I had a friend last night text me during our coverage who was upset that he heard people using the word "lie" about Paul Ryan's speech. He's not a political junkie, nor would he have any reason to not believe what Paul Ryan said. Then he saw dozens of headlines this morning. He later said, "well, maybe it was the right word." Here is a rundown of some of the headlines that have come from Ryan's speech.
Let's start with the painfully non-partisan Associated Press: Fact Check: Ryan ignores parts of his own record
Reporters Calvin Woodward and Jack Gillum summarize the speech this way:
The Republican National Convention is drawing to a close with some factually slippery statements from its presidential ticket.
Jim Rutenberg of the New York Times was more forgiving:
If his vigorous support for shrinking the size and role of government has left the party exposed to withering attacks from Mr. Obama and the Democrats, it did not seem to cause concern. Rather, Mr. Ryan ran headlong into the fire he expects to draw.
Henry Payne of the Detroit News sides with Ryan: Ryan, Obama and the Promise of Janesville
Under Obamanomics, the government picks winners and losers. Obama promised Janesville would be a winner even as his economic policies guaranteed it would always be a loser. Indeed, Obama’s whole 2008 Janesville speech is a sobering road map for the job-killing policies he has put in place as president.
Alex Seitz-Wald of Salon.Com goes there: Paul Ryan, the definitive fact check
...here is a comprehensive guide of every single lie, misrepresentation or omission from the speech, in the order they were delivered:
GM plant — Ryan: blamed Obama for the closing of GM plant in his hometown of Janesville, Wis. Truth: One of the biggest whoppers of the night; the plant closed before Obama was even sworn into office. His position also contradicts the Republicans’ position of opposing President Obama’s auto rescue.
Stimulus — Ryan: “The stimulus was a case of political patronage, corporate welfare, and cronyism at their worst. You, the working men and women of this country, were cut out of the deal.” Truth: The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said the stimulus created 3.3 million jobs. Four out of five economists agree. Ryan himself wrote letters requesting stimulus money, then lied about it.
Medicare — Ryan: “Seven hundred and sixteen billion dollars, funneled out of Medicare by President Obama.” Truth: As we’vepointed out many times, Obamacare doesn’t raid Medicare and Ryan’s plan would do a lot more to ruin Medicare. One of the biggest lies of the campaign.
Obamacare — Ryan: “You see, even with all the hidden taxes to pay for the health care takeover…” Truth: Politifact called the “government takeover” of healthcare meme their “lie of the year” in 2010.
Not Surprisingly, so does ThinkProgress.Org: The 6 Worst Lies in Paul Ryan's Speech
His speech was riddled with false claims, so much so that even Fox Newswrote, “To anyone paying the slightest bit of attention to facts, Ryan’s speech was an apparent attempt to set the world record for the greatest number of blatant lies and misrepresentations slipped into a single political speech.”
And here is TheDailyCaller given to you without comment:
In another crowd-pleasing line, the boyish Wisconsin congressman went on to suggest that Obama won’t be able to count on the young people who helped propel him to the presidency in 2008 this time around.





Rachel Maddow just tweeted a picture of the last vehicle that came off the Jamesville assembly line, along with the date, Dec. 23, 2008...
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/08/30/13572758-the-janesville-falsehood?lite
Still doesn't make the fact that caandidate Obama said in Feb, 2008 this plant would stay open if he was elected and able to take the initiative to save the auto industry with Government support. And the last trucks rolled off the Janesville, Wisconsin GM SUV and Truck plant in June, 2009, 4 months after President Obama ordered the $80 billion federal government nationalization of General Motors in Feb, 2009. And although GM management wanted to reactivate the mothballed in June, 2009 plant to once again assemble Surburbans and XT900 Chevy Trucks, the war on fossil fuels Obama Administrtion squelched that, as it didn't fit their environmental agenda. And to this day, the plant sits empty, deactivated, on standby, until GM can once again start assembling SUVs and Truck there again. That will ovviously take a new President and Vice President. Romney/Ryan - 2012.
It might be worth noting that just about anything anyone said about plans for the economy before September of 2008 were rendered relatively moot by the events the occurred that month. That includes the statement, made in July of 2008, that Republicans like to point to, in which candidate Obama said he planned to cut the deficit in half. The crash kinda altered that plan, doncha think?
The old addage that if you tell a lie often enough it becomes the truth is being put to the test right here, right now. Good thing we're all keeping such good notes.
Courtesy of the Council on Foreign Relations, here is the transcript from Obama’s speech at the plant in Janesville on Feb. 13, 2008, in which then-candidate Obama says precisely what Ryan quoted him as saying:
“I know that General Motors received some bad news yesterday, and I know how hard your Governor has fought to keep jobs in this plant. But I also know how much progress you’ve made – how many hybrids and fuel-efficient vehicles you’re churning out. And I believe that if our government is there to support you, and give you the assistance you need to re-tool and make this transition, that this plant will be here for another hundred years. The question is not whether a clean energy economy is in our future, it’s where it will thrive. I want it to thrive right here in the United States of America; right here in Wisconsin; and that’s the future I’ll fight for as your President.”
@ Gerry: Meaning? The fact remains that the plant was officially closed when the President took office. My daughter inlaw worked there and had to move to Texas in order to keep her job. The GM management made the decision to close that plant, not the President. How do you see what you just wrote as a promise to keep the plant open. I've seen all kinds of convoluted stories from the GOP trying to make it sound as if somehow the President is able to do stuff retroactively. Do you guys ever read anything other than what your leadership tells you. It's not hard to find out how any member of congress votes on an issue yet you listen to Ryan knock things that he originally voted for. The guy blames the President for the country's credit downgrade I'm sure you were around when that happened but you will still believe that lie. If you truly wanted to know facts you would do some real research but of course that would not fit what you want to believe. Lots of the propaganda coming from the right sounds like stuff from the Salem Witch Trials. What happened to the real GOP. Used to be that at least they made some sense I just disagreed with some of the policies. Now it's just hate and ignorance.