Sunday, September 2, 2012

Paul Ryan: The Fast And The Spurious

One of the very first details that came out about Paul Ryan is that he is very big into physical fitness and one of his passions is running.

It is also known that he is a pathological liar, second only to Scott Walker.

Now those two worlds have come together.

In a radio interview with Hugh Hewitt, he made an amazing claim:
HH: That’s okay. Hey, in high school, what did you do in high school? Were you a speech and debate guy? Were you a bandie? What were you?

PR: No, I was student government and athletics, honor society, you know, that kind of thing. I was kind of a combination. I was class president my junior year, I was the school board rep my senior year. I lettered in varsity, you know, my first year in high school, mostly soccer and track. I was a distance runner and a soccer player. So kind of well-rounded. I can’t, I can play a cowbell. That’s about it for instruments.

HH: Are you still running? 
PR: Yeah, I hurt a disc in my back, so I don’t run marathons anymore. I just run ten miles or yes.

HH: But you did run marathons at some point?

PR: Yeah, but I can’t do it anymore, because my back is just not that great.

HH: I’ve just gotta ask, what’s your personal best?

PR: Under three, high twos. I had a two hour and fifty-something.

HH: Holy smokes. All right, now you go down to Miami University…

PR: I was fast when I was younger, yeah.
Impressive, right? He is claiming he ran in a number of marathons and that his best time was under three hours. That would mean keeping up a pace of seven minutes per mile for the entire 26 miles. I've had cars that couldn't do that.

Only thing is, well, he was lying his running shoes off:
It turns out Paul Ryan has not run a marathon in less than three hours—or even less than four hours.

A spokesman confirmed late Friday that the Republican vice presidential candidate has run one marathon. That was the 1990 Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota, where Ryan, then 20, is listed as having finished in 4 hours, 1 minute, and 25 seconds.
Whoa! Suddenly we went from a number of marathons to just one and then added more than an hour to his originally stated time. Still, it's more than I could do. (Or would want to for that much. I have a car for when I want to go 26 miles.)

In the grand scheme of things, lying about the number of races he ran in or what his best time was is not really a big deal.

The only thing is that this isn't an isolated incident.

There is the now famous lie he told in which he tried to blame President Obama for the closing of the auto plant in Janesville, even though the closing happened before Obama was even took office.

There is also the one about how his budget plan will save Medicare and how it will save taxpayers money. Heck, even the guy who came up with the plan doesn't buy that one.

And who could forget the one where Ryan said that he'd never ever ask for stimulus funds...except when he did.

And remember how he tried to distance himself after Todd Akin's infamous gaffe about legitimate rape? I don't know why, since he's voted for and/or sponsored more than his fair share of misogynistic bills in his time.

And feel free to laugh in his face if he claims that he is a Packers fan.

So the lesson here, gentle reader, is that you can't believe anything that comes out of Paul Ryan's mouth. And whatever you do, don't get him going on fishing:


Is it any wonder that they are starting to refer to him as Lyin' Ryan?

6 comments:

  1. And before yet one more person suggests that he simply "mis-remembered" or "mis-spoke" or whatever:

    There is no runner in the world - NONE - who "mis-remembers" his or her one and only marathon from a 4:01 down to "two hours and fifty-something".

    They remember it down to the minute, and likely down to the second. They can tell you who they were there with, how they came to be there, what the weather was like, and a hundred other details.

    "Mis-remembering" your birthdate is about as likely.

    He lied. Period.

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    1. He is not good with numbers, though. Thus he thinks Vouchercare will work.

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  2. So you so right, Robert. I ran two marathons, and my best time was a little over five hours on a very hilly course in WV. I don't go around telling people that I ran under four. I say, "I ran two marathons, one at age 18 and the other at age 19, but the times were very slower, and I'm focused on shorter distances now until I can get my endurance up before I even think about running another.

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  3. Paul ryan also won the Kentucky Derby, the iditarod and grew the worlds largest watermelon. Yea that's the ticket.

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  4. His other lies can always be excused by his admirers as "just politics," exaggerations of the sort all politicians do all the time. Not a very good defense, but there it is.

    But the marathon lie -- and that's what it is -- suggests a pathological liar who can't help himself and reflexively dresses up everything in a bright,shining lie.

    Sports statistics are sacred to a lot of people. Someone who lies about his athletic achievements will lie about everything, and generally does. Nothing is sacred to this guy.

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  5. Yep, Paul is a legend in his own mind.

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