Who Is Paul Ryan?

[Valin]

Townhall:

 

John Stossel

8/22/12

 

I wanted to like Paul Ryan.

 

Before he was nationally known, Rep. Ryan visited me at ABC, and we went to lunch. He was terrific. He was a rare politician, one who actually cared about America's coming debt crisis and the unfairness of entitlements. He even talked about F.A. Hayek's "The Road to Serfdom"! If only more politicians thought that way.

 

But then the housing bubble burst. Ryan voted for TARP. Then he voted for the auto bailout. Who is this guy? I thought he believed in markets!

 

At Fox, when I got my own TV show, I asked him about that.

 

"I voted for TARP because I believed we were going to fall into a deflationary spiral, the economy was going to collapse. ... The purpose of voting for that auto bill was to prevent the auto companies from getting TARP dollars. ... Now TARP has become this revolving government slush fund. Never was intended ... ."

 

But in your ideal world, should government have bailed out the auto company?

 

"No."

 

Whew.

 

I wish he had voted against those bills, but the political class was in near panic, and Ryan is a politician.

 

It's a reason I don't like politicians.

 

But at least Ryan speaks against bailouts now.

 

 

(Snip)

 

Something to always keep in mind when dealing with politicians...

Jeffrey Pelt: Listen, I'm a politician which means I'm a cheat and a liar, and when I'm not kissing babies I'm stealing their lollipops.