Soup Kitchen Donors Demagoguing Paul Ryan’s Visit
It started innocently enough with a picture of the nice Catholic boy, VP candidate Paul Ryan, washing a pot at a soup kitchen in Youngstown, Ohio. Right on cue, the squirrel-chasers in the media blew it up into “gate” status. Benghazi-schmenghazi. Paul Ryan may or may not have washed a pot that wasn’t really, really dirty.
Twitchy reported on Monday that Washington Post reporter Felicia Sonmez tweeted the urgent, breaking news that the metal pans Ryan was scrubbing “appeared to be mostly clean.” It apparently never crossed the domestic reporter’s mind that at some point in the pan-scrubbing process, all pans cross the threshold from “mostly dirty” to “mostly clean” if you’re doing it right.
It would have been little more than the usual mainstream media silliness if it had ended there, but then the president of the Mahoning County St. Vincent De Paul Society Ryan had visited decided to weigh in. Sonmez interviewed Brian J. Antal, who claimed that the Ryan campaign “ramrodded” their way into the building for a photo op. (No mention was made of whether Ryan and his wife and children used a battering ram, a tank, or a trebuchet to gain access to the facility.) Antal said:
They showed up there, and they did not have permission. They got one of the volunteers to open up the doors. The photo-op they did wasn’t even accurate. He did nothing. He just came in here to get his picture taken at the dining hall.
Paul Ryan and wife Janna doing "nothing"
Chris Maloney, Romney Ohio communications director, said that it had been their intention to highlight the work of the center:
Our campaign and Congressman Ryan were pleased to bring attention to the meaningful charitable contributions the St. Vincent De Paul Society makes to people in need.
Seems reasonable.
Not to Antal, who began to pile on. He told the Youngstown Vindicator on Monday night that he was “shocked” and “angry” that Ryan used the soup kitchen for a “publicity stunt,” repeating that they “ramrodded themselves in there.”
He explained that he was being pressured by donors:
“I can’t afford to lose funding from these private individuals. If this was the Democrats, I’d have the same exact problem.” He added that the incident had caused him “all kinds of grief” and that regardless of whether Ryan had intended to serve food to patrons or wash dishes, he would not have allowed the visit to take place.” [emphasis added]
The Vindicator reported Antal has received several phone calls and emails from donors who are “not pleased” about Ryan’s visit.
How DARE he! Doesnt he know the only way he is suppose to help the “little” people” is to send taxpayer money to a political supporter’s company so they can give out free stuff in his name? How do you think the “little people” got their “Obama phones”? You think Obama would do such a demeaning and blatently political thing as to actually donate his or his money to help others? That is what other people’s money is for? We all know that Ms. Thatcher stated “The great thing about Socialism is other people’s money.”, why cant Ryan do that also?
((FYI the above is sarcasm))
I am glad that Ryan has actually put himself to work helping out others. I think the Mahoning County St. Vincent De Paul Society should have used the opportunity to raise awareness for their organization and the plight of those they help instead of trying to tear Ryan down. If others have a problem with Ryan helping out then they should be there working and preventing Ryan the opportunity to do so.
left wing troll alert – I have yet to hear the whole story, but what I think Rachael Maddow (maybe?) was saying is that Congressman Ryan wasn’t there to help at all. It was just a photo op for him. I live in southern Wisconsin – I’ve never heard of Congressman Ryan volunteering to help the needy.
I’ve never heard of Obama helping anyone who doesn’t kick a little back to him.
Even if true that’s small potatoes compared to our senator who hitched a ride on a space shuttle for a photo op while congressman.
If that is true, why is it that Obama is worth three times what he was when he was electred?
That’s OK; I’ve never heard of you at all.
You bring up an excellent point. You see, I had never heard of Romney’s tithing and charitable donations. These acts of charity total into the millions. What’s far more important is that they have happened over years WITHOUT any fanfare or acclamation. One wonders what the Ryan record is. I suspect it’s pretty good although I couldn’t speak to it myself. As far as these bozo Lariccia is concerned, he should shaddup. If he continues to fund the DePaul kitchen, that’s great. Actually, it’s wonderful. But let’s not kid ourselves. For this man, it isn’t charity. It’s a tax deduction.
Antal better be in chapel right now praying that his soup kitchen isn’t an earmark or a line item in the budget.
They should put up a sign that says “Democratic volunteers only”
“But he did specifically criticize Ryan for wanting to eliminate the small amount of federal money the society gets for the dining hall.”
Good job, Antal. You just demonstrated why all taxpayer dollars should be pulled from from all so-called charities and non-profits, all of which should be required to rely solely on private donations.
