Paul Ryan's soup kitchen photo-op wrecks charity organization: Doors may close

[Lemon Drop]

http://www.indiegogo.com/svdp-soupkitchen?c=home

You can help out the soup kitchen at the link above.

Big goof by Paul Ryan's campaign staff and by local staff at the soup kitchen, which was actually closed at the time, who let him in to do his staged photo-ops.
The org is apolitical and such appearances are prohibited in their bylaws. Ryan is a Catholic boy, he should've known better.

[Sam3]

Who's on record as having said this?

"The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president."

Hint: It wasn't a Democrat.

[$tevie]

This story has been all over the map since it happened.

First I read that the soup kitchen is being slammed for seeming to be in support of Obama, then I read it is being slammed for lying about Ryan's appearance, that he really did wash dirty pans and Antal was wrong.

Now I read that they are struggling, for whichever reason or maybe both -- but here comes Salon reporting that the controversy has resulted in donations pouring in from all over, which are covering the losses.
http://www.salon.com/2012/10/19/did_paul...p_kitchen/

I think this has been blown WAY out of proportion by both sides, and I'm not going to try to decide who's telling the truth at this point. This is election coverage at its worst.


PS: I think it is unfair to blame Ryan because a bunch of yahoos decided to stop funding the soup kitchen because of political reasons. Maybe the photo op was a poor idea but he never asked anyone to stop giving them money, that was the spontaneous decision of a varied group of dummkopfs.

[Gutenberg]

I agree that neither of the extremes, right or left, is prone to compromise, bill. But at least the Democratic Party is not trying to destroy its moderate members (and succeeding all too often).

The solution lies in the middle. When you have one faction that refuses to scooch toward the middle, you have a problem. And in the United States, that describes the right wing.

[Lemon Drop]

$tevie wrote:



PS: I think it is unfair to blame Ryan because a bunch of yahoos decided to stop funding the soup kitchen because of political reasons. Maybe the photo op was a poor idea but he never asked anyone to stop giving them money, that was the spontaneous decision of a varied group of dummkopfs.

Glad for the donations. If the group is truly doing the good they claim to be, then that's for the better.

Not letting Ryan off the hook though, you don't do political photo ops in places where that isn't permitted, without asking first. He and Romney are desparate to make it appear that they care about the less fortunate, so much so that they step in messes like this.
As for the donors, that may or may not have actually happened. I can't imagine witholding funds for such a reason, pretty shallow.
Not a big mess by any means, but a mess.

[hal]

I'll go farther and call BS on the soup kitchen. I do not believe that donors pulled out en mass because of the Ryan debacle within a week of it happening to the point that they were in danger of folding. We've all seen what happens to a little charity operation when it is reported to be destroyed in the press by forces outside of it's control - donations pour in from all over the country.

$tevie wrote:
This story has been all over the map since it happened.

First I read that the soup kitchen is being slammed for seeming to be in support of Obama, then I read it is being slammed for lying about Ryan's appearance, that he really did wash dirty pans and Antal was wrong.

Now I read that they are struggling, for whichever reason or maybe both -- but here comes Salon reporting that the controversy has resulted in donations pouring in from all over, which are covering the losses.
http://www.salon.com/2012/10/19/did_paul...p_kitchen/

I think this has been blown WAY out of proportion by both sides, and I'm not going to try to decide who's telling the truth at this point. This is election coverage at its worst.


PS: I think it is unfair to blame Ryan because a bunch of yahoos decided to stop funding the soup kitchen because of political reasons. Maybe the photo op was a poor idea but he never asked anyone to stop giving them money, that was the spontaneous decision of a varied group of dummkopfs.

[$tevie]

hal, that did occur to me, too. Antal may be trying to make hay while the sun (of the media) shines.