# Paul Ryan steals lunch (story) **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [March 7, 2014, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-steals-lunch-story/683111 "2014-03-07T14:57:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-steals-lunch-story/683111/1 "2014-03-07T14:57:43Z")
This is really MPSIMS, but since it’s about a political figure I suspect it would be moved from there. Paul Ryan, speaking at CPAC, said: > [@Paul Ryan](#): > > [W]e will be the party of ideas. He implied in his speech that [‘Free school lunches mean poor parents don’t care about kids’](http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/03/06/paul-ryan-cpac-free-school-lunches-mean-poor-parents-dont-care-about-kids/), as he told a story of ‘a “young boy from a very poor family” who received free lunches at school “from a government program.”’ The trouble is, [He stole it](http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/03/06/report-paul-ryans-brown-bag-cpac-story-stolen-from-a-book-about-a-homeless-child/). > [@](#): > > Ryan’s remarks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Thursday regarding a “young boy from a very poor family” relying on “a government program” for his lunches was strikingly similar to the premise of the book _An Invisible Thread_, which recounted author Laura Schroff’s 1986 meeting with an 11-year-old “homeless panhandler” named Maurice, who was receiving lunches through a school program. This thread will probably turn into a debate about Paul Ryan and school lunches. But I’m really posting it because I like the first quote in the context of what Ryan did. ‘We will be the party of ideas. But that’s hard. So _my_ idea is that we take other people’s ideas and just make up “points” about them!’ ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-steals-lunch-story/683111/2 "2014-03-07T15:11:24Z")
The fact that Ryan apparently had a source for his story is quite the least disgusting thing about his speech. Would it really be better if he had made the story up himself, instead of someone else having (probably) made it up? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-steals-lunch-story/683111/3 "2014-03-07T15:12:56Z")
Right, the fact that he thinks it’s better for a kid’s soul if he goes hungry is more the real point, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-steals-lunch-story/683111/4 "2014-03-07T15:15:05Z")
The lesson Ryan is really teaching here is that poor people who accept government assistance don’t really care about their children. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-steals-lunch-story/683111/5 "2014-03-07T15:17:04Z")
He’s a strange little man. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-steals-lunch-story/683111/6 "2014-03-07T15:32:40Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > The lesson Ryan is really teaching here is that poor people who accept government assistance don’t really care about their children. Yes. Which is non-sequitur. That a child feels left out because he doesn’t have a sack lunch to take to school like everyone else, has nothing to do with whether his parents love him. Leaving out deliberate manipulation, the impression is either that he’s too dense to get the point; or else his cache is only large enough to hold one idea at a time. > [@njtt](#): > > The fact that Ryan apparently had a source for his story is quite the least disgusting thing about his speech. > > Would it really be better if he had made the story up himself, instead of someone else having (probably) made it up? No. I was just amused by his ‘We will be the party of ideas’ statement, and his plagiarism of someone else’s story. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-steals-lunch-story/683111/7 "2014-03-07T16:33:38Z")
He didn’t say whose ideas. ---
**Author:** ![Robert163](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4af34b/32.png) [@Robert163](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robert163)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-steals-lunch-story/683111/8 "2014-03-07T17:47:52Z")
wouldn’t the obvious solution to this “problem” be issuing brown paper bags to parents in the SNAP program? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-steals-lunch-story/683111/9 "2014-03-07T17:54:41Z")
> [@Robert163](#): > > wouldn’t the obvious solution to this “problem” be issuing brown paper bags to parents in the SNAP program? Just serve the school lunches in brown paper bags. 😛 (Posted elsewhere by **Shayna**.) ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-steals-lunch-story/683111/10 "2014-03-07T18:04:17Z")
Hey, if Paul Ryan is going to compete with Rand Paul, obviously he needs to learn to keep up in the plagiarism department. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-steals-lunch-story/683111/11 "2014-03-07T18:16:42Z")
