Conservative radio host Laura Ingraham compiled sound bites from people who shared their struggles with work/life balances and criticized Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) for requesting that he not work weekends as House speaker.
Ryan had set a series of conditions for running for House speaker, including that he be able to spend more time with his family.
“I worked as a nurse for almost 30 years — weekends, holidays, it’s just what you do,” a woman said. “This is my job. This is what I do. It comes with the territory.”
One man detailed his difficulty in seeing his family during his more than 20 years working in the oil fields.
“A lot of times, it meant going to work on Monday and not coming home for a week later,” the man said. “So, not much sympathy for Mr. Ryan there.”
“I’m tired of these guys who have drivers and whine about having to be with their families. I want them all gone,” another man said.
Another man suggested Ryan go back to Wisconsin and be a mayor in his local city — “do the country a favor and go home,” he said.
Listen to the full audio.
Yeah…it was a fluff demand aimed only at polishing a political story about what a great family guy Ryan is.
If he does end up being Speaker, he is going to end up taking a lot of flack for it, both in the PR arena (the guy who is against paid family leave during a sickness or pregnancy, demands it for himself every weekend?) and in the practical arena. The GOP without a Speaker fundraising is a weaker GOP…particularly in the House.
So whenever people want to pin the blame on President Obama for the dysfunction in Washington, I’ll point to things like this as evidence A. The Freedom Caucus and their supporters can’t even agree with their Golden Boy, Rock Star, dyed in the wool Conservative, Paul Ryan! That’s really astounding if you think about it. It’s impossible to get these guys to say yes to any deal unless it’s 100% skewed in their direction. Simply not how the real world operates.
Well YEAH…because we all know the GOP only uses ‘family values’ (as well as the military) as a prop…but when the rubber meets the road they are thrown under the bus.
I saw this sort of criticism coming when reading his family time demand. I have a mixed feeling.
On the one hand, and in more general terms, I think this “I suffer therefore you should suffer too” mentality expressed by those guests has been so strong an obstacle to making reasonable policy changes to reduce such suffering in the first place.
On the other, in this particular case, this family demand comes from a guy who doesn’t give a damn to families other than his own and has opposed everything that could help people have more family time. Therefore, he deserves to be bashed by his kindred spirits who don’t give a damn to his family.
My fear is this is yet another episode that only reinforces the “I suffer therefore…” way of thinking.
and you would think the dems could use that particular piece of info…but this is the dems party not known for going after those who want to bring this country with facts