WisGOPs, first class all the way

First, it's Paul Ryan trying for a "common man" look, and ending up mastering the "d-bag politician clearly out of his element" look instead, as he visits a St. Vinny's in Ohio.

The head of a northeast Ohio charity says that the Romney campaign last week “ramrodded their way” into the group’s Youngstown soup kitchen so that GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan could get his picture taken washing dishes in the dining hall.

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, who stopped by the soup kitchen after a town hall at Youngstown State University.

“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.”

Ryan had stopped by the soup kitchen for about 15 minutes on his way to the airport after his Saturday morning town hall in Youngstown. By the time he arrived, the food had already been served, the patrons had left, and the hall had been cleaned.

Upon entering the soup kitchen, Ryan, his wife and three young children greeted and thanked several volunteers, then donned white aprons and offered to clean some dishes. Photographers snapped photos and TV cameras shot footage of Ryan and his family washing pots and pans that did not appear to be dirty.

But I suppose it could be worse for Pau-LIE. After all, it's not like he dropped a racial bomb on the president or anything. Like another high-ranking WisGOP figure did.

Jason Thompson, the son of the former Wisconsin governor, was caught on camera during a Sunday brunch hosted by the Kenosha County Republican Party.

"We have the opportunity to send President Obama back to Chicago – or Kenya," said Jason Thompson, an attorney at a large Milwaukee law firm. The comment drew laughs from the crowd, [an audience that included RNC Chair Reince Preibus, by the way] with one woman joking, "We are taking donations for that Kenya trip."....

Jason Thompson, 38, has been involved in his father's efforts to win a Senate seat and has represented the candidate at some events.

"The governor has addressed this with his son, just like any father would do," the campaign said in a statement. "Jason Thompson said something he should not have, and he apologizes."

Michael Best & Friedrich, the firm where Jason Thompson works, issued a statement Monday distancing it from the comments, calling them "regrettable."

Ah yes, Michael, Best & Friedrich, the same law firm that has pulled down hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars representing Scott Walker and other Republicans during WisGOP's many legal foibles in the last 2 years. Nice group, aren't they? And I'm sure Jason Thompson didn't get hired by them because of his Daddy's connections to WisGOP, either.

Then again, Jason might have been feeling a bit frisky, because he was Brett Davis's Campaign Treasurer while Kelly Rindfleisch worked on his campaign out of Scott Walker's office. And Rindfleisch's plea deal kept Thompson off the stand in the Walkergate trials (as noted by Capper in this post), at least for a little while. Guess you can't blame a d-bag for getting a little hubris after breaking the law and not having to pay the price for it (yet).

The Republican Party of Wisconsin is one sick, cynical crime syndicate. They must go NOW.