Ryan Prone Toward Hyperbole and Distortion

by John M. Curtis
(310) 204-8700

Copyright Sept 4, 2012
All Rights Reserved.                                         

             When GOP nominee Mitt Romney’s 42-year-old VP pick Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) strutted onto the stage Wednesday night, August 29 to deliver his acceptance speech, few imagined that the House Budget Committee Chairman would blow so much smoke.  While his GOP audience cares less about facts, undecided voters were listening attentively.  Ryan has become Romney’s Obama-basher-in-chief, blaming the 51-year-old president for everything but the kitchen sink.  Telling voters that he and Mitt want to preserve Medicare, Ryan blamed President Barack Obama for cutting some $716 billion out of the program.  Actually, Obamacare shifts payments from doctors and hospitals, not cutting benefits.  Romney and Ryan want to privatize Medicare, ending the 47-year-old national health program for seniors and the disabled, signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson July 30, 1965.

            Ryan’s hyperbole emerged again Sept. 31 telling Premier Networks radio talk show host Hugh Hewitt he ran a sub-three-hour marathon when he was 20-years-old.  “Under three, high twos.  I had a two-hour and fifty-something,” Ryan told Hewitt.  Ryan prides himself on his physical fitness and photographic memory about his P90X exercise routine and facts-and-figures related to his March 13, 2013 Budget.  Ryan recalls every penny of the billions he proposes slashing from Medicare and popular government entitlement programs.  “Holy smokes,” said Hewitt, still dumbfounded by Ryan’s past marathon time.  “I was fast when I was younger, yeah” said Ryan, continuing the elaborate prevarication.  Batting those baby blue eyes, Ryan had no compunction fibbing about his past athletic prowess.  Turns out Ryan ran the 1990 Grandma’s marathon in Deluth, Minn. in 4-hours, 1-minute and 25 seconds.

            When the real facts came out, Ryan jumped quickly into damage control mode.  “The race was more than 20-years-ago, but my brother, Tobin—who ran Boston last year—reminds me that he is the owner of the fastest marathon in the family and has never himself run a sub-three . . . “ said Ryan, not explaining why he exaggerated his time.  Whether or not marathons happened years ago, few people other than the memory-impaired get their wires crossed.  Ryan’s fib indicates a tendency toward hyperbole and distortion.  During his speech, he blamed S&P’s Aug. 5, 2011 credit downgrade on Obama.  S&P clearly stated the downgrade was due to Congressional Republican gridlock, something Ryan, as House Budget Committee Chairman, denies.  Ryan’s an expert at blaming Obama but not taking responsibility for his obstructionism.  Independent fact-checkers eventually get out the truth.

            Ryan blamed Obama for shuttering a GM plant in Wisconsin, promising to keep it open for “hundreds of years.”  Ryan insisted the plant closed during Barack’s first year in office.  In reality, the plant closed while former President George W. Bush was in office.  Ryan’s distortions reflect pure propaganda, where the only thing important is telling and repeating the lie.  His distortion about the Wisconsin plant closure is especially egregious since Obama’s 2009 bailout of GM and Chrysler has fueled one of the stunning turnarounds during the sluggish economic recovery.  Had Romney and Ryan had their way, GM and Chrysler plants would be shuttered, not running today on three shifts.  Ryan insisted that American taxpayers were cutoff from any benefits from the president’s economic stimulus bill.  Barack’s Feb. 17, 2009 bailout kept teachers, firefighters and policeman in their jobs, providing immediate tax relief to poor and middle class wage-earners.

           Ryan’s lies to Hewitt about his marathon times are no accident.  It reveals his insecurity and tendency to embellish where it’s completely unnecessary.  “If I were to do any rounding, it would certainly be to four hours, not three.  He gave me a good ribbing over this at dinner last night,” referring to his younger brother who corrected the record.  Ryan couldn’t stomach the fact that Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) VP pick, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, ran a 3:59 marathon.  Former President George W. Bush ran 3:44, and former presidential candidate Sen. John Edwards (D-S.C.) reportedly ran 3:30.  Refusing to apologize, Ryan acts like he simply got his wires crossed.  Given the factual inaccuracies and distortions in his acceptance speech, Ryan looks like a clever propagandist or serial exaggerator.  Ryan’s message to voters is simple:  Trust Mitt and me to fix the economy.

            Romney and Ryan are zealous signers on GOP Party boss Grover Norquist’s “No Tax Pledge.”  They both promise to reduce taxes and balance the budget.  Former President Ronald Reagan promised in nationally televised debates in 1980 to balance the budget by 1983.  He turned former President Jimmy Carter’s $60 billion deficit into $226 when he left office Jan. 20, 1989.  Promising the same worn out Supply Side Economics program, Mitt and Ryan seek more tax cuts.  Since they can’t raise taxes, the only way to balance the budget is to slash popular government entitlement programs, like Medicare and Social Security, and gut the federal work force.  Without giving any real details, Romney and Ryan won’t disclose their secret plan to slash the federal budget.  Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben S. Bernanke has told Congress cutting federal spending would plunge the economy back into recession.

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.  He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com.and author of Dodging the Bullet and Operation Charisma.

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