Ohio St. Vincent DePaul food kitchen upset about Paul Ryan photo op

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That’s pretty slimy. Showing up at a soup kitchen to get your picture taken to make it look like you care about people and do good? Ugh, that’s why the guy gives me the creeps.

I’ve worked in soup kitchens for years. They are busy places and the people that run them and work there give so much and are so busy. They people that use soup kitchens are some of the poorest and most desperate in our country. It is very wrong to show up and pretend to help just to have a picture taken to score political points. That is not what they are there for. Some things you just shouldn’t play politics with, and taking fake pictures in a soup kitchen is over the line.
 
I have serious problems with Ryan expounding on Ayn Rand Philosophy of Objectivism. He gave his staffers Atlas Shrugged to read a few years ago. This is 180 degrees from Catholic social teaching
 
so, does this mean he can’t go anywhere to volunteer even as a PRIVATE CITIZEN and having nothing to do with running for office?

I don’t think this was a photo op. I think he was merely trying to do a work of mercy.

If this had been Joe Biden, it would NOT HAVE MADE THE NEWS! Or would it have?
 
jediliz said:
I don’t think this was a photo op. I think he was merely trying to do a work of mercy.
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Yeah, sure it was.

I bet it went something like this on the Ryan campaign bus. . . .

RYAN: “Hey, everybody! Stop the bus! I want to go feed some poor people!”

STAFFERS: “But Mr. Ryan, we have many important commitments to keep and stops to make.”

RYAN: “No, I won’t hear of it!! I need to feed the poor this instant! LETS GO!!”
 
jediliz said:
so, does this mean he can’t go anywhere to volunteer even as a PRIVATE CITIZEN and having nothing to do with running for office?

I don’t think this was a photo op. I think he was merely trying to do a work of mercy.

If this had been Joe Biden, it would NOT HAVE MADE THE NEWS! Or would it have?
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Of course it would have. Fox News and Drudge would have been all over it and everyone here would have been condemning Biden for being opportunistic and interfering with the running of the soup kitchen.
 
jediliz said:
so, does this mean he can’t go anywhere to volunteer even as a PRIVATE CITIZEN and having nothing to do with running for office?
**
I don’t think this was a photo op. I think he was merely trying to do a work of mercy. ***

If this had been Joe Biden, it would NOT HAVE MADE THE NEWS! Or would it have?
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Please… How many families do you know who would just pop into a soup kitchen on their way to the airport – while on a busy campaign schedule – to perform a corporal work of mercy? Does one still get points for faking it?
  • Emphasis always mine unless indicated otherwise.
 
Political grandstanding has no place in true Catholic charity. Our family gives to this important charity and its many outreach efforts. Letting anyone use the Catholic faith to promote their political agenda is a slap in the face to those of us who believe all people (no matter what political party) deserve respect, kindness, and assistance. This stunt causes further divide among Catholics who do not support the Republican ticket. Please speak out against this in support of ALL Catholics.
 
Seeker1961 said:
Of course it would have. Fox News and Drudge would have been all over it and everyone here would have been condemning Biden for being opportunistic and interfering with the running of the soup kitchen.
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I agree, and it also would have been much ado about nothing.
 
The thing that is so ridiculous is that Mr. Ryan could easily have been invited to a soup kitchen or food pantry - probably even this one - if his staff had taken the time to ask in advance. And really he wouldn’t have had to stay for much long than it took for him to get this pan washing photo.

The man who runs this food pantry would have done better to keep his annoyance to himself, but that is not really the main issue.

It will be interesting to see if the Romney/Ryan campaign does actually help at a food bank or soup kitchen between now and the election.
 
hannajomar said:
I’m not sure if this belongs in world news or catholic news, since this involves both.

If you click the link, you see Paul Ryan, wearing an apron while washing a pot at a St. Vincent de Paul food kitchen in Youngstown Ohio. Here’s the problems with that:

So, he didn’t have official permission to do this, and he wasn’t actually helping out at the soup kitchen.
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This organization receives federal grant money, however, you really have to do some searches to find it because they like to say they receive their money simply from "donations.’ They’re probably afraid of losing their grants, and they may be afraid of the OBAMACARE thing, and looking for a waiver. Waivers are political perks, being solely at the discretion of the HHS.

Otherwise they’re going to be subject to the fines that all Catholic organizations that serve the general public will be subject to:

Non-compliance, which means using insurance that doesn’t pay for abortion
$100 per day per employee, for a grand total of $36,500 per year in fines for this one thing alone

Avoidance, which means dropping all insurance while giving a bonus to employees to get their own
$2000 per employee per year, PLUS other IRS fines and penalties to punish the employee too.
 
