Paul Ryan in The Washington Post

On Principles & Values: The left offers people a full stomach and an empty soul

Ryan speech to CPAC: "The left is making a big mistake here. What they're offering people is a full stomach and an empty soul. The American people want more than that. This reminds me of a story I heard from Eloise Anderson. She serves in the cabinet of my buddy, Governor Scott Walker. She once met a young boy from a very poor family, and every day at school, he would get a free lunch from a government program. He told Eloise he didn't want a free lunch. He wanted his own lunch, one in a brown-paper bag just like the other kids. He wanted one, he said, because he knew a kid with a brown-paper bag had someone who cared for him. This is what the left does not understand."

FactCheck: Did Anderson ever meet such a child? On July 31, 2013, she testified to Congress [and told that same story].

Had she actually met this boy? Her spokesperson said she misspoke; the story came from a TV interview 25 years ago. When we told Ryan, he posted a notice saying, "I regret failing to verify the original story."

Source: Wash. Post FactCheck on 2014 CPAC convention Mar 6, 2014

The above quotations are from Media coverage of nationwide political races in The Washington Post. Click here for other excerpts from Media coverage of nationwide political races in The Washington Post. Click here for other excerpts by Paul Ryan. Click here for a profile of Paul Ryan.
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Page last updated: Dec 15, 2021