Paul Ryan teamed up with Todd Akin to co-sponsor a personhood bill that would, in effect, criminalize many forms of birth control, as well as IVF.  He co-sponsored a bill to redefine rape and refers to rape as a “method of conception.”  He co-sponsored the Protect Life/Let Women Die Act that would allow hospitals to refuse to perform a life-saving abortion on a dying woman. 

He also wrote this gem, in which he likens Roe v. Wade to Dred Scott.  And yes, that is a 1500+ word essay on reproductive rights that never once mentions women.

The Romney-Ryan position on health care is that many millions of Americans must be denied health insurance, and millions more deprived of the security Medicare now provides, in order to save money. At the same time, of course, Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan are proposing trillions of dollars in tax cuts for the wealthy. So a literal description of their plan is that they want to expose many Americans to financial insecurity, and let some of them die, so that a handful of already wealthy people can have a higher after-tax income.

If not, I recommend it.

It’s a bit disturbing that somebody in such a position could be so heavily influenced by what was obviously really bad fiction.

Rob Zerban, on Paul Ryan’s obsession with Atlas Shrugged. 

A bit disturbing, indeed.

think-progress:

Paul Ryan gets booed at the AARP.

Ed Schultz interviews Rob Zerban, who is running for Paul Ryan’s seat in Wisconsin’s First Congressional District.

Up with Chris Hayes 

Meet 5 progressive candidates running for office in 2012: Rob Zerban (Wisconsin), Cynthia Dill (Maine), Hakeen Jeffries (New York), Kyrsten Sinema (Arizona), and Nate Shinagawa (New York).

Rob Zerban for Congress.

He’s a very articulate spokesman for a failed economic policy.

Last August, Paul Ryan would not meet with his constituents unless they bought a $15 ticket for a luncheon.  Constituents had to hold a “diy listening session” and mail the videotaped session to Rep. Ryan just to have their voices heard.

“We are right now living in an Ayn Rand novel, metaphorically speaking.” -Paul Ryan, 2009 campaign video.

Metaphorically speaking. 

Meet the Democrat running against Paul Ryan.

(via robzerban)

Yesterday, Rob Zerban, the Democrat challenging Paul Ryan in 2012, participated in an “Ask Me Anything” thread on Reddit.  BuzzFeed has a nice rundown of what he covered.  My favorite:

Q: What do you think of Ayn Rand?

A: I don’t.

Check out the whole thing here.