To Win In 2016, Paul Ryan Goes For Mean And Dumb

Paul Ryan used to cultivate a 'smartest-guy-in-the-room' image to separate himself from a party that had served up leaders like Sarah Palin and Donald Trump.

Bad enough that Ryan, long-time Janesville Congressman and now Chairman of the House Budget Committee, just made a major speech in which he circulated a false story to justify an attack on food aid to the poor.

But now his full-tilt pander goes harder right and straight into the gutter, as he's out with a sweeping, stereotypical slur against central city (read: African-American) men  - - and wouldn't you know he found a right-wing talk radio program for such unacceptable remarks - - whom he says are "not even thinking about working."

“We have got this tailspin of culture, in our inner cities in particular, of men not working and just generations of men not even thinking about working or learning the value and the culture of work, and so there is a real culture problem here that has to be dealt with,” he said. 

Ryan also cited Charles Murray, a conservative social scientist who believes African-Americans are, as a population, less intelligent than whites due to genetic differences and that poverty remains a national problem because “a lot of poor people are born lazy.”

National media are paying attention, but will the state's media - - props to James Causey - - and broad political leadership hold him as accountable?

Is he party's smartest guy in the room, or just its freshest, front-running fool?

And here's a broad review of these and other issues in a timely Lenten reflection by Dom Noth.