Found on the Internets …
Fresh from the shores of Nonsensia:
“The left is making a big mistake here. What they’re offering people is a full stomach and an empty soul. The American people want more than that. This reminds me of a story I heard from Eloise Anderson. She serves in the cabinet of my buddy, Governor Scott Walker. She once met a young boy from a very poor family, and every day at school, he would get a free lunch from a government program. He told Eloise he didn’t want a free lunch. He wanted his own lunch, one in a brown-paper bag just like the other kids. He wanted one, he said, because he knew a kid with a brown-paper bag had someone who cared for him. This is what the left does not understand.”
-Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.), speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference, March 6, 2014
Paul Ryan: Free Lunches Make Kids Soulless
Okay, fine. Some kid would rather have his parents pack him a lunch than get it for free at school. Most kids would also rather have their parents drive them to school and drop them off than ride the bus. But just as not every child has a parent who can drive them to school, not every kid has parents who can afford to give them lunches every day. That’s why “the left” supports things like school buses and free and reduced-price school lunches. Because a free bus ride and a free lunch may not be the best possible way to transport and feed children, but it’s better than nothing.
Ryan’s plan is to reduce funding for the school lunch program. So more kids will have empty stomachs, but their souls will be full.
Wait! What’s this?? Not True??!??
The paper-bag lunch story is from a 2011 book about a hungry, panhandling kid in New York City. http://www.aninvisiblethread.c…
And the kid in the book wasn’t turning down gov’t subsidized lunches at school, he was reacting to a private benefactor’s offer to pay for his cafeteria lunches at school.
Fact Checker: Paul Ryan and the story of the brown paper bag
The Pinocchio Test
Here at The Fact Checker, we often deal with situations in which people misspeak. We certainly don’t try to place gotcha. But this is a different order of magnitude. Anderson, in congressional testimony, represented that she spoke to this child-and then ripped the tale out of its original context. That’s certainly worthy of Four Pinocchios.
But what about Ryan? Should he get a pass because he heard this from a witness before Congress? It really depends on the circumstances. In this case, he referenced the story in a major speech. The burden always falls on the speaker and we believe politicians need to check the facts in any prepared remarks.
In this case, apparently, the story was too good to check. But a simple inquiry would have determined that the person telling the story actually is an advocate for the federal programs that Ryan now claims leaves people with “a full stomach and an empty soul.” So he also earns Four Pinocchios.
More …
THURSDAY
9:00 a.m. – Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)
9:16 a.m. – Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA)
9:24 a.m. – Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)
9:40 a.m. – Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC)
10:19 a.m. – Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
11:45 a.m. – Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ)
12:00 p.m. – Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA)
12:16 p.m. – Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL)
12:31 p.m. – Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT)
2:45 p.m. – Donald TrumpFRIDAY
9:00 a.m. – Gov. Rick Perry (R-TX)
9:16 a.m. – Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)
10:23 a.m. – Former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-AR)
11:15 a.m. – Ralph Reed, founder of the Faith and Freedom Coalition
2:26 p.m. – Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA)
2:40 p.m. – Al Cardenas, chairman of the American Conservative Union
2:51 p.m. – Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)SATURDAY
12:45 p.m. – Newt Gingrich, former House Speaker
1:12 p.m. – Jim DeMint, president of the Heritage Foundation
5:23 p.m. – Straw poll
5:45 pm. – Former Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK)
Wayne LaParanoid: “Vast Media-Political Conspiracy Out To Get NRA”
[NRA CEO Wayne] LaPierre added that “The media’s intentional corruption of the truth is an abomination and NRA members will never, and I mean never, submit or surrender to the national media.”
“There is no greater freedom than the right to survive with all the rifles, shotguns, and handguns we want,” LaPierre said.
Chris Christie Panders To Conservative Activists With False Abortion Claim
“I’ve got asked the question last year,” Christie said to applause, “‘Governor, you’re very popular in a blue state. How can you export that to the rest of the country, given the intolerance on social issues in your party?’ And I said, well, let me ask you a question. You said the Republicans are intolerant. I’ll just tell you this: At our national convention, we’ve had people like Tom Ridge and Colin Powell and Condi Rice speak at our national conventions. Even though I don’t agree with their position on abortion. Tell me, sir, the last pro-life Democrat who was allowed to speak at a Democratic convention? By the way, don’t strain yourself, because there’s never been one. They’re the party of intolerance, not us.“
Jindal Compares Obama Administration To Segregationist
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) on Thursday criticized Attorney General Eric Holder for trying to “stand in the schoolhouse door” and keep minority students from attending charter schools, an allusion to segregationist and former Alabama Gov. George Wallace.
“We’ve got Eric Holder and the Department of Justice trying to stand in the schoolhouse door to prevent minority kids, low-income kids, kids who haven’t had access to a great education, the chance to go to better schools,” Jindal said at the Conservative Political Action Conference, as recorded by the Huffington Post.
Editor’s Note: Feel free to share other news stories in the comments.