For a counter-balance of sorts…
A left wing photo-op would be:
Neck deep in a steaming, slightly frothy pile of bull shit.
Oh please make this happen, Lord!
The left wing MSM are so blatantly obvious in their support of Obama/Biden its just crazy. Reminds me of a football game where the biased refs run around with yellow hanky in hand ready to throw it at the least little infraction – and turning their backs on the most egregious of infractions by the opposing side. Americans are watching and learning about the MSM more every day. Thank God for that!
Just out of curiosity, does any one know whether president of the Mahoning County St. Vincent De Paul Society is a volunteer position or does this gomer draw a salary?
Mr Antal, subsidiarity. Try it, you might like it. And it’s inline with Catholic social teaching.
The dummy shoulda delivered pizzas like I did. I got a bite out of every slice!
“Those wanting to donate to the society can do so at P.O. Box 224, Youngstown, OH 44501 or at any First Place Bank.”
Thinking caps on, folks. What would be the best way to embarrass this idiot Antal? Aha! We could all donate a few dollars to this charity making it clear that we didn’t know the charity even existed until the Ryan Family visit.
First Place Bank, Youngstown
Central Square Financial Center – (330)726-3396
Cornersburg Financial Center – (330)726-3396
Liberty Financial Center – (330)373-1221
Newport Financial Center – (330)726-3396 (Chad Schenker)
“This message brought to you from the party of Big Bird and the dishwashing police…”
Democrats are silly people. No wonder they are incapable of improving the economy, it’s a full-time job being the gatekeeper of proper motivations.
BTW, when Democrats wash dishes, the dishes are still dirty when they are done. A perfect metaphor for what ails this country does not exist.
Just called a St. Vincent DePaul Society number in Ohio. Could not find a listing for that particular county but I am sure the message I left will “resonate”. Call them and ask them, are you supporting the abortionist, the Marxist and his buffoon running mate? And they wonder why Catholicism is just a religious word for cynicism? Let them know loud and clear just what a bunch of sh-theads I thought they were for acting the way they did to Paul Ryan. And my elderly father who contributes will no longer send them a dime.
I attended a Catholic school as a child and some of our field trips were to soup kitchens to help with making lunch. I wonder how many public schools (tax payer funded) actually would do a field trip like this?
As a matter of fact, I’ve seen it happen. In the JROTC program. The JROTC kids from public high school went on a Saturday morning and helped out at a soup kitchen.
Yeah, the regular school wouldn’t do anything like that.
If private funders are threatening to withdraw simply because Ryan and wife showed up and did a little good, they need to find new funders. Anyone who would put politics ahead of doing good work can (to misquote Acts 8:20) perish with their money.
I’m sadly, not really surprised at the “reporting.” The lame-stream media has to reject anything that conservatives do that looks good as being false and phony. It always sounds like projection to me.
I live in the upper south. I am a soup kitchen volunteer – prepping, chopping, serving, cleaning up – close to 1,000 hours total. The ratio of volunteers to paid staff is very high, so the operation manages to get by with donations. Donations from many churches (it’s the south) and two synagogues, plus memorials.
The Paul Ryan photo caught my eye, not Paul Ryan, but the soup pot. I felt like cheering, not for Paul Ryan, but again, for the soup pot. The guests who patronize our shelter and soup kitchen may be homeless, but some are not, just lonely and poor. Everyone welcomes an air conditioned safe harbor in August and a free hot meal. These folks are forgotten by so many, and that photograph is a reminder: remember those who have much much less, and send in a check.
Here’s a tip about funding of our shelter. This was true when I checked four years ago, though I haven’t checked since. The amount the city contributed to the shelter annually was zero. The amount the county contributed annually is $3,000.
Now why so cheap, so parsimonous? The city spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on consultants for things we don’t need, event consultants, media consultants, you name it. The city manager just hired his brother-in-law for a high paid job and the entire council defended the hire. You may guess, we are a historic blue collar “union” town, run by Democrats for 80 years. They make great speeches about the poor, but sometimes forget to “walk the walk”.
– sodality.
It all went downhill after Sprite and 7up feuded and then came that damnable Cola war betwixt Pepsi & Coca Cola…and don’t even get me started on the various root beers and the notorious Dr. Pepper.
OY to the vey!
Ha! Delia, I never thought of that way. And trained by the Jesuits, I’m supposed to find a pun in almost every word.
I have not noticed, over the many years, that activists for the homeless actually care that much about their charges. They are primarily interested in pleasing their own egos, and using this activism as a way to advance themselves within certain circles. Among “progressives,” if you do enough “s***t jobs” for long enough, you eventually graduate to a high six-to-low-seven-figure salary with lots of travels to lots of conferences and seminars, and do little useful work for it.
I seem to recall last year’s Occupy Mayhem began to break down over the fight between occu-pie-rs and the homeless who were displaced from their natural habitat and began to indulge in the gormet goodies prepared by local sympathetic donors for the lefty rabble. Wasn’t exactly the picture of tolerance and empathy we should expect from the “do as I say not as I do” left.
Ever notice how the MSM is always trying to make Romney/Ryan look bad over the slightest event. Of course Biden can say as many gaffes as he wants and they will not even broadcast or write about it. Sad to say the media just makes itself more irrelevant with each passing day.
Ryan cleaned a pot, Obama smoked pot. Ryan was helping at a soup kitchen, Obama was helping himself to a deli-sandwich and a beer(which he did not pay for). Ryan is cleaning-up after a dinner for the poor, on his own time, Obama is cleaning-up at dinners for the rich, on our time. Ryan is honorable, Obama is hypocritical. Fill free to continue the contrast into the content of character my fellow commentators because it seems to allude the MSM, for they are truly biased by the color of skin. MLK would be speechless by the sheer stupidity. Btw, Biden was not used in this comparison because he’s crazy and should be commited.
Romney jet-skis, Obama dines out on yachts.
Anne Romney rides horses, Michelle drags an army of “friends” to the Costa del Sol
The Romneys pay for their own vacations, the Obamas cost us $1.8 billion so far for their trips.
Woe to you Pharisees you hypocrites! You boast of your charitable works, but there is no love in your works, for if there was, you would not criticize a man for joining you. What should anyone conclude, but that you give to the poor not out of love for the poor nor out of duty to God, but rather to make yourselves feel good and to feed your own self-righteousness.
I’m sorry, but as a Pharisee myself I find that this insult is uncalled for.
Ah, yes, Youngstown, Ohio! Home of a long-standing boarded-up downtown, decades-long unemployment above 20%, and the Ohio Mafia–where it’s acceptable to shoot judges, DA’s and others not on the take. Only in places like this would donors and the guy running the place pitch a fit ‘coz one of dare guys weren’t runnin’ da joint! Clowns.
Unfortunately, Mr. Antal appears to be the type of Catholic who puts his political affiliation first and his faith a very distant second, if it’s even on the list at all. And unfortunately, I know many Catholics like him. If only they would realize that everything the current Democrat party stands for is completely antithetical to Catholicism, but I don’t hold out much hope that they even think much about it. Being a Democrat is apparently much more important and meaningful. I hope his bishop sees fit to demote him and/or replace him with someone who can put his or her political affiliation aside and work for the good of the St. Vincent de Paul Society and for Catholicism.
Brian Antal is an utter dumbass…what an opportunity to hold Ryan’s feet to the fire to not only continue funding, but possibly also get an increase after Ryan stopped by personally to check it out. Why is this moron the ‘president’ of the society? He appears only borderline competent to manage a McDonald’s shift…maybe, with training and supervision
He really is stupid.
Does he not know that conservatives & Republicans are more generous with donating money & time than liberals?
Never mind – I’m sure he doesn’t before he opened his big yap.
Please help us save Sensata Technologies. The company is closing at the end of this year and 170 employees will lose their jobs. This is making headlines all over the news so please pitch in to help.
Sorry to hear of the closing, but Sensata is still a huge company. The Freeport plant is a small piece of that pie. I’ve been in this boat myself 15 years ago and understand your plight, but if the plant is draining resources it’s destined to close.
Sensata bought the Freeport plant as part of an acquisition of Honeywell International’s auto-sensor business in late 2010. The 170 jobs there were at risk from the start of the purchase, Reuters reported.
Well I think I will call for a boycott of this soup kitchen.
If Mr. Antal had just smoothed this over I would not do this.
It is becase of silliness like this that I left the Catholic
church. Mr. Antal needs to be fired and excommunicated to clear
this mess in my opinion.
This is payback for closing down the mental institutions in the 70′s. Worse still, they all figured out how to tweet!
“(Who) would threaten to pull their funding from a soup kitchen because Paul Ryan and his kids stopped by?”
The same people who revoked Sarah Palin’s Woman Card because she never had an abortion.
The same people who bleached Condi Rice, Colin Powell, and lately Stacey Dish to pristine whiteness for backing a Republican.
The same people who blithely respond to critiques of Communist mass murder with asinine aphorisms about omelets and eggs.
In short, the same people who profess to love humanity but who actually despise actual individual human beings: progressives.
The “poor” have been statist slaughterhouse cattle for a few generations.
