Direct link to article... [littlegreenfootballs.com]
A story of third hand plagiarism or the story of another unfounded right wing meme.
"The left is making a big mistake here. What they're offering people is a full stomach and an empty soul. The American people want more than that. This reminds me of a story I heard from Eloise Anderson. She serves in the cabinet of my buddy, Governor Scott Walker. She once met a young boy from a very poor family, and every day at school, he would get a free lunch from a government program. He told Eloise he didn't want a free lunch. He wanted his own lunch, one in a brown-paper bag just like the other kids. He wanted one, he said, because he knew a kid with a brown-paper bag had someone who cared for him. This is what the left does not understand."
- Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference, March 6, 2014
This was an interesting statement made by the 2012 GOP vice-presidential candidate, equating school lunches to an "empty soul." So one would think the anecdote, described by the National Review as "moving," would be rock-solid. But the story seemed a bit pat.
Did Eloise Anderson, secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families, ever meet such a child?
More: A Story Too Good to Check: Paul Ryan and the Tale of the Brown Paper Bag