Liar In Waiting

Before he became VP nominee, I knew Paul Ryan wasn't very good at math. His budget claims have never added up, and he's afraid to show his work. But being arithmetically challenged doesn't necessarily imply rank dishonesty. Nor, for that matter, does his far-right position on women's choice and other social issues. It's consistent, I'll give him that.

But last night he gave what is demonstrably one of the most dishonest speeches ever heard at a national convention -- at least by a member of the ticket. Clearly, if he had integrity before, he's been fully assimilated by Romneyborg. (Which suggests any perception of integrity was false in the first place.)

At least five times, Ryan misrepresented the facts. And while none of the statements were new, the context was. It’s one thing to hear them on a thirty-second television spot or even in a stump speech before a small crowd. It’s something else entirely to hear them in prime time address, as a vice presidential nominee is accepting his party’s nomination and speaking to the entire country.

The article details the specifics, as do many others. (How blatant must it be when even someone from Fox "news" chimes in?) Read them if you can stand it. Paul Ryan got up there and lied to the country he claims to love, lied without embarrassment. Lied like it came easily, lied like a man with no core. Like the man to whom he's handed his integrity and the contents of his scrotum, he treats voters as if they're stupid; as if he assumes they'll trade in their rectitude as willingly as he did, as if it means no more to them than it does to him. Those in attendance ate it up, of course; lies are what they demand, what they've been fed for so long by their "news" source of choice that they can't tell the difference, nor make an effort to find out.

What an astonishing thing: Today's Republican party is going all-in on lying as essential strategy. Clearly, they don't believe they can win if they tell the truth, about themselves, about their opposition. And they assume they've succeeded, aided by their Foxorovebaugh machine, in removing from enough people the ability or desire to care. To tell lies from truth.

The question is whether they're right. You know how I answer.

[Added: wonder of wonders, I guess when it's that blatant lots of people notice, and it shakes the media from its "everyone does it" obsequiousness. Here's a list, and it's not all flaming liberals. The question remains, however: will any self-identified Republicans/conservatives finally have enough of it and try to rescue their party from its mendaciousness by voting the current breed out of office, and withholding their vote for R and R? Given their recent history, I'm not at all optimistic. Which is a real shame. Because we need sane conservatives in the conversation.]