> [@Robert163](#): > > wouldn’t the obvious solution to this “problem” be issuing brown paper bags to parents in the SNAP program? That would still be a government hand-out program. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-steals-lunch-story/683111/12 "2014-03-07T18:38:30Z")
OT, but looking up Paraclete from another thread — it’s not something I ever think about — I found his perfect running mate, the Tea party candidate who founded Paraclete Armor. Doubtful if related to the proto-fascist Gabriele, Mr. Tim D’Annunzio, after a struggling youth, became a staff-sergeant, left the army and founded different firms, and is the darling of the tea-pots in North Carolina. From **[Wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_D%27Annunzio)**, it says: \* D’Annunzio calls for the elimination of most departments of the Federal Government. Abolish the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, Agriculture, Energy, Labor, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Transportation, Treasury, and Home Land Security. Any duties remaining that are Constitutional should be rolled into other Departments.\* A while back, he sold his Armor firm for $30 million — just after '_Paraclete received over $26 million in federal contracts’_. Oh, and he believes that God will drop a 1000 mile high Pyramid on Greenland to usher in the New Jerusalem. Preferably when I’m not there. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-steals-lunch-story/683111/13 "2014-03-07T18:58:17Z")
In spite of myself I may enjoy Campaign 2016. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-steals-lunch-story/683111/14 "2014-03-07T19:16:23Z")
I’m not really seeing plagiarism here. He says he heard the story from another person, so he’s not claiming it as his own. He cites the wrong source for it, so either he’s misremembered it, or the person who told him the story got it from the book, and didn’t mention it to Ryan. Either way, I don’t see how he’s done anything even mildly wrong or improper, in terms of intellectual property. In terms of content, of course, he’s the same reprehensible shit-weasel he’s always been. But I don’t think that has anything to do with how he sourced his muddled and deliberately misleading anecdote. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-steals-lunch-story/683111/15 "2014-03-07T19:30:48Z")
It didn’t stop Biden from becoming VP. I know, I know - that’s completely different. Which it is. This isn’t plagiarism; Biden’s was. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-steals-lunch-story/683111/16 "2014-03-07T19:31:36Z")
So you’re predicting Paul Ryan will become VP in 20 years? ---
**Author:** ![Lobohan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobohan/32/79_2.png) [@Lobohan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobohan)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-steals-lunch-story/683111/17 "2014-03-07T19:31:55Z")
The take away is that Paul Ryan is so morally worthless that he thinks this is a hard-hitting point. I’d say this is more than a well-meaning person with a difference of opinion. Ryan has a delusional cult-morality that’s actively bad for humanity. He’s an anti-vaxer looking to be put in charge of public health. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-steals-lunch-story/683111/18 "2014-03-07T19:35:29Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I’m not really seeing plagiarism here. He says he heard the story from another person, so he’s not claiming it as his own. He cites the wrong source for it, so either he’s misremembered it, or the person who told him the story got it from the book, and didn’t mention it to Ryan. Either way, I don’t see how he’s done anything even mildly wrong or improper, in terms of intellectual property. He used a published story without attribution. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-steals-lunch-story/683111/19 "2014-03-07T19:45:46Z")
I was laughing earlier, but this is not plagiarism. [The Huffington Post has a good story about this now, and it turns out that the Walker official is the plagiarist. She took the original glurge story, made some important changes to its meaning, told it as if it happened to her, and then testified to Congress about it.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/06/paul-ryan-brown-bag-pover_n_4914653.html) > [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > He used a published story without attribution. He did attribute it! As it happens the attribution was incorrect, but that would usually be an honest mistake. In this case it sounds like it _wasn’t_ an honest mistake, but that’s because he was retelling a story he heard from a plagiarist. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-steals-lunch-story/683111/20 "2014-03-07T19:53:03Z")
Let’s all be on the same page here, OK? The objectionable thing about Ryan’s story is not the source but the content. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-steals-lunch-story/683111.md?page=2)