At a basic level, what bothers me about politicians who lie, especially at a national level, is that the deceptions are insulting. A candidate who knows the truth, but makes a deliberate decision to deceive, is working from the assumption that Americans are suckers.
And last night, Paul Ryan made painfully clear that he thinks we're all profound idiots who'll believe an endless string of lies, so long as they're packaged well and presented with conviction. Jonathan Cohn suggested last night's address may have been the "most dishonest convention speech" ever delivered, and I can't think of a close second.
It was a truly breathtaking display of brazen dishonesty. Paul Ryan looked America in the eye and without a hint a shame, lied to our face.
Ryan lied about President Obama's auto-industry rescue, blaming the administration for a plant closing orchestrated by President Bush. Ryan lied about Medicare, falsely accusing Obama of undermining the system. Ryan lied about the debt downgrade, falsely blaming the president for a downgrade caused by Ryan and congressional Republicans.
Ryan lied about the Simpson-Bowles commission, falsely accusing Obama of walking away from debt reduction, and ignoring the fact that Ryan himself fought to ensure the Simpson-Bowles commission never even released a report. Ryan lied about his plans for the safety net, saying he intends to "protect the weak" when he budget plan intends to gut public investments that benefit the poor.
Ryan lied about the debt, saying Obama "has added more debt than any other president before him," when the truth is, that was George W. Bush -- who added over $5 trillion to the debt thanks in large part to congressional votes cast by Paul Ryan.
Ryan lied about the Recovery Act, calling the stimulus "a case of political patronage, corporate welfare, and cronyism at their worst," when reality shows the exact opposite. Ryan lied about small businesses, accusing Obama of raising their taxes, when he actually cut their taxes.
Paul Ryan, the man the media and Republicans celebrate as a bold truth-teller, told one lie after another, demonstrating a near-pathological disdain for honesty. His speech presented no substantive ideas, no policy solutions, and no bold positions on any key issue, but it included enough falsehoods to choke a fact-checker -- all because he assumes you're a fool and journalists are too incompetent to separate fact from fiction.
Is he right?
Dan Amira called the speech "appallingly disingenuous and shamelessly hypocritical," but added this gem:
Most of the millions of people who watched the speech on television tonight do not read fact-checks or obsessively consume news 15 hours a day, and will never know how much Ryan's case against Obama relied on lies and deception. Ryan's pants are on fire, but all America saw was a barn-burner.
CNN's Wolf Blitzer said he counted "seven or eight" claims that "fact checkers will have some opportunities to dispute," but concluded the lies didn't matter because it was "a powerful speech" that gave Republicans what they "were hoping for."
CNN's Erin Burnett added, "There will be issues with some of the facts, but it motivated people."
Let that sentence roll around in your brain for a moment, and ponder what it means for our country.
Ryan lied uncontrollably, but that's not terribly important. It undermines our democracy and the basic norms of the American political system, but no one seems to care anymore. Ryan thinks we're idiots, but his cynicism matters less than the electoral implications.
The United States is better than Paul Ryan's dishonesty. It has to be. Our future depends on it.
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Great article. The unfortunate truth is that much or most major corporate media is too corrupt and corporately manipulated to separate out truth from GOP fiction and outright, blatant lies. Media is generally bought and owned by the same folks who own the GOP, and Americans know it. Only 10% of Americans now approve of American political media. America is a land of corporate corruption. Romney/Ryan are bottom dwellers whom the media puffs up and furnishes wirth water wings. Romney/Ryan are pathologically perverse and profoundly corrupt, and the corporate media is largely bathed in the same pathologically perverse corporate corruption. That's reality. The media is largely bought and paid for, just like the GOP. Gobama!
Our whole government is corrupt and will eventually topple because of debt, social unrest, and inflation. It will be faster with republicans in office. \
I don't know why we are so surprised that Ryan's speech would be filled with lies....after all it is the GOP - the Grand Old Prevaricators! He's just doing his job!
All you Blind & Deaf Idiots just keep going down the same path!! There will NOT be a United States of America. There will only be 1 World Order, made up of a bunch of third world countries and US!! Think things are Great now just Wait...
Hoo boy, gotta a real live one here. Hahahahahahahaha...
Better stay inside, buddy. Those chem trails are gonna git ya!
Apparently, Maddow is only annoyed by GOP dis-ingenuousness... Since the DNC has been lying hot and heavy the last 29 years I am aware of, and she hasn't seemed to notice. Once. Lets see.. which is worse, a current President who is a chronic liar, or a VP hopeful... it isnt a hard choice.
