Perhaps finally realizing that praising the cruel, shallow philosophy of a second-rate novelist -- then writing legislation which pays tribute that philosophy -- isn't a big winner in American politics, Paul Ryan (R-WI) and his partners in crime at the National Review now want us to believe he was never an Ayn Rand disciple at all.

“I reject her philosophy,” Ryan says firmly. “It’s an atheist philosophy. It reduces human interactions down to mere contracts and it is antithetical to my worldview. If somebody is going to try to paste a person’s view on epistemology to me, then give me Thomas Aquinas,” who believed that man needs divine help in the pursuit of knowledge. “Don’t give me Ayn Rand,” he says.

O RLY?

"The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand," Ryan said at a D.C. gathering four years ago honoring the author of "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead."

That would seem to be the opposite of "reject."

Nice try, Paul.

UPDATE
Check out this campaign video in which Paul Ryan praises Rand, saying she "best job of anybody to build a moral case for capitalism."

UPDATE 2
An alternate video, with a slightly different message, is shown above.