How Much Is 'Struggling Guy' In Mitt Romney's Ad Really Struggling?
The Mitt Romney campaign released a web video this morning about young Ryan King, a recent college graduate from destitute Midland, Michigan, who drives around the local trash and destruction all day, just lookin' for a job. He has $3 and only eats bologna sandwiches. Why won't President Obama let him get a job? He is a failed leader.
"Frustration is the big word," King tells Mitt Romney's camera. "Anything that I'm qualified for, you know, that people are looking for, they also want experience. And I mean because of the economy and the way it is, there are so many people that are looking for jobs, at the same time my hands are tied, how can I get experience if no one is going to hire me in?" King's story, as told here, is that of many employable adults across the country, and especially around the Midwest. In fact, you may have seen in the news that there are not many jobs available. One wouldn't want to belittle the struggle.
But!
The Wall Street Journal, which thankfully hates Mitt Romney and works diligently to dismantle him, checked out this Ryan King fellow and found that maybe he has more options than this ad would lead one to believe:
But in struggling Michigan, where unemployment is 10.3%, Mr. King's story doesn't appear to be the worst.
According to his Facebook and MySpace pages, he graduated just last month from Northwood University in Midland, where he studied accounting, was a residential adviser and mail clerk. On May 6, just as he was graduating, he announced that he "got the job, booya!!!" at Quality Marketing Enterprise, a Midland company.
On June 10, he cut the Romney video, telling his Facebook friends, "Last night went great and I hope that I make the final cut. It would be refreshing to be part of something nationwide. Off to work for the day."
The Washington Post's Greg Sargent hears from an employee at Quality Marketing Enterprise, though, that "King no long works at the company." And yet what does it mean in the ad when he says, "right now I have about $3 to my name before I cash my paycheck tomorrow"? So... you were going to get a paycheck the next day? Hard times.
One thing we do know about King is that he's the vice chairman of Midland County's Young Republicans. In other words, he's "in," and the vertical chain of wingnut welfare should provide him with enough lucrative schemes over the years to keep food on the table.