Video: Paul Ryan’s Passionate Defense of TARP

If you had to pick one issue that gave rise to the Tea Party, TARP was unquestionably it. The 2010 midterm elections saw Tea Partiers targeting any Republican who supported TARP and electing candidates who opposed it (Sen. Bob Bennett vs. Mike Lee in Utah was a primary example).

Grassroots conservatives were sick and tired of these phony Republicans, who after doubling the Department of Eduction through No Child Left Behind and giving us the largest entitlement expansion since LBJ with Medicare Part D, believed they could giveaway billions of taxpayer dollars to the big banks and special interests.

TARP was where the Tea Party drew the line. And Paul Ryan was among TARP’s most passionate supporters: