Rep. Paul Ryan's budget plan to maintain tax cuts for rich people and corporations and take healthcare coverage away for huge chunks of the middle class isn't going over so well back home.
Ryan wanted everyone to be "polite" in front of the media, which apparently means
"don't question my plan."
There was capacity crowd inside the school’s Madrigrana Auditorium.
"Do not renew the Bush tax credit for the wealthy," one man said during the public comment period, even giving out his phone number in front of everyone. "I'll debate these issues with you anytime, just call me."
At times, the Janesville Republican sounded more like a referee than a lawmaker.
"If you're yelling, I just want to ask you to leave," Ryan requested. "If you're going to scream out like that, it's just not polite to everyone. We've got media here. Let's prove to them that Wisconsinites can be cordial with one another."
It's also not "polite" to take healthcare away from some of the nation's most vulnerable citizens, as Ryan would do with his Medicare- and Medicaid-slashing plan. But I guess that's different.
Ryan took police advice and bid a hasty retreat from the protesters and the questioners at the meeting, leaving through the back door in a different car than the one he arrived in, and stiffing a local television station that had scheduled an interview with him.