Paul Ryan blasted by Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello

Newly announced Republican vice presidential candidate, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, addresses the crowd during a campaign event with Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, not shown, in Norfolk, Va. Saturday, Aug. 11, 2012. (AP / Mary Altaffer)

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s newly-minted running mate Paul Ryan once named Rage Against the Machine as his favourite band. But Rage guitarist Tom Morello doesn’t want anything to do with the party.

In a scathing op-ed piece published on Rolling Stone’s website, the 48-year-old musician slammed Romney’s new VP pick, calling Ryan “the embodiment of the machine our music rages against.”

“Paul Ryan’s love of Rage Against the Machine is amusing,” Morello wrote.

“Charles Manson loved the Beatles but didn’t understand them. Governor Chris Christie loves Bruce Springsteen but doesn’t understand him. And Paul Ryan is clueless about his favourite band, Rage Against the Machine,” Morello added.

Romney announced Ryan his running mate on Aug. 11, 2012.

Ryan has represented Wisconsin’s first congressional district since January 1999.

In his piece, Morello described Ryan as “the Republican architect of Congress’s radical right-wing budget plan.”

The musician also fired this piercing dig at the 42-year-old politician from Janesville, Wis.

“Don’t mistake me, I clearly see that Ryan has a whole lotta ‘rage’ in him,” Morello wrote.

“A rage against women, a rage against immigrants, a rage against workers, a rage against gays, a rage against the poor, a rage against the environment. Basically the only thing he’s not raging against is the privileged elite he’s groveling in front of for campaign contributions,” he added.

The Grammy award-winning Morello has a history of outspoken activism, and recently advocated for a “Robin Hood Tax,” specifically a tax on financial institutions, to be levied on all financial transactions. The guitarist’s proposal was supported by such celebrities as actor Mark Ruffalo and Coldplay frontman Chris Martin.

Morello also made news in April of 2012, when he called on 10,000 guitarists to join him for an Occupy Wall St. “guitarmy.”

Ryan has yet to denounce Morello’s letter -- or officially take Rage Against the Machine off his playlist of favourite bands.

However, according to Morello, the band’s music’s and message has been lost on Ryan.

“My hope is that maybe Paul Ryan is a mole,” Morello wrote.

“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.”