Lauren Meyer: Paul Ryan & The Appeal of Bad Boys

Like all adolescent girls, I went through a phase of being attracted to charming jerks, since anyone who actually treated me well must have had something wrong with him.  And although most of us eventually outgrow that phase, it was hard not to be reminded of it lately as Paul Ryan emerged as a political heartthrob.  Those steely eyes! That chiselled chin!  Those archaic, reactionary views!  This political bad boy may not be the pot-smoking, school-failing rebel of our teen years, but for those of us raised by liberal parents, what better way to rebel than to fall under the spell of a right-wing Republican?  Besides, just like with the bad boys, usually we just want to look at him, not listen to his ideology.  (There’s a reason why, for at least a few days, the #1 Google search was “Paul Ryan shirtless”.   Hasn’t the runaway success of “50 Shades Of Gray” proven that women fantasize about a powerful, conservative man who will patronize us?)

Here’s my tribute to Mr. Ryan’s appeal (sung with my tongue firmly in my cheek):