Lyin' Ryan

Well, there he goes again.

Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan has been caught in yet another lie, this one acutely personal. Ryan, a fitness buff, had previously claimed his best time in the marathon was around 2 hours and 50 minutes, a very good time for even elite athletes. A little too good for Paul Ryan, as it turns out.

Runner's World magazine did a little poking around, and discovered that Ryan's best time was actually 4 hours, 1 minute, and 25 seconds. Oopsie.

As a former athlete -- bicycling, tennis, and volleyball -- I can tell you nobody who cares about competition would make a mistake like that about a world class marathon time. I can also tell you only the worst of athletes lie about their supposed accomplishments.

If this was the only time Paul Ryan confused fantasy and reality, it could be dismissed as merely a braggart boosting his own self-inflated ego. But this falls into a familiar pattern for Ryan. For years, he's been lying about his own positions and those of his political opponents, and this year's election campaign has only served to highlight his mendacity.

For example:

Medicare
Ryan and the Republicans claim President Obama "steals" $716 billion from Medicare recipients. In reality, President Obama's plan for Medicare saves over $700 billion in wasteful payments to hospitals and other providers over the next ten years, but does not reduce care for patients at all. And Ryan's own plan for Medicare starts with the same $700+ billion savings, then cuts more from actual programs, like prescription "donut hole" costs.

Welfare
Ryan and the Republicans claim President Obama is "gutting" the workfare system, an outright lie that has been rebuked by literally every independent arbiter in the business.

Jobs
Ryan spoke movingly about a GM plant in his native Janesville, Wisconsin, being closed despite promises by candidate Obama to keep it open. Couple of problems with that -- Obama gave a speech there in March of 2008 and GM announced in June 2008 it was closing the plant. Obama wasn't even president when GM announced the plant closure!

Speaking of GM
Ryan and ticket-leader Mitt Romney don't seem to mention the auto industry turnaround very often. Perhaps it's because President Obama oversaw the successful salvation of the American auto industry and saved millions of jobs rather than letting the companies go bankrupt, as Romney very publicly advised.

Simpson-Bowles
Much has been said by Paul Ryan about the Simpson-Bowles Commission and its suggestions for ending the deficit impasse in Washington, to wit:

"He [President Obama] created a bipartisan debt commission. They came back with an urgent report. He thanked them, sent them on their way, and then did exactly nothing."

Ryan leaves out the part about him being on the commission, about him voting against the report, and about him leading the House opposition to its conclusions. Perhaps if Ryan had been more interested in helping the country than his narrow political interests, we might have made more progress on our economic situation.

The Republicans are now pushing the question, "Are you better off now than you were four years ago?" They figure this is their key to winning the election, and they'll do everything they can to convince American voters we're on the road to disaster.

You won't hear the Republicans pointing out that President Obama staunched the bleeding of jobs lost under Republican George W. Bush. When Obama took office, we were losing hundreds of thousands of jobs per month. In January 2009, the last month under Bush, we lost more manufacturing jobs than any month since October 1982! Under President Obama, America has added more than 4,000,000 jobs. That's not enough, but it's a beginning of a turnaround from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

The Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) has added 30 million or so Americans to the ranks of those covered by health insurance. As time passes, it will help bring down costs while increasing coverage.

Democrats are usually criticized for being soft on national defense, but under President Obama, the leadership of Al Qaeda has been decimated, including the death of Osama bin Laden, public enemy #1. Obama has ended the war in Iraq, and is working to bring home our troops in Afghanistan,. For the record, neither conflict was deemed worth mentioning during Romney's nomination acceptance speech.

America is demonstrably better off now than under George Bush. We're not where we want to be, but we're on the way. We'd be further along if Republicans had not vowed in the first days of President Obama's presidency to oppose everything he attempted, solely to deny him any chance at a second term. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell admitted that on national TV.

At least he wasn't lying...