Paul Ryan Suddenly Decides That He Hates Ayn Rand

New York Magazine ^ | 4/27/2012 | Dan Amira

[nickcarraway]

Yesterday, Ryan claimed that Ayn Rand's philosophy "reduces human interactions down to mere contracts and it is antithetical to my worldview." But in 2005, Ryan said, "The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand," and in 2003, he claimed that he gave out copies of Atlas Shrugged as Christmas presents. And those two examples are really only the tip of the Rand-love iceberg. Is this how you impress Mitt Romney? By proving that you can flip-flop as egregiously as

[Hemingway's Ghost]

As a novelist, Ayn Rand makes a decent political philosopher. She makes a couple of good points, but then drives those points into the ground with melodrama.

Getting through Atlas Shrugged was a struggle.

[dfwgator]

Getting through Atlas Shrugged was a struggle.

I agree with Officer Barbrady's assessment of Atlas Shrugged:

"Yes, at first I was happy to be learning how to read. It seemed exciting and magical, but then I read this: Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. I read every last word of this garbage, and because of this piece of ----, I am never reading again."

[Hemingway's Ghost]

"Yes, at first I was happy to be learning how to read. It seemed exciting and magical, but then I read this: Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. I read every last word of this garbage, and because of this piece of ----, I am never reading again."

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Every time Dagny had a love scene with Rearden or Galt I wanted to tear my eyes out and bleach out my skull.

[x]

I don’t see how Ryan could say he is a acolyte of Ayn Rand and vote for TARP and endorse the auto company [union] bailouts.

I see Ryan called a "self-described acolyte of Ayn Rand" on a liberal site, but really, almost nobody describes themselves or someone they agree with as an acolyte. It's usually almost always a pejorative used to make somebody sound like a cultist.

People get politically interested or inspired by a lot of hero-figures. It's usually a phase though. Time passes. Politicians get caught up in events. Old issues fade. New conflicts heat up.

[Darnright]

>We never did get part two of that movie, did we....<

Its release date is October 2012, just in time for the elections. In the teaser trailer below there’s a short clip from a Rand interview that comes from a 1959 episode of the Phil Donohue show.

http://www.movieinsider.com/m9269/5/atlas-shrugged-part-2/8241/

[Avoiding_Sulla]

I agree with your assessment and experience. I've also learned that her adherents don't like to ask tough questions. Several have looked at these 2 challenges, but nobody has answered them.

"Randians are Statist Dupes?"

and its expansion:

Ayn Rand Loved Titans, Not Mankind?

In the end it's very difficult to defend an elitist just because she's not a creature of the Left. In fact, in many ways she is the defender of the GOP-E, but her adherents just cannot admit it.

[TBP]

http://www.pulpless.com/jneil/glp_imetaynrand.html

In August, 1973, after I’d interviewed Heinlein for the New York Daily News, George Nobbe, the Sunday editor who’d commissioned my Heinlein interview, asked me who I wanted to interview next. I chose Rand, and proceeded to get in touch with her through her office. She had been burned by the press so often that she was hesitant to do a newspaper interview, but made an exception because at the time — hard as it sounds to believe — Ayn Rand was doing television commercials advertising the Daily News!

[Misterioso]

Okay. I’ll accept Schulman’s report without challenge. The fact is, the Daily News was very conservative in those days so I’m puzzled as to why Breslin would have been on board. Thanks for your patience.

[TBP]

They were getting writers, mostly New York-based ones, to tell us how well written the paper was.