire function of our standing military. Contributing to the civic structure of America and demanding that your contributions be correctly attributed is extremely patriotic and adheres to the principles of our founding fathers and framers of our government.

The hypocrisy that is allowed to be spewed and treated like valid information is sickening to me. Fellow Americans, brothers and sisters stand up to this evil tyranny and demand more from our leadership. Rep. Ryan is right to some degree. Americans cannot expect government to do anything positive for us because people like Ryan are incapable of leading and accomplishing anything for the American people. The Republican lead House of Representatives are too busy undermining the efforts of the current administration to focus on accomplishing anything that will allow us to look upon the government during this period in time favorably. They question I keep asking readers is why? Why is this occurring?