During a CNN Town Hall forum in August, Ryan met his match when a Catholic sister from his congressional district asked him why his positions on health care, taxes and the budget often seem at odds with the Church's social teachings. "Trickle-down economics has never worked," Sister Erica Jordan told me in an interview. "The budget is cutting programs in a way that hurts the poor. I wonder how often he talks to poor people. I don't think he has much opportunity to really talk to people who are struggling."