Buried in the middle of Gail Collins’s column about the Republican Party’s new effort to teach its congressmen how to talk to women is this weird tidbit about Paul Ryan’s working relationship with New York Representative Nita Lowey, who serves as the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee:
“Believe it or not, Paul Ryan is a good friend,” [Lowey] said. “He calls me Mom. I call him Naughty Boy.”
Everyone knows about office spouses and moms, but this at least sounds like something a little different. While we’re sure everything between Lowey and Ryan is perfectly kosher, the fact that you call a colleague “Naughty Boy” is the kind of workplace inside joke that is best shared with the world with a little more context. Especially when that colleague is Paul Ryan (who might want to talk this over with the analyst we doubt he has.)