You should give everybody a big lesson, and state what the lies are. That would make you less of a coward.
Disgusted...,
He would just serve up a steaming pile of you-know-what.
Nowadays, I've pretty much got all the lies organized according to topic and can link-blast them into oblivion with refutations all without it taking me much time. It's kind of funny.
R, Maddow is telling truths to power. We so need this. but I fear that all political speech is lying. So the real issue is what lies do you want to believe? what lies do you want to be identified with? I built this? (dilusional but seductive to the ego) Things can change for the better if we work together for a common good (also probably delusional But with a lot of points for ethics, fairness and HOPE).
by the way non hyphenated american what is your native american tribe? otherwise you are hyphenated, as nearly all of us are. Be proud that our nation is majority hyphenated...it is unique. Be extra respectful of the native peoples, though. The rest of us gave them a very very bum deal.
Hey why dont yall read this article and actually follow through on your fact checking.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/fact-checking-the-fact-checkers-heres-a-break-down-of-the-claims-bashing-paul-ryans-speech/
I am beginning to tire.
The relentless lies and twisting of truths are being sucked up and savored by way too large a portion of the American populace...people greedy for any justification to fuel their opposition to President Obama.
They will side with a party that has the welfare of only their elite 1%ers at heart; they will vote against their own best interests; they will be blatantly and admittedly lied to and will choose to accept the untruths.
Romney and Ryan smoothly and smugly "tell 'em what they want to hear", don't let the truth get in the way.
America was suckered twice and ended up with G. W. Bush for 8 years. I began to question the wisdom of Democracy. Then, in our darkest hour, we were offered Hope and Change, and America renewed my faith in our innate goodness.
But the Republicans have done everything, (by doing NOTHING), to prevent Obama's success...even though the country, the economy and the middle class suffer. They took America from a surplus to a huge deficit in order to justify their agenda of cutting their own taxes, gutting the Government and castrating the Social Safety Net. After obstructing progress for 3 years they point to a lack of improvement in financial indicators.
And now the polls keep showing the American public as evenly divided between Presidential Candidates.
I thought we, "We The People", were better than that.
I was angry to the point of rage listening to the lies, but, increasingly, I feel drained and disheartened...there may be a chance that the Party of the Manipulative Money Changers will buy and lie their way into the Oval Office.
I used to think that an America foolish enough to elect Bush deserved what it got, but I couldn't imagine the disasters he would spawn.
Now I fear for the possibility of a Romney/Ryan Presidency...an administration based on lies and misinformation and dedicated to serving the wealthy 1% while pandering to the Tea Party and the Religious Far Right.
We don't deserve this either. We ARE better than that.
That's what they want. Only two more months. Gotta soldier on.
America went through a Civil War for the dream of civil liberties ... of a free and just people. We'll get through this.
LMAO as if Obama didnt have a dem congress and a dem senate to have all his stimulus and obamacare passed and he is still a failure.
I will say I would rather see Herman Cain or Newt there but I will take anything over the current discourse we are on at the moment.
And as far as you civil war and civil rights go I am from the south and saw democrats leading the segregation charge. Why did you ever think that they would give you hope? They gave you change for the dollar you made yesterday, it is about .25 cents now. Thanks Obama but I was better off under Bush (as little as I appreciated him) at least he did not believe government was the answer to all my woes. He did believe in the individual, never heard him say " they didnt get there themselves", They didnt put in all the hard work and effort to succeed.
It's somewhat ironic, when Fox News publishes a fact checking response to Paul Ryan's speech and the Washington Post has an op-ed that makes light of lying in political speeches
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/post/if-paul-ryan-fact-checkers-got-hold-of-historical-speeches/2012/08/30/e1dcfd94-f2bf-11e1-adc6-87dfa8eff430_blog.html).
Granted the Fox News piece is written by Sally Koch, a liberal, and the Washington Post piece is by a fairly young writer. There's humor and then there's... I'm disappointed in the Washington Post piece and I hope it's just a reflection of youth. Perhaps this reflects the reasons for media apathy. To a certain extent, we all expect distortions, but perhaps a significant portion find nothing wrong with blatant deception.
Ryan did one thing right: he proved to America that being a religious individual doesn't make you any less dishonest.
Do they really think they won't be called out on all the lies they spewed out? They really do not understand the modern society. They are really trying hard to cultivate that Dumb-Ass Demographic they so desperately need.
