That’s not bullshit. That’s art.
I do wonder how he gets away with all this maker and taker bullshit. He’s never run a business and has worked in the public sector all but one year of his adult life. He much closer to being one of those leaches than a John Galt figure.
That might result in actually encountering poor people, which would result in pictures of Ryan making his frowny face. Can’t take that chance.
I really have to learn to get over feeling embarrassed for people who are embarrassing themselves. It makes me cringe. Look at this freaking video, man.
And, I don’t get all ruffled by a phony photo op…I assume everything is phony with politicians. But watching the actual video just makes me nearly pity Ryan.
There’s already an active thread on this subject in this forum. Reported for merge.
Merged two threads about this incident.
Nah, too French.
Jeb Bartlet would have walked out and refused to play to the cameras.
I know that a lot of these campaign things are stagey on both sides, and I’m sure Obama has done some stagey things too, but there’s such a sausage making quality to watching this video. You can see it being staged. You can see that the pans are props and that there’s nobody there but Ryan staffers and Secret Service. Did he even pretend to wash more than two pans?
There’s just such a lack of effort here. It’s so cursory, so cynical. They aren’t even trying to look convincing.
Like I said, I’m sure Obama has done some contrived things too, but I hope he hasn’t used some unwilling charity in this way. I’m sure that it’s normal for politicians to show up and serve three people at a soup kitchen for a photograph, but usually they at least are really serving three people (and hopefully getting permission first, and not causing potential damage to a non-political charity).
This reminds me a little of when Bush was pretending to serve an ornamental turkey to the troops in Iraq.
Industrial dishwashers are great for plates, bowls, utensils, etc. Pots and pans still have to be scrubbed by hand.
Good thing that pan was clean, he might have gotten something on himself.
In a weird way I think what is most disturbing about this is just how freaking lazy it is.
I like the running monolog he gives about how to clean a pan. Is that meant to be for his kids’ benefit? I also loved how he spent more time putting aprons on the kids so they could stand behind him for the photo op than he did actually washing the clean pans.
As they say, fake it 'til they take it.
I hate Ryan just as much as the next guy but this just looks like a staff member screwed up. Ryan and his kids get dropped off at a back door and Paul has to make noise for the reporters for a while and I don’t think he did too bad considering he had nothing to work with. He seemed to know his way around a dishwasher station well enough. I think he should have reamed out the idiot who set this up. That would have made a great video.
I’m sorry, but really? How clueless would you have to be to not comprehend a dishwasher station. Besides which, he’s using a scouring pad on a clean metal serving pan and appears to be wasting concentrated soap.
He would have been much better served to not fake the washing, and spend the time appearing to care about the mission and operation of the facility.
Okay, I watched the video. It’s much better than a still picture. He’s touring a soup kitchen with his kids, showing how the kitchen works, etc. To be honest, that’s probably a lot more social studies than most American parents expose their kids to.
I don’t think it’s very snark-worthy anymore.
I hate it when that happens!
Well, picture George Bush in the same situation then. There would have soap everywhere and somebody would have been scalded when he tried to use the sprayer. Then he would have marveled at this great new technology. So his staff made sure he didn’t get in these situations. I say Ryan’s staff screwed up by putting him there in the first place.
I agree he could have done a lot better than pretend cleaning but the video isn’t the scandal everyone is making it out to be. It’s just painfully awkward.
Just two months ago my family and a small group of coworkers cooked a meal and served it at a homeless shelter. Seeing a large empty kitchen and watching dad fake wash a pan is definitely snark worthy.
Good thing it was attached to a long wall or he could have gotten lost. I think most 6 year old could pretty much master what Ryan accomplished.
Was Ryan ever a dishwasher or busboy?