Mrs_Sally said:
The thing that is so ridiculous is that Mr. Ryan could easily have been invited to a soup kitchen or food pantry - probably even this one - if his staff had taken the time to ask in advance. And really he wouldn’t have had to stay for much long than it took for him to get this pan washing photo.

The man who runs this food pantry would have done better to keep his annoyance to himself, but that is not really the main issue.

It will be interesting to see if the Romney/Ryan campaign does actually help at a food bank or soup kitchen between now and the election.
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Exactly, this whole kerfluffle could have been avoided by having the advance team prepare a stop at a charity and they could have gotten the same photo op.
 
Seeker1961 said:
Exactly, this whole kerfluffle could have been avoided by having the advance team prepare a stop at a charity and they could have gotten the same photo op.
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Actually, they did contact the charity before they arrived, and it was okayed. They were given permission to come in and do a photo op.

Who knows what the chain of command inside the charity is. That’s probably where the misunderstanding occurred. That’s not Ryan’s fault if they can’t get their **** together.
 
Personally, I think this is a PR opportunity that Antal completely flubbed. He could have gotten a small political jab and still highlighted his organization without looking so blatantly partisan. Here’s how I would have done it:

St Vincent de Paul of Ohio welcomes the attention given to it by the Vice Presidential candidate, Paul Ryan, but I would like to point out that we are a apolitical group and endorse no candidates for political offices. His impromptu photo-op is not to be misconstrued as an endorsement of his campaign.

St Vincent de Paul Society’s mission is to help the poor, and we welcome the support of donors from all political viewpoints and are also thankful for the funding we receive from the federal government. I would like to invite all the candidates to pre-arrange a visit to one of our soup kitchens and work a full shift to support our call for volunteers.
 
rlg94086 said:
Personally, I think this is a PR opportunity that Antal completely flubbed. He could have gotten a small political jab and still highlighted his organization without looking so blatantly partisan. Here’s how I would have done it:

St Vincent de Paul of Ohio welcomes the attention given to it by the Vice Presidential candidate, Paul Ryan, but I would like to point out that we are a apolitical group and endorse no candidates for political offices. His impromptu photo-op is not to be misconstrued as an endorsement of his campaign.

St Vincent de Paul Society’s mission is to help the poor, and we welcome the support of donors from all political viewpoints and are also thankful for the funding we receive from the federal government. I would like to invite all the candidates to pre-arrange a visit to one of our soup kitchens and work a full shift to support our call for volunteers.
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You bet. If he had done this gracefully, both his local branch of the St. Vincent de Paul Society, and the national organization could have had lots of free publicity for their soup kitchens and other charities (second-hand stores etc) all over the country.
 
rlg94086 said:
Personally, I think this is a PR opportunity that Antal completely flubbed. He could have gotten a small political jab and still highlighted his organization without looking so blatantly partisan. Here’s how I would have done it:

St Vincent de Paul of Ohio welcomes the attention given to it by the Vice Presidential candidate, Paul Ryan, but I would like to point out that we are a apolitical group and endorse no candidates for political offices. His impromptu photo-op is not to be misconstrued as an endorsement of his campaign.

St Vincent de Paul Society’s mission is to help the poor, and we welcome the support of donors from all political viewpoints and are also thankful for the funding we receive from the federal government. I would like to invite all the candidates to pre-arrange a visit to one of our soup kitchens and work a full shift to support our call for volunteers.
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I think Antal is going to regret speaking out about this
 
_Abyssinia said:
I think Antal is going to regret speaking out about this
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Well, if Obama gets re-elected, they will do good work until they get slapped with Obamacare fines and then I don’t know what will happen. My guess is that Antal will be paying Obamacare avoidance fines in a little over a year to keep his job. He might end up eating all his meals at his charity.
 
rlg94086 said:
Personally, I think this is a PR opportunity that Antal completely flubbed. He could have gotten a small political jab and still highlighted his organization without looking so blatantly partisan. Here’s how I would have done it:

St Vincent de Paul of Ohio welcomes the attention given to it by the Vice Presidential candidate, Paul Ryan, but I would like to point out that we are a apolitical group and endorse no candidates for political offices. His impromptu photo-op is not to be misconstrued as an endorsement of his campaign.

St Vincent de Paul Society’s mission is to help the poor, and we welcome the support of donors from all political viewpoints and are also thankful for the funding we receive from the federal government. I would like to invite all the candidates to pre-arrange a visit to one of our soup kitchens and work a full shift to support our call for volunteers.
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Now that’s classy. 👍
 
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