The GOP stress tested their extreme lying strategy by Swift Boating Senator Kerry and succeeded in getting a truly light weight, malleable candidate into the Oval Office to do their Corporate bidding. Try as he might, in the end John McCain simply didn't have the stomach for such integrity destroying tactics. Republicans now truly have two clearly unprincipled representatives who have no reservations about employing such tactics in their quest to once again get their etch a sketch candidate into the most powerful office in the free world. One can only shudder at the thought they may even again succeed.
So let's say we take all the money of the top 1%. No taxes. All of it 100%. It would pay for the government spending for 8 days. The lies are clear and they are being sold to a public by a group of people that simply want a class warfare. "Hate them not us. We love you/ they hate you."
Interesting that the Liberals that all say this, are in fact, themselves, rich, and when one examines their taxes- Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Charlie Rangle, they are some of the biggest liars, cheaters, and smallest givers out there.
Yes, I think I know who tells lies. Unfortunately, the vast majority of people that listen to you might believe you. Well since Maddow receives about half of the viewership that FOX receives and since the network overall is just 1/4 that of FOX in viewers age 35-64 (most likely voters) I think the public has already decided who the liars really are. http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2012/08/27/cable-news-ratings-for-friday-august-24-2012/146285/
I was just wondering how long it would take for everyone on the left side of the aisle to start blaming Bush again. Wow! Desperation isn't pretty.
Do you happen to remember 2009 and 2010 when the White House, House and Senate were all controlled by Dems? Interesting...
You can say it so many times til you believe it yourself. Over and over they say they are liars. They say that they are racist (and have no idea the meaning of the word, prejudice or bigotry is what they mean but dont have the education to realize it) if they dont agree with the current administration.
Check the facts for yourself, dont trust these msnbc nutcases. Do some homework and find out for yourself why capitalism works and the Obama plan doesnt. Several of the lies they said were stated have been proven to be falsely accused. The auto industry was running two lines of vehicles, they dropped one in December of 2008 but remained in business producing the other.
This country is in critical mode, and the answer is not more government.
Answer this "What do rich people do with their money that does not create jobs?"
Think for yourselves people.
check out the facts, good idea, just what was 2008, yes only the worst economic downturn in over 70 years, the Bush TARP, the FED QE, Obama stimulus and auto bailout all prevented a full blown depression. Look at the economic indexes, especially PMI, ISM, Const and manufacturing all in at least a 12 or more month uptrend since the 2008 low. 8.6 trillion dollars, big number, that is the increase in household invested wealth as a result of the 90% return in the markets, that's a lot of 401k's and IRA's. He sure is a failure at capitalism, of course the alternative, trickle down/supply side worked so well, is that why the labor participation rate has been in decline since 2000, is that why this country has not produced a 'net' job since the late 90's. Globalization, and it's stepchildren, offshoring, outsourcing, downsizing, and immigrantion have taken their toll on American, especially the middle class, my advice, find a chart that compared the wealth of the top 10% with median middle class income from the mid 80's on, for a clue as to why this recovery is unlike any other and will take much longer than 4 years to turn around, no matter who is in office. 'what do rich people do, they invest but that does not mean creating jobs, companies don't hire just for the heck of it, they look for product demand (consumerism, 70% of GDP) which will not happen until households began to recover enough to grow the economy again.
yep you are correct sir (well to an extent). Who had control of Congress and the Senate in 2008?? oh thats not convienent it was the Dems. Hmmmmm lets see what would stimulate job creation? more govt workers, higher taxes, more government "shovel not so ready jobs",? Tax the rich and corporations til they just pull out of the US economy all together? You do realize that the US has one of the highest coporate tax rates in the world right? So why the hell wouldnt they move overseas where they can give better returns to all of their investors? Or should we do like Jimmy Carter suggested and just put on an extra sweater because thing wont get much better??
And as far as your indexes showing construction at an uptrend leading up to 2008 those were indexes indicating there was to be a big correction coming as we had overextended ourselves, our debts, and allowed too many people to get loans they couldnt afford.
Have you ever gotten a job from a poor person? Nope neither have I.
And explain to me how investing doesnt create jobs, how do you produce more without more participation or expansion? then how does that increased production reach the market? and how do those goods or services get distrubuted to the masses? and where did you say there was no increase in jobs? And how do you invest, oh yeah someone has to have a JOB as an investor or broker.
Look how the economy bolstered when Reagan cut taxes, Look how the country rebounded when there was renewed faith in the individual.
Individualism does not matter to Democrats, I didnt succeed on my own. There was someone there to carry me to work in the dark and take me home in the dark and feed me when I took chances. Oh wait NO THERE WASNT I did it based on hard work and dedication.
