Can Paul Ryan's poverty blitz survive contact with reality?

The latest iteration of compassionate conservatism is more spin than substance

Paul Ryan
(Image credit: (AP Photo/Eric Gay))

When Mitt Romney stood before a dining room full of well-heeled Republican donors and casually slagged off half the American population as incurable parasites, he unwittingly triggered a wave of public concern among Republicans about the plight of America's poor. The Washington Post reported in November that Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.), supposedly "mortified by Romney's 47 percent remarks," was putting together an anti-poverty plan as part of a "more inclusive" vision for the GOP. That was followed by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) delivering a much-hyped speech on poverty in early January. Republicans, stung by Romney's plutocratic gaffe, wanted people (or journalists, at least) to know that they cared about the poor, too.

As far as PR goes, it worked pretty well. Beltway reporters and pundits began talking about the new Republican focus on poverty. Ryan scored interviews with network anchors, newspaper op-eds, and a speech at Brookings. He used them to rail against Lyndon Johnson's War on Poverty and to drop hints at a "new direction" for alleviating the plight of America's poor. Absent from all of this was any concrete policy proposal on how to achieve that end.

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Simon Maloy

Simon Maloy is a political writer and researcher in Washington, DC. His work has been published by The Huffington Post, The American Prospect, and Salon.