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"Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan is having quite the busy social media weekend: On Saturday, he hosted a live Google Hangout with supporters. Late Monday morning, he posted a thread on question-and-answer site Quora that, at least at first, largely flew under Internet users' respective radars.\nRyan's Quora post is a six-paragraph assault on Barack Obama for his \"misguided policies and failed leadership.\"\n\"Right now, 23 million men and women are struggling for work,\" writes Ryan. \"Nearly one in six Americans are living in poverty \u2013- the highest rate in a generation. Since President Obama took office, the nation has lost 261,000 jobs, while the unemployment rate has remained above eight percent for 43 straight months, and median household income has declined by over $4,000.\"\nRyan's Quora thread failed to immediately gain the traction and popularity of Obama's recent Reddit appearance, which saw 865,092 unique visitors in the first hour, up from 518,312 on Reddit prior to Obama's interview. Nearly an hour after Ryan's Quora thread was posted, it was seen by less than 200 people and had only one comment \u2014 a user's fact-check on Ryan's arguments that has since been downvoted.\n\"This might be useless but it needs to be said,\" wrote Quora user Ulysse Sabbag. \"Since President Obama took office, the unemployment rate declined.\" \nSabbag pointed to a chart from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to back up his claim.\nA source close to the Romney-Ryan campaign told Mashable that it was \"unclear\" if Ryan would be responding to comments left on his Quora thread, but the source added that the campaign is hoping to continue to expand their usage of Quora over time.\n\nSEE ALSO: Romney Digital Director: Obama Running Facebook \u2018Like It\u2019s 2008\u2032\nDuring his earlier Google Hangout over the weekend, Ryan explained the Romney-Ryan budget plan, took questions on his energy policy and the home foreclosure crisis. \n\nUnlike President Obama's hangout earlier this year, Ryan was only engaging with supporters, answering their questions and rallying them to do volunteer work for his campaign. Accordingly, he received low-pressure softball questions that gave him a forum to explain the Romney-Ryan budget plan, his campaign's energy policy and its stance on the home foreclosure crisis with little in the way of follow-up questions.\n\"What's frustrating about the Obama administration's polices are they've gone through great lengths to make oil and gas more expensive,\" said Ryan in response to a supporter's question about energy. \"Don't forget the fact that the president tried to jam through Congress a national energy tax designed to make energy more expensive.\"\nThe \"national energy tax\" to which Ryan referred is also known as cap-and-trade, or the practice of charging with extra fees or taxes companies whose pollution levels exceed a certain point.\nWill you engage with Paul Ryan on his Quora thread?\nImages courtesy of Flickr, Gage Skidmore"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2012/09/10/paul-ryan-quora/>