Paul Ryan in 2011 - Janesville Labor Day Parade - Image VS Reality.
Last edited Mon Aug 13, 2012, 12:27 PM - Edit history (2)
&feature=related**I had no part in this production.
The good people of Wisconsin's 1st District are learning who Paul Ryan is along with the rest of us. The 1st District by tradition is a populist, working class Democratic region. Although I no longer live there, I grew up in Janesville and we're proud of our history, our abolitionist roots which brought Abraham Lincoln to campaign, the participation in the Underground Railroad, our Suffragette movement, our Union tradition - UAW especially, our commitment to the social commons and community spaces - Janesville is called the City of Parks, our commitment to world class public education - an education that Ryan (And Russ Feingold, who's from Janesville too) personally benefited from- therefore Ryan had to craft a persona that would be palatable to his Democratic leaning constituents, especially those in his hometown (A town that voted for Barrett in the recall btw). He has a well cultivated "aww shucks" home town boy makes good image and he's enjoyed little or no scrutiny of this image vs voting record for the last 14 years.
His campaign ads reflect his well crafted persona - that he's a straight talking, nice guy, good Christian family man, who has some vague, home spun ideas that just might work. Send him back to DC and he'll show those DC insiders a thing or two about common sense. And, gosh darn it, it pained him when the GM plant closed and we lost all of those union jobs.
Perception is everything and this is how he's viewed by many in his district - and it's by design. There's a reason why the class of 1988 voted him as the biggest "brown noser".
The uber conservative, DC elitist insider darling status that he enjoys is more than a little surprising to many of his constituents. His cold, selfish Ayn Randian worldview defies and insults the values of Wisconsin's 1st District.
Here's a sampling of his ads:
Check out this ad about energy:
Check out this ad for his roadmap:
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His disturbing agenda is now out in the open and for all to see and I hope he'll finally lose his Congressional seat.
If you have a few bucks to spare, think about contributing to Ryan's opponent, Rob Zerban:
http://www.robzerban.com/
= new reply since forum marked as read
he wouldn't win his student council seat. 
He doesn't have too many voters among his HS classmates.
Last edited Sun Aug 12, 2012, 12:27 PM - Edit history (1)
He comes from local royalty. There's RW hate radio all over, but WCLO is the trusted local news, weather, school lunch menu, school closings and Paul Ryan love station. The local talkers *love* him.
http://wclo.com/programs/schedule/
His district doesn't have a major TV station or major market paper- the TV markets are Madison, Milwaukee and Rockford IL which are all completely different districts so people rely on what they see - Ryan on the front page of the Gazette for a labor day parade, the local radio stations singing his praises and a few of his soft ads. Progressive radio
http://www.themic921.com/main.html
the MIC out of Madison has helped, but the district has been an info wasteland for years.
GM, the bedrock out our community closed, as did the remainder of Parker Pen, and this devastated the area. He was there with a furrowed brow, a concerned face and platitudes of bringing jobs back to the US. It was an awful time for the community and he was there with his faux compassion and no one was there to challenge him on his voting record. Again, his voting record isn't even discussed locally. He's allowed to speak vaguely about making America stronger and bringing back jobs, all without specifics.
This is a Dem pick up seat if we want it, but chastising the good people of this community for not being online wonks is not the way to go, imho.
One of my FB friends who still lives in the district wrote: "I didn't vote for him for student council, and I won't for for him now." 
http://www.robzerban.com/