Socialist MSNBC uses false analogy to paint Ryan’s as possible terrorist.

NEW YORK (PNN) - August 13, 2012 - Holy guilt by association, Batman.

If a fictional character in a piece of literature from an author you admire commits some acts that would likely result in a felony conviction, does that mean you’re a proponent of felonious acts? That’s the deductive logic David Cay Johnston displayed on MSNBC’s The Ed Show back in April 2011.

In a segment about Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan’s proposal to reduce the deficit, which includes simplifying the tax code and eliminating deductions to lower overall rates, Johnston called in to question Ryan’s legitimacy, as he’s a fan of Ayn Rand. According to Johnston, in Rand’s book, The Fountainhead, the fictional character Howard Roark blows up a building, and that means people should evaluate the possibility Ryan is a proponent of blowing up buildings.

“You know, Congressman Ryan requires his staff to read Ayn Rand, whose fictional hero, Howard Roark, is a man who blew up a building because it wasn’t built exactly to his specifications as the architect,” Johnston said. “I mean, that’s the kind of society we want where our leaders say, not only are we taking from the sick and poor but we’re going to hold out as a model people who commit felonies like blowing up buildings. We really need to dig into understanding the kind of people who would put forth these ideas.”

Ed. Note: In reality, Howard Roark blows up an empty building because his contract provided that it be built to his specifications, and lying socialist political hacks conspired with the builders to change his specs without consulting him. In Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead, a jury acquitted Roark because he received nothing of value in exchange for his agreement to allow the building he designed to be built. It was not a terrorist act; it was a declaration of freedom.