Well, the prize goes to the time Dan Quayle visited a school to highlight their achievements. The ungrateful teachers asked him to judge a spelling bee, and intentionally misspelled a word on an snswer card he was given. Of course, instead of the story being “ungrateful union teachers miseducate in in order to pull a dirty trick”, it was “Republican cannot spell”.
This whole thing brings up something I’ve been ranting against for years. Please bear with me.
First, it seems that Ryan’s people showed up after the soup kitchen was closed. Ryan was washing pots that had already been cleaned. He had to because all the food had been served and the dishes washed before his people showed up for the photo op. They needed photos so Ryan washed clean pots.
Why do politicians do this sort of crap? It’s not like Ryan invented this kind of photo op and you can argue that he has to do this sort of thing because it’s expected.
I’ve seen politicians flip pancakes. I’ve seen them wash dishes. I’ve seen them smiling while serving food to people they would normally call security on. Why?
I like it when politicians talk about what they specifically plan to do about taxes, the economy and, most of all, debt reduction. I usually assume that the candidate knows how to flip pancakes (although there have been a few who make me wonder). I don’t need to see them do it.
If the press refused to cover stupid acts like washing dishes to show that the candidate is just a regular guy, politicians would stop setting up this sort of idiocy. Stop taking pictures and nobody will set up stupid bogus photo ops like this one.
End of rant until this sort of stupidity comes up again (probably next week).
Really?
That’s already been debunked, NL; the media decided to go with FOAF-checking instead of fact-checking.
Remember, you can’t spell “liberal” without “lie”!
You need to support your “debunking” claim with references. Where did you get this information? It is nowhere to be found. Probably heard it on Fox “news” where Gretchen Carlson admitted freely on the air that the reason they are so popular is they “make it up.” How nice… only the desperate and uneducated would fall for Fox.
Considering he was replying to me, I too wondered what the source was that the kitchen wasn’t closed. Here’s what I Googled.
http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/16/14485409-ryan-did-wash-dirty-dishes-during-soup-kitchen-visit?ocid=twitter
So our friend was right. They had stopped serving, but the doors weren’t locked and the dishes were dirty.
I still maintain that I’m sick and tired of seeing politicians do this sort of crap.
I find it so incredibly amusing reading right wing sites dumbing down their hero being busted.
This is silly, a minor mis-step. Ryan should’ve at least gone to the soup kitchen while some of the clients were actually there. His schedule didn’t allow it, he made the best of the situation. Stop wasting time attacking the president of the St Vincent Depaul kitchen, it looks uncharitable. I agree with Alex above that everyone who cares about this issue should donate to the kitchen, show the left they are wrong.
This is the first I heard that Antal was going to lose donors. The article I read (NBC I believe) said that they discovered he is a Democrat and he later recanted his statement of the clean dishes and also a Ryan aide had actually asked for permission to do the photo op and was given permission. The person who was asked had no authority to do so. Well, doggone it, the aide should have known that! What’s the matter with him? The last line in the article said that it was thought it would be a good idea to promote volunteerism.
Not to the Democrats it isn’t! Get rid of that damned volunteerism so the government can take over.
The idiot Antal should step down. He down the soup kitchen and the organization sponsoring it a great dis-service.
I don’t think there will EVER be a real solution to the problems we have until we gain the perspective it takes to realize that government really is our servant. As our servant, it should treat us all the same, equality under the law. When you look at government making private enterprise issue sweat-stained W2/1099-MISC to their wage slaves and independent contractors, you begin to wonder when the 1099-GOV is going to be generated for those getting free money. City, county, state, and federal agencies ‘grant’ people money at rates that top one TRILLION dollars just for the federal side of the equation. Of course there should be equivalent reporting for income (real or redistributed) but what is the relationship?
“1099-GOV”=Fairness (Labor\2)
Democrats will easily agree that half a man’s work (Labor\2) should be available for redistribution. Others might say that God’s typical share (Labor\10) is sufficient. I know we can all agree that Fairness is enough. No need to be more than fair (Fairness >1) and it will certainly never fly in an electoin to be less (Fairness <1).
This equation gives a quantitative measure to discussing OUR/MY governments entitlement decisions. Solving for the relavant, it becomes clear that if we decide that government should consider $400 in food (stamps) as foundational, then clearly at least twice that must be the tax deduction for the productive citizen. Working ALWAYS supplies more benefit. On the flip, government cannot give so much away that they can take more than whatever share we think ANY person deserves. Income (real/redistributed) is all related and politicians canNOT grant more to anyone without reducing the amount of the pie they propose to redistribute.
Tweet “#1099-GOV”
I am always looking for some pots and pans to wash.
Holidays are coming soon, I can’t wait to get a hold of that turkey pan.