(Assoicated Press)

Hey boys and girls, remember this post? Paul Ryan barred reporters from his convo with homeless in Ohio, and washed dishes “that did not appear to be dirty”.

Me too! Here’s a quick refresher:

WaPo: Ryan, his wife and their young children headed to the kitchen, donned white aprons and offered to clean up some dishes.

Ryan stood at the sink and took some large metal pans that did not appear to be dirty, soaped them up and rinsed them, remarking as the cameras clicked and the TV cameras rolled that he had spent a summer washing dishes when he was younger.

So he fake-helped the homeless, fake-engaged them, and then fake-helped them clean up.

As it turns out, there’s more to this story, and WaPo has the scoop, again:

Brian J. Antal, president of the Mahoning County St. Vincent De Paul Society, said that he was not contacted by the Romney campaign ahead of the Saturday morning visit by Ryan [...]

“We’re a faith-based organization; we are apolitical because the majority of our funding is from private donations,” Antal said in a phone interview Monday afternoon. “It’s strictly in our bylaws not to do it. They showed up there, and they did not have permission. They got one of the volunteers to open up the doors.”

He added: “The photo-op they did wasn’t even accurate. He did nothing. He just came in here to get his picture taken at the dining hall.” [...]

“Had they asked for permission, it wouldn’t have been granted. … But I certainly wouldn’t have let him wash clean pans, and then take a picture,” Antal said.

“He did nothing.” That fits right in with just about everything we know about Team Romney. They talk a big game but have nothing of substance to back any of it up. 

Mitt and Ann Romney love to go on and on about his generosity to charities. And now the president of a charity has called them out on the campaign’s phony baloney staging.

About time someone did.

H/t: Greg Ostravich

So there Paul Ryan was, photo op-ing his little brains out at a soup kitchen in Youngstown, Ohio, but dang if he didn’t get there a little late. The food had been served, the place was empty, and volunteers had cleaned up. Timing is everything.

But that wouldn’t stop Ryan from doing his best to appear human and pretend to have an exchange with the homeless. Of course, none of us will ever know what he said to them, or they to him.

You see, when he talked to some men “who appeared to be homeless,” reporters were barred from listening in. How’s that for transparency?

A campaign aide said that the exchange was not open to press because it was an impromptu conversation.

Tsk tsk, those impromptu convos don’t seem to benefit (see beginning of video at that link) Team Romney-Ryan, now do they? Mustn’t allow the press to eavesdrop on actual unscripted dialog, because one never knows what will fly out of one’s mouth when the mics are on, does one?

WaPo:

Ryan, his wife and their young children headed to the kitchen, donned white aprons and offered to clean up some dishes.

Ryan stood at the sink and took some large metal pans that did not appear to be dirty, soaped them up and rinsed them, remarking as the cameras clicked and the TV cameras rolled that he had spent a summer washing dishes when he was younger.

So he fake-helped the homeless, fake-engaged them, and then fake-helped them clean up.

Romney and Ryan wouldn’t know reality if it hit them over their well-coiffed heads. They couldn’t be more out of touch if they tried.

UPDATE: Charity president on Paul Ryan soup kitchen photo op: “Did not have permission. He did nothing. He just came in here to get his picture taken.”

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