DCCC Must Be Getting Ready To Take On Paul Ryan-- Yesterday They Accused Him Of Protecting An Admitted Sex Offender

Ryan forgot his makeup today, but everyone recognized him by his childish antics

We're not talking about Paul Ryan's sympathy for his old colleague, Republican child molester Mark Foley-- or about Ryan's eagerness to shelter other Republican sex offenders in Congress. No, his latest stunt is reaching out to another branch of government-- the Federal Judiciary. Today the DCCC sent a press release to media in Kenosha, Racine, Janesville, Waukesha and Milwaukee entitled "Representative Paul Young Plays Procedural Games To Protect An Admitted Sex Offender." Everyone Inside the Beltway knows about the revolting case of Judge Samuel Kent and Ryan's role in it. People back in Wisconsin don't know though.

Kent is another extreme right GOP sociopath, a perfect example of what kind of maniacs and hypocrites get onto the judiciary under Republican presidents. George H.W. Bush appointed him to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in 1990. Last month he was sentenced to 33 months in prison after pleading guilty to one of the half dozen sex charges he was facing, including abusive sexual contact, attempted aggravated sexual abuse, aggravated sexual abuse, abusive sexual contact and obstruction of justice. A typical Republican, Kent claims he was retiring from the bench due to a permanent disability, something that would allow him to get his $169,300-a-year salary for the rest of his life. Led by John Conyers (D-MI), the House Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to start impeachment proceedings against him last week, which would end his salary on the spot.

To their credit, every single Republican on the Judiciary Committee voted to impeach-- even radical right partisans like Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI), Lamar Smith (R-TX), San Lungren (R-CA), Darrell Issa (R-CA), Steve King (R-IA) and Congress' most bigoted homophobe Jason Chaffetz (R-UT). But today Ryan and other Republican leaders, decided to play some of their obstructionist games-- throwing histrionic fits and fake temper tantrums to keep the House from proceeding.

"Representative Paul Ryan's constituents did not send him to Congress to play partisan games that are silencing veterans and protecting a convicted sex offender who is drawing a taxpayer salary,” said Ryan Rudominer, National Press Secretary for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “It’s outrageous that Representative Ryan can’t even set aside his loyalty to the Republican leadership to hear from veterans and impeach a convicted sex offender.”

A group of veterans was waiting to give important testimony on the backlog of VA claims to a House Subcommittee while Ryan was jumping around like a chimpanzee, disgracing himself and keeping the House from performing its normal business. Today Ryan and the rest of the obstructionists wasted 8 hours, forcing 52 mostly frivolous roll call votes, a record.

Other hearings that had to be canceled today because Ryan and his allies went into hissy-fit mode:

- Medical Device Regulation
- NASA Budget
- Financial Regulatory System/Restructuring
- Holocaust Asset Recovery
- U.S. Export Control Policy
- Afghan-Pakistan Interagency Strategy
- A Budget hearing on statutory paygo

Ryan may have been celebrating their stunt with Cantor, Sessions and Boehner but if Wisconsin Assemby Speaker Michael Sheridan decides to run against him, it could be all over for Ryan, who has never had any real electoral competition-- in a district that Obama won last November 51-48%. Have you ever visited StopPaulRyan? Have you ever listened to the coolest band to have ever come out of Waukesha?



Ryan, of course, adamantly opposes health care reform. Fortunately, all he can do is boo from the sidelines when serious health care policy is being debated. He can be counted on to stand with the corporate shills in the Senate, who have released a blueprint with no public option. Ryan has no role, no input in the Senate bill, basically written to accommodate the big insurance company CEOs to bolster their profit margins. But like the other legislators who feel they should be supporting insurance company CEOs and lobbyists rather than their own constituents, Ryan has taken a great deal of money from the people who are determined to prevent the American people from having decent health care coverage. (Ryan has gobbled up a total of $1,147,510 in legalized bribes from the Medical-Industrial Complex and Big Insurance since being elected. In fact the $475,401 he's taken from the Insurance Giants is the most of any Wisconsin politician in Congress, far more than even the two U.S. senators!)

Thank God, there are members of the House who are looking out for their constituents. The gold standard in this case is Maryland Congresswoman Donna Edwards who has stated flatly that there will be no health care bill passed without, at a minimum the compromise position (public option): "I think that there is absolutely a strong sentiment in the House of Representatives, frankly, that we will not get a bill through there if we don't have a strong robust public option... [W]e've had a number of conversations in a variety of caucuses, you know that the tri-caucus, which is the Black caucus, the Hispanic Caucus, I mean, Asian Pacific Islander caucus, actually came up with a set of ideas and principles for healthcare reform, as did the progressive Caucus and a strong public option was part of that. Well if you add the numbers together, those caucuses, if you don't have those in the fold, then you don't have a bill." A few weeks ago Donna told me herself that Speaker Pelosi had asked her to work on bringing together different parties to guarantee that the bill that comes out of the House will include the public option and the Speaker has also said that without its inclusion, there will be no bill. No wonder the powers of the Establishment have been working so hard to smear Pelosi's name! Anyone who stands up for regular working families gets that kind of treatment, something Donna Edwards is leaning-- and something that corporate shills like Paul Ryan and Blanche Lincoln never have to worry about.