Paul Ryan and his team abruptly cut off a local news interviewer, Terry Camp of Michigan's WJRT, near the end of the short clip posted below -- but you don't even have to get to that point to see Ryan's frat-jock testiness and arrogance in action. Watch Ryan's reaction, at about :07, when Camp dares to press Mr. Big Man on Campus on a question:
CAMP: Does America have a gun problem?Anything offensive about that? Anything rude? No. It's just a reporter being persistent. But watch Ryan's way of saying "No":
RYAN: America has a crime problem.
CAMP: Not a gun problem?
That's not "No" -- it's "No -- didn't you hear me the first time, you brain-dead idiot?"
Ryan gets it under control, goes back to acting like an adult answering a question in what seems to be an adult way. He seems calm doing a canned response -- and then Camp does throw him a curve, but it's a curve a guy playing at a big-league level should know how to hit:
"The best thing to help prevent violent crime in the inner cities is to bring opportunity in the inner cities," Ryan said. "Is to help teach people good discipline, good character. That is civil society. That is what charities and civic groups and churches do to help one another make sure that they can realize the value in one another.""Those are your words not mine": the barely contained rage on those words, the arrogant thrust of the chin -- the guy Ryan is going to debate on Thursday night is known for slips of the tongue and moments of florid emotionalism, but he's not someone who looks as if he wants to get in a bar fight with you.
"And you can do all that by cutting taxes?" the interviewer asked. "With a big tax cut?"
"Those are your words not mine," Ryan replied.
Ryan in this clip, looks as if he wants to get in a bar fight with Camp.
An aide, off camera, abruptly interrupts the interview. The campaign has since said that the interview was running late. But Ryan can't let it go -- he's calmer now, but he's still pissed:
To the interviewer, he remarked, "That was kinda strange, you trying to stuff words in people's mouths?"So now we know that it's absurdly easy to get under Paul Ryan's skin and make him lose control. Have you watched this, Mr. Vice President?
