Comments on: Congressman drops support for SOPA

By: flosofl

flosofl — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 23:57:00 +0000

Actually, those are zithers

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 20:40:00 +0000

Nae pen! Pen!!

By: DewiMorgan

DewiMorgan — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 18:57:00 +0000

In case people are wondering “Why is Redditt getting any credit for this at all?” – Redditors made a campaign they called “Operation Pull Ryan” or “Operation Paul Ryan” (sources disagree) targeting someone who was *neutral* (not one of the 32 sponsors of the bill, and no stated public stance, pro or anti).

He put forth a public position, against it, which may or may not have been influenced by that.

To quote the first post in the Redditt thread:
“There is zero evidence that Paul Ryan ever supported SOPA. There is zero evidence that Reddit had anything at all to do with Ryan’s not-change of position.” (emphasis in original)

Fact-checking, people! It’s NOT HARD.

Edit: http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2012/01/09/reddit-may-have-just-forced-us-congressman-paul-ryan-into-opposing-sopa/ has a much better researched version of this report. Basically, he’s a conservative Republican: of course he’s against legislation to give the Federal Government more power.

By: Nathan Hornby

Nathan Hornby — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:47:00 +0000

The windsock metaphor is nice; I’m going to borrow that one.

And of course you’re right; I’m sure we’ll see many politicians back down from SOPA (if they’re smart). It’s an election year in the US (from what I gather) so it makes sense that they make popular decisions, rather than ones based on their industry specific, professional knowledge, for which they have none anyway.

I try to tell people this in the UK during election time; I’d rather see unpopular, but sensible decisions (on things like climate science and drug prohibition), but the problem is if only one party does actual politics rather than Pop Idol PR they’ll simply lose, it requires some kind of forced participation. So we end up with weak policy that means nothing but costs people lots of money, because at least it didn’t annoy old people who like to write lots of letters and always vote.

By: davidasposted

davidasposted — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:21:00 +0000

Isn’t the main purpose of securing a chairmanship to increase the size and frequency of ‘donations’ from the companies whose actions your committee regulates?

By: Listener43

Listener43 — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:14:00 +0000

Hmm. A representative representing his constituents? Will wonders never cease?

By: IronEdithKidd

IronEdithKidd — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:02:00 +0000

I think somebody just realized he’s a Representative and he’s up for re-election this year. Remember he’s one of those teapartyiers. He’s got a party line separate from the standard R’s to toe.

By: Guest

Guest — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:01:00 +0000

No. Smith holds a Chaimanship. Inform yourself further.

By: Guest

Guest — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:00:00 +0000

we see what we know

By: Guest

Guest — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:59:00 +0000

I’m quite certain than Obi-Wan is our only hope

By: Guest

Guest — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:58:00 +0000

But the lobbyists have all the pens!

By: mellowyellow963

mellowyellow963 — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:40:00 +0000

I think I know what they’re doing…. they’re going to make a big deal out of not passing SOPA so they can instead pass PIPA under the radar. Our government at work…

By: TheMudshark

TheMudshark — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 09:18:00 +0000

I love how these bastards start spouting the exact opposite of the shit they were pushing a minute ago while retaining that informed and thoughtful tonality in their statements.

By: SedanChair

SedanChair — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 05:51:00 +0000

Well, what was he supposed to say?

He’s Paul Ryan. He’s supposed to say “I apologize for pretending to be an intellectual when I’m really just a partisan android. I will now retire to a monastery, and you will never hear from me again.”

By: Incipient Madness

Incipient Madness — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 05:21:00 +0000

Too bad it wasn’t Lamar Smith who dropped his support. If all these internet bigwigs oppose SOPA, can’t they just outbid Lamar Smith’s support? Couldn’t Google just say “Make SOPA go away and we will give you a quarter-mil”?

Couldn’t all those companies that oppose SOPA simply block IP addresses from Kerville and areas near Smith’s Austin and San Antonio offices for thirty minutes with a redirect to a anti SOPA message, or at least give them and anti SOPA pop-up?

By: KanedaJones

KanedaJones — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 04:41:00 +0000

get back to me when it is ALL the congressman

By: juepucta

juepucta — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 04:32:00 +0000

These assholes never to something because it is morally right or at least beacuse they understand it. They do it because they are human windsocks and they wind just shifted. Wait until somebody buys him an opinion that is diametrically opposed to this statement of his, shouldn’t be long.

By: disqus_user_wi

disqus_user_wi — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 03:39:00 +0000

Ryan comes out against SOPA; Baldwin still undecided

http://www.dane101.com/current/2012/01/09/ryan_comes_out_against_sopa_baldwin_still_undecided

By: grimc

grimc — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 02:41:00 +0000

I’ll cut you some slack. That probably makes sense on Mars.

By: CSMcDonald

CSMcDonald — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 02:41:00 +0000

Misleading headline/description since he never publicly supported it in the first place (nor did he denounce it), so calling him a supporter of SOPA is misleading bordering on an outright untruth.

Oh well, propaganda is propaganda I guess.

[edited to add link - http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2011/12/reddit-forces-paul-ryan-play-defense-sopa/46782/ ]

By: abstract_reg

abstract_reg — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 01:49:00 +0000

And?
I happen to like my politics well boiled.

By: digi_owl

digi_owl — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 01:21:00 +0000

Reminds me of the idea of shifting the politics in one direction or other by making so much of a fuss about something, that the current administration has to move politically in that direction to remain in power. And once that happens, the opposition moves even further and continue to make a fuss. Or in other words, the political version of boiling a frog.

By: Ipo

Ipo — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 01:15:00 +0000

Did you forget to close that sarcasm tag?

By: traalfaz

traalfaz — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 01:13:00 +0000

Yes, it is a wild attempt to guarantee income to an industry that refuses to react to changes in the marketplace in a meaningful way by punishing innocent bystanders at random.

If you accept that an industry not being able to make a profit when they insist on trying to sell product that is crippled in ways that make people consume it in ways they don’t like, or forces them to buy other product that they don’t want, or get it delivered in ways that are inconvenient, or simply are charging more than people are willing to pay, as a “problem” then yes, it’s attempting to solve a problem. Not in anything like a good way, but it’s an attempt to solve a problem.

By: JonCarter

JonCarter — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:59:00 +0000

Ryan is a great man. When it comes to saving the nation from the impending doom of a 20 trillion dollar debt, he is really our only hope.

By: Sean F

Sean F — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:56:00 +0000

I liked him more when he was wrong but principled.

By: sam1148

sam1148 — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:54:00 +0000

Paul Ryan reminds me of that kid from the “The Omen”.

By: Teller

Teller — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:02:00 +0000

This story has some interesting bkgd. Especially re Mr Zerban.
http://www.webpronews.com/paul-ryan-officially-opposes-sopa-reddit-takes-some-credit-2012-01

By: Zacqary Adam Green

Zacqary Adam Green — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 23:55:00 +0000

While H.R. 3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act, attempts to address a legitimate problem

Lolwut.

By: Bearded Dalek

Bearded Dalek — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 23:47:00 +0000

Translation: “I haven’t gotten my check for this month from MPAA but everyone else did. Not cool!”