The Right Fangirl

Last weekend, Paul Ryan, his family, and staffers made an unscheduled visit to an Ohio soup kitchen run by the Mahoning County St. Vincent De Paul Society.



At first the story was that Ryan and his team just barreled in there without anyone's okay and the dishes they were washing were *gasp* CLEAN. It was all just a staged photo opportunity. Then Brian Antal, the President of the Mahoning County Society, came forward and said he wasn't on-site but Ryan and his group DID wash dirty dishes for several minutes. However, he stated it paled in comparison to the staff who worked hard that day to serve 180 homeless a meal that day. Antal also said that St. Vincent De Paul had no political ties and wanted to keep it that way, and the person who allowed Ryan and his group to enter had no authority to allow it nor to turn them away. Now the soup kitchen is losing donors from both sides because of the situation. (It should be noted that Antal described himself as an independent voter to the press, but has voted in Democratic primaries for the past 17 years.)

I'm just curious as to everyone's opinion on something like this - should charity work be used as a voting point? I think there's too many opportunities where politicians could take advantage of it, like this one. I would feel differently if Ryan and his staff had contacted a soup kitchen ahead of time and volunteered to serve meals AND clean-up after, with maybe a few candid photos. It's not going to change my opinion as to who could do a better job in office, but it just makes me look at them more as career politicians than people who truly are out to change this country for the better.

(Mods, could we get a Paul Ryan tag, please?)