Rep. Paul Ryan is defending racially charged comments he made about inner city men — ahem, black men. Ryan claimed that poverty is caused by men in “our inner cities” who are “not even thinking about working.” Ryan said the comments had nothing to do with race. Um, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) begs to differ and read him the riot act:

Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, fired back at House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) for claiming that poverty is caused by men in “our inner cities” who are “not even thinking about working.” His comments “are a thinly veiled racial attack and cannot be tolerated,” Lee said in a statement Wednesday afternoon. “Let’s be clear, when Mr. Ryan says ‘inner city,’ when he says, ‘culture,’ these are simply code words for what he really means: ‘black.’”

“As someone who sits on the Budget Committee with Mr. Ryan, I know that his assertions about the racial dynamics of poverty are not only statistically inaccurate, but deeply offensive,” she said. “Instead of demonizing ‘culture,’ and blaming black men for their poverty, Mr. Ryan should step up and produce some legitimate proposals on how to tackle poverty and racial discrimination in America. His uninformed policy proposals continue to increase poverty, not solve it. My colleague is demonstrating a complete lack of knowledge and understanding of the issues in urban and black communities.” Source: Think Progress

Rep. Ryan’s comments are a disgrace, but we have come to expect this kind of inflammatory rhetoric from elements in the Republican Party. This is while RNC chief Reince Priebus has embarked on a minority outreach. Um, so much for that. In reality, we know they don’t. Given Paul Ryan’s history of telling half-truths and outright lies during the 2012 presidential campaign, he can’t be taken at his word. Period.

[UPDATE]: Rep. Ryan is backtracking, a bit. He now says his comments were “inarticulate” and that he has called Rep. Lee. Um, just like his half-truth about being a mountaineer.

Listen to audio from Crew of 42:

This was cross-posted from The Hinterland Gazette.