Rep. Paul Ryan: If Mitt Romney Runs Again In 2016, I'd Drive His Campaign Bus

New "Secure The Borders" Ad

Airing today on CNN is an ad from a group called Americans For A Conservative Direction. On their board is former GOP Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour and Dan Senor, who was the chief advisor to Paul Ryan's 2012 vice presidential campaign. Note that the ad stresses "no amnesty." I bet it didn't say that two days ago.

Lyin' Ryan Busted Lyin' At CPAC

"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." - GOP Rep. Paul Ryan, speaking yesterday at CPAC.

Calling Ryan's claim "a story too good to check," the Washington Post reveals that the whole thing is a big ole lie that was probably lifted from the 2011 book, The Invisible Thread, a suspicion first voiced by Wonkette. The Post then gives Ryan "Four Pinocchios" - its lyingest rating for liars. Ryan has apologized in a Facebook post.

Today at CPAC, I shared a story I heard from Eloise Anderson, the secretary for children and families for the state of Wisconsin. She mentioned it in her testimony for a House Budget Committee hearing last year. I have just learned that Secretary Anderson misspoke, and that the story she told was improperly sourced. I regret failing to verify the original source of the story, but I appreciate her taking the time to share her insights.

Of course the lie already has legs on wingnut sites like the National Review.

It should be noted that the author of the book is actually an advocate of school lunch programs who works with a group called No Kid Hungry.

Breitbart Headline Of The Day

In March the annual cavalcade of crackpottery known as CPAC will return to the Gaylord Convention Center in the Maryland suburbs of Washington DC.

“We are proud to announce that Senator Ted Cruz and Rep. Paul Ryan are confirmed speakers and Gov. Sarah Palin is an invited speaker for CPAC 2014,” ACU chairman Al Cardenas said in a statement provided exclusively to Breitbart News. “At this year's CPAC - and through our theme 'ACU's Golden Anniversary: Getting It Right for 50 Years' - we will celebrate how conservatism has shaped our past and look to the future with excitement.” Cardenas added that Cruz and Ryan are just two leaders who will be speaking at the event. According to the National Journal, for instance, Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Rand Paul (R-KY) have also been confirmed for the event.

Expect the usual spate of homocon postings on Craigslist.

Paul Ryan/Aaron Schock Slashfic

It exists. (Tipped by JMG reader TeeJay)

PROPOSAL: Name Hurricanes After Politicians That Deny Climate Change

This is fantastic. (Tipped by JMG reader Philip)

Rep. Paul Ryan: House Will Pass Its Own Immigration Reform Bill

According to the Associated Press, it is "near certain" that the Senate will approve its immigration reform bill.  Rather surprisingly, Rep. Paul Ryan said today he believes the House will approve its version of the bill too.

Some GOP lawmakers have appealed to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, not to permit any immigration legislation to come to a vote for fear that whatever its contents, it would open the door to an unpalatable compromise with the Senate. At the same time, the House Judiciary Committee is in the midst of approving a handful of measures related to immigration, action that ordinarily is a prelude to votes in the full House. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said Tuesday that the Senate's advancement of stronger border security measures makes it "even more likely" that immigration reform will pass the House and become law. He said that the House won't take up the Senate bill but will do its own legislation, and added, "the majority of Republicans support the border security" as the keystone of immigration reform. He spoke on CBS' "This Morning."

One Tea Party site is already calling Ryan's prediction "the death knell of the GOP."

Wingnuts Turn On Paul Ryan

World Net Daily and the rest of the wingnut-o-sphere are super upset with Paul Ryan.

Paul Ryan Endorses Gay Adoption

At a Wisconsin town hall meeting, Rep. Paul Ryan said that while he still opposes same-sex marriage, he now supports gay adoption. Rebecca Leber and Zack Ford have the scoop at Think Progress:

Confronted by an audience member about his anti-LGBT voting record — Ryan earned a “zero percent” score on gay rights from the Human Rights Campaign — the House Budget Committee chairman admitted that gays and lesbians could provide a loving home to “orphans.” In 1999, Ryan voted against adoption for same-sex couples in the District of Columbia, but said he would vote differently today.

Ryan went on to restate his support for ENDA, although Think Progress notes that he initially lobbied against an early version that was trans-inclusive before voting for for the weakened 1997 bill. Hit the link for more.

Krugman: Paul Ryan Is A Con Man

"The fact is that Ryan is and always was a fraud. His plan never added up; it was never, contrary to what people who should know better asserted, 'scored' by the CBO. What he actually offered was a plan to hurt the poor and reward the rich, actually increasing the deficit along the way, plus magic asterisks that supposedly reduced the debt by means unspecified. His genius, if you can all it that, was in realizing that there was a role — as I said, that of Honest, Serious Conservative — that self-proclaimed centrists desperately wanted to see filled, so that they could demonstrate their bipartisanship by lavishing praise on the holder of that position. So Ryan did his best to impersonate a budget wonk. It wasn’t a very good impersonation — in fact, he’s pretty bad at budget math. But the 'centrists' saw what they wanted to see." - Paul Krugman, in a New York Times "public service reminder."

Because Paul Ryan Cares

Paul Ryan showed up at an Ohio soup kitchen where he posed for the cameras by scrubbing already-cleaned pots. Dan Amira snarks at New York Magazine: "[S]ome might conclude that Ryan's appearance at the soup kitchen was nothing but a superficial, self-serving photo op designed to counter recent remarks from the GOP ticket that seem to show disdain for the poor. But no, the truth is that Ryan simply cares so much about America's non-income-tax-paying indigent that he thinks they deserve better than eating food from pots and pans that have only been cleaned once."

The VP Debate: Songified

Another winner from Brooklyn's Gregory Brothers.

(Via Randy Report)

Paul Ryan & His Sippy Cup

Haters React To VP Debate

VP Debate Open Thread

Reactions, please!

Bill Maher On The VP Debate

Paul Ryan's Beefcake Photo Shoot

Buzzfeed's Jessica Testa reports: "TIME magazine released the photos Thursday morning— hours before Ryan's debate with Joe Biden in Danville, Kentucky. The photo shoot happened last year, when Ryan was a runner-up for the magazine's Person of the Year. The macho poses are, of course, a reference to Ryan's affinity for P90X."

UPDATE: And the photoshopping has begun!

Testy Ryan Cuts Interview Short

New From Paul Ryan's House Opponent

This is Rob Zerban's first television ad.

Paul Ryan Promises Anti-Gay Hate Group That He Will Uphold Their Ideals

"It’s the foundation for society and for family for thousands of years. First of all, Mitt Romney and I — I’ll just say it, it’s worth repeating — we believe marriage is between one man and one woman, that’s number one. Number two, you know where I come from we had one of those amendments in Wisconsin, I was a big supporter of it and we passed it like you say, where it’s put on the ballot it passes. The second point is, President Obama gave up defending the Defense of Marriage Act in the courts, I mean, not only is this decision to abandon this law the wrong decision, it passed in a bipartisan manner, it is very troubling because it undermines not only traditional marriage but it contradicts our system of government. It’s not the president’s job to pick and choose which laws he likes. A Romney administration will protect traditional marriage and the rule of law and we will provide the Defense of Marriage Act the proper defense in the courts that it deserves." - Paul Ryan, speaking on Focus On The Family's national radio show. (Via Right Wing Watch)