By now everyone has heard what Rep. Paul Ryan, master of the budget committee, has had to say about those living in the “inner city”…..sounds kinda like a code word for “ghetto” to me….but you decide……..

House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) previewed his upcoming legislative proposals for reforming America’s poverty programs during an appearance on Bill Bennett’s Morning in America Wednesday, hinting that he would focus on creating work requirements for men “in our inner cities” and dealing with the “real culture problem” in these communities. “We have got this tailspin of culture, in our inner cities in particular, of men not working and just generations of men not even thinking about working or learning the value and the culture of work, and so there is a real culture problem here that has to be dealt with,” he said.

After bumping his gums…….Twitter blew up with people freaking out and some defending over what Ryan had stated…….and then he tried to explain what he had said……

Ryan defended himself on Wednesday night, telling the blog Crew of 42, “This has nothing to do whatsoever with race. It never even occurred to me. This has nothing to do with race whatsoever.”

In defending his “inner city” remarks on Wednesday night, Ryan changed his focus to “rural” poverty, saying, “This isn’t a race based comment it’s a breakdown of families, it’s rural poverty in rural areas, and talking about where poverty exists — there are no jobs and we have a breakdown of the family. Government data has corroborated that rural areas, not inner cities, are increasingly key to the problem of poverty.

But whether or not race was at the heart of Ryan’s intentions, it appears that the government data and the social research he uses to argue that “inner city” men are taking advantage of anti-poverty programs to avoid employment actually only undermine his claims.

When discussing “this tailspin of culture, in our inner cities in particular, of men not working” on Bill Bennett’s Morning in America on Wednesday, the Congressman specifically mentioned two social scientists to substantiate his views: Charles Murray, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who openly believes that African-American men are less intelligent than whites due to genetic differences, and Robert Putnam, a Harvard professor whose research has found that lower-income Americans are more distrustful of others and more disconnected from society’s important institutions than their middle or higher-income counterparts. Putnam argues that these trends are a sign that the United States is “heading towards a caste system where social standing and community involvement are inherited from generation to generation” and undermine social mobility.

His defense was kinda like wearing Mommy pants (a Palin analogy)…..

A side note:  I have worked for the local housing authority, which could be called the “inner city”, Mississippi Housing Authority, Region 8……in my 10 years there I did not ever see what Mr. Ryan calls “slackers”…….most people wanted work but there are no jobs for them….there is a wealth of reason why and NONE of them can be considered “laziness”.

Yes, I disagree with Ryan wholeheartedly……..to me and I am saying to me alone, this smacks of a hate for the poor……that they are somehow responsible for their poverty……and that is a bias…….you may read whatever you like into what I am saying……I stand by my assessment.