Romney is not Herman Cain or Newt, and not my first choice but he is head and shoulders a better choice than the one who wants to fundamentally change this country.
Share share share this article and the many others like it!!! Sadly, many people are believing these lies and will vote accordingly.
Many of the elderly and the poor will know nothing beyond what they saw on the television and will be compelled to make sure they go and vote for these liars. Scary!
did they believe that Romney was responsible for that womans death from cancer? Did they believe that Romny was a felon? Did they really believe Ryan wants to push them off a cliff?oh wait thats what they are supposed to believe.
Allow them to think for themselves too. You may be clouded in your judgement but lets not do that to everyone.
congress in 2008, not convenient, that's true because the damage
was already done by that time, don't even know where to start, no shovel ready,
really go find a project look for the ARRA sign,
yeah, real workers, working on real projects, more government workers, no
actually less under Obama, than Bush, corporate taxes, actual rate between 10
and 15% depending on deductions and legal loopholes, putting us on par with the
rest of the world, and has declined since the mid 80's, gee must be another
reason they 'went overseas' how about greed, clearly as the charts show. Interesting about
Carter, he saw the Maquiladoras tried to get companies on our side of the border, and of course this
was before China ramped up, no one listened to him, but under Reagan they did
get better, as oil prices dropped, and he began massive government spending on defense,
how about that B1 bomber!. Const spending
sense the 2008 bottom, has little to do with the bubble, it burst,
thanks to wall street investment banks, the gutting of glass-steagall by
republicans in 1999, so what happened, a pizza delivery man
walks into a local mortgage broker, applies for a 500k loan, gets approved, the
broker could care less, he collects his fee, sends the paper on up to the big 'investment banks' who
roll it into CDO's, insure it and then bet against it with CDS's,
capitalism at its best! Investment create jobs, sure, just not in this country.
Tell That to someone who tried to get a business loan in 2005, I held my own business and employed up to 17 workers at one time. I tried to get a loan but was not able to. So I have to call BS on your pizza delivery man. My brother has written several business plans and helped people to get loans for that kind of money. I know the battle they have to obtain that kind of capital investment. They dont just hand them out. Now as the housing market went, seems there was pressure (Dems) placed to get anyone who applied for a loan to be accepted. I saw many people who had no means but were awarded mortgages.
Reagan was able to build that bomber from increased revenues through the tax cuts. And he was also able to defeat the soviets (who were building their own war machine to threaten the US) without ever firing a shot.
Corporate tax rate to be highest in world CNN reports http://money.cnn.com/2012/03/27/pf/taxes/corporate-taxes/index.htm
I repeat myself, why the hell would they not send it overseas to make profits for the investors (I guess thats the greedy ones your speaking of). So if I am stuggling to make profits or keeping my head barely above water in the US and I see I can make much much more overseas, what would stop me? Compassion? who is gonna feel compassionate for me when I lose it all? your arguement doesnt make sense. I am greedy if I create a company to make money? I am greedy if I see that I can make a good return for my investors if I move jobs overseas? Keep the screws grinding and the whole company will be overseas and we will look like Ohio across the board.
Your like the guy who wont feed his horse and beats him for slowing down, I fed you last week isn't that enough, now give me more!!!
The beatings will continue intil morale improves.
Let me ask you this. At what tax rate is too high? where would you draw the line?
I have an answer to those questions and it is called the "Fair Tax". If you havent read about it, not biased articles one way or the other, then you should.
the tax rate is too high when it discourages people from investing. It is TOO LOW when it also discourages people from investing. Right now, it is too low for the reason that it is so low that businesses have no real reason to invest because they don't need the write-offs. In addition, taxes are too low when all the money just goes to the top one percent and just sits there, and doesn't get spent. That is what causes great depressions. The only sure way to avoid that is to tax those moneys away, spend them on core programs, teachers, food support, etc., and let it filter back up to the top..it always does anyhow. Taxes just insure that the money gets used in the economy.
If you want to see a display of brazen dishonesty, check out the current administration with an honest and open mind.
Bruce, stop avoiding the issue. Answer the question at hand. Yes or no, did Ryan lie through his teeth throughout that speech. Ral simple to answer. As Stephen said in
"Braveheart," "Don't change the f---in' subject.
