Paul Ryan's 9/11 Hypocrisy

"Dammit! Caught in another lie!"

Today, as the entire nation is fully aware of, is the eleventh anniversary of the attack on New York City, where 3,000 people lost their lives. Many of those who perished in that horrific nightmare come true were the first responders: police officers, fire fighters, emergency medical personnel. All of them selflessly put any concerns for their own safety to the side as they charged up the stairs of the twin towers in an effort to save the lives of the innocent.

They, as much as any group of people ever has, deserves are continuous thoughts, prayers and eternal gratitude.

As happens every year on this date, people gathered to remember and honor the victims and their families. Likewise, politicians feel compelled to issue statements regarding the occasion. This is especially true during election years.

In that light, here comes Paul Ryan, who can't make up his mind what job he wants to run for, offering his PR stunt with the first responders from Oak Creek, who had to deal with another act of terrorism when a right wing, racist nut job attacked the Sikh temple there last month:

Ryan said, "I just wanted to come on the anniversary of 9-11 to say thank you to all of you who are the first responders and what you do for us every day.

"This is a day where we as Americans think and remember people who lost their lives. We are thankful for those of you who put their lives on the line for us every day. So we are here simply to bring notoriety and a gift of thanks for what you do for us on a daily basis. We just really appreciate it."

But just like Tommy Thompson (where I plagiarized myself on the intro), Lyin' Ryan is, well, lying. All you have to do is look at how the real Ryan felt about the 9/11 first responders and the ills they suffered from that:

You also might remember that Paul Ryan was among those Republicans voting against providing coverage to the 9/11 heroes. He voted against it in July 2010. He voted against it in September 2010. He didn't vote against final passage in December 2010 because he's already skipped town for the holiday break. But when Congress reconvened in January, he gave a floor statement saying that he would have voted against it, again.

Ryan explained in a floor statement that he would have opposed the final passage vote, too, calling the bill “deeply flawed.” He also complained that it “would create a new health care entitlement, the World Trade Center Health Program, while also extending eligibility for compensation under the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001.”

If Paul Ryan speaks today in remembrance of the heroes and the victims of 9/11, remember that Ryan doesn't think that those heroes and the people living through the prolonged horror of what happened at Ground Zero deserve anything from their government. Apparently, in Ryan's mind, they're just moochers, looking for an entitlement.

That alone should disqualify Ryan from holding any elected office.

And when he is loses both elections, maybe he can go climb all of the Himalayan Mountains, including Mount Everest fifteen times, in just under three hours. Or something like that.