Paul Ryan's favorite band is Rage Against the Machine. And at least one member, Tom Morello, totally hates him. "Ryan claims that he likes Rage's sound, but not the lyrics," wrote Rage guitarist Morello in a column for Rolling Stone that went up last night. He adds, "Well, I don't care for Paul Ryan's sound or his lyrics." Burn. If you haven't been keeping up with Ryan's likes--the P90x, the hunting, the sleeping in the office, the big suits--we don't blame you since it's easy to get lost in all of them (and not just those huge suits). But music is a touchy subject, and political in its own right so when someone says they like a band, there's lot of meaning to it. And we've seen our fair share of bands tell politicians to stop playing their music at events (Tom Petty and Michele Bachmann come to mind), but Ryan picking Rage is, well, just weird.

As Entertainment Weekly's Jeff Labrecque reported, Ryan likes Rage Against the Machine--the band which supported Occupy Wall Street, and it's all slightly embarrassing and clueless considering how politically charged the band is. And judging from Morello's essay, it's more than embarrassing when you have a clueless fan like Paul Ryan. No, we can't explain (maybe he just likes the ambient noise) why Ryan would like a band that stands against everything that he's fighting for ... and it seems like Morello can't either: 

My hope is that maybe Paul Ryan is a mole. Maybe Rage did plant some sensible ideas in this extreme fringe right wing nut job. Maybe if elected, he'll pardon Leonard Peltier.  Maybe he'll throw U.S. military support behind the Zapatistas. Maybe he'll fill Guantanamo Bay with the corporate criminals that are funding his campaign – and then torture them with Rage music 24/7. That's one possibility. But I'm not betting on it.

To be fair, on Paul Ryan's Facebook there is no mention of Rage under favorite music: 

No, let's take a closer look at that nerdy love of Monty Python, shall we?

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Alexander Abad-Santos