Emma Berry

In September of 2011, Paul Ryan mocked a senior citizen handcuffed at his town hall:  ”I hope he’s taking his blood pressure medication.”    Ryan should have added:  ”If I get my way he won’t be able to afford to obtain his blood pressure medication.” as Ryan is the author of the House GOP plan to phase out Medicare.

But Ryan’s cynicism and sense of plutocrat entitlement runs even deeper than that.  In August of 2011 several of Ryan’s unemployed constituents held a peaceful sit-in at his Kenosha Wisconsin office to protest his unpopular decision not to hold any free public town halls during the August recess. These constituents didn’t think they should have to pay to ask their elected representative a question. Instead of meeting with them, Ryan’s staff called the police.

As you can see in the video below, Ryan seemed supremely undisturbed that a senior citizen worried about receiving the Medicare he’s paid into his whole life was treated so brutally. Indeed, Ryan made light of the arrest and quipped to the audience, “I hope he’s taking his blood pressure medication.”

As Congressman Paul Ryan cracked a joke about him, Tom Nielsen found himself face down on the floor being handcuffed by police. The 71-year-old retired plumber from Kenosha was thrown to the ground, placed in handcuffs, and arrested for trespassing and resisting arrest after objecting to Ryan’s plans to gut Social Security and Medicare during his congressman’s only public appearance scheduled during the August recess — a $15 Rotary Club luncheon in West Allis on Tuesday.

Do you believe it?  A U.S. congressman has one public appearance during an August recess and the event is not even free?  This is a taste of what you will get with Paul Ryan.

Comments are closed.