Sally Khon may be looking for a job after writing this article finally someone at fox who know's a lie when they hear 1 http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/08/30/paul-ryans-speech-in-three-words/
Know how Romney can win? Let him and Ryan come out and tell teh American people that they lied through their teeth. Democrats would fall into a cataonic state the Republicans finally told the truth that they would be unable to function for months and would not vote.
one thing i learned years ago,a conservative cannot talk to a democrat about anything,concerning steve beren"s article on ryan,i think it is about the biggest fish story i ever heard,this guy must have a few loose screws or a order of fries short of a happy meal if he believes what he wrote,he might get it over on a pack of young liberals,but an older much wiser man or woman is not going to buy it,steve i don"t know if you believe in god or not, but you"ll damn sure go to hell for lying
this post is for the black man if this web site has the nerve or the guts to let it stand,there has been to many lies about republicans and conservative people,i am conservative and a republican and i voted for billo clinton and never regretted it,i think he was a breath of fresh air and i liked him.i think he did a pretty good job.now to set the record straight and if you don"t believe what i have to say you can only attribute to your non education,the democratic party has never done anything for you the republican party hasen"t done,back during the civil war it took a republican congress to break the gridlock in congress to free the slaves,just speculation on my part but wasen:t,john wilkes booth the man that killed lincoln a democrat,president lincoln led the fight to free the slaves he was republican fact.the party that gave you the klu klux klan democrat fact.who was in power when our beloved john f kennedy was killed ,i have often wondered if he was trying to give the black man too many rights and maybe there were people in our government at the time that wanted to keep youall in the field a little longer.dr. king was a great man,you might remember that he was a thorn in the side of the at the time democratic party,did they ever find out who shot him,malcolm x wasen"t the democrats in power when he was killed,he was also a payne in the but.again when lbj was president it took a republican congress to break the gridlock in congress before lbj could get all of president kenned:s civil righs legeslation passed fact.it was not republican governors who stood in the doorway of all schools in the south and said these black kids could not enter the school,the president had to call out the national guard to get the kids into school.so wat is this magical hold the democratic party holds over the black man.is he selling his vote so cheeply or is he so uneducated as not not realize when he is being used,i"m 62 years old i have followed politics my whole life,facts are the republicans have done way more than the democrats for the black man and i have never seen the republicans use the race card to gain favor or win an election fact thank you
you are correct that a republican freed the slaves, a long time ago. you seem to forget that, TODAY, the republicans are trying to stop blacks from voting in a dozen states, using every trick in the book to do it. Why is it republicans don't want black people to vote?
Paul Ryan was telling the truth! President Obama promised the people of Wisconsin that the GM plant would stay open and it was out of business a year after he took office. As part of the bailout, the majority of stock was purchased by the taxpayers. The Treasury Department issued a report that said we were on the hook to lose $25 billion, because the stock needed to trade for over $60 a share for us to get our money back. It is trading for less than half that. President Obama did not submit a budget to Congress, the first three years in office and the 2012 and 2013 budgets never got a single vote in Congress on either side. The credit downgrade and Debt ceiling debacle ended up in the Democratically controlled Senate, where Harry Reid and his cohorts voted it down. We are now staring down the barrel of Sequestration in the defense budget. Under the Warn Act, There has to be 60 days notice given to employees losing their jobs under these cuts. That means they have to be notified by November 1st a few days before the election. President Obama told the Senate Armed Services Committee that he wanted to delay it until after the election. John McCain said that he is bound by LAW to issue the notices on that date because the cuts will take effect on January 1st of 2013. He is between a rock and a hard place on this. He violates the law if he doesn't do it, but when he does do it, he will lose a lot of votes in key battleground States that have Defense jobs like Virginia.
what bothers me more, and what is deeply troubling, is that we seem to have about 40 percent of dog-whistle Americans who simply can't, or don't want to, or refuse to check facts and to act accordingly when they find out they are being lied to. I believe they defend Republicans at every step because they have been propagandized for so long to believe that liberalism and the Democrats are just plain evil. For them, liberals are no different from Goldstein, or was it Goldberg? the villain in 1984 whose mere appearance incited hatred and anger, not to mention irrational thinking. That is frightening because that kind of hatred can be utilized in ways that can threaten or destroy a democracy. A coupe de etat is often justified, in other countries, with the belief that the coupe had to take place to protect the country from socialism or communism..often this has happened at the behest of the CIA. It is silly to believe it can't happen here.
What is true is that if you will lie about one thing you will lie about another. Ryan has lied and lied. He has lied about his feelings and thoughts about Ayn Rand at first she was a real foundation in his life and after he became the Vice Presidential nominee her words mean nothing to him. First he is lock step with the radical abortion since of so many Republicans and now that is not what he meant. He lied about his marathon which is such a easy thing to check and no reason to lie, He lies about a plant closing that he knew closed under Presidnet Bush's watch. LIES, LIES, LIES