# Paul Ryan- compulsive liar? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [September 2, 2012, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-compulsive-liar/633401 "2012-09-02T00:00:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-compulsive-liar/633401/61 "2012-09-03T18:33:36Z")
Here’s how we know it wasn’t a simple mistake. When pressed, he didn’t “correct” his “error.” He double downed. > [@](#): > > H. H.: I’ve just gotta ask, what’s your personal best? > P. R.: Under three, high twos. I had a two hour and fifty-something. > H. H.: Holy smokes. All right, now you go down to Miami University… > P. R.: I was fast when I was younger, yeah. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-compulsive-liar/633401/62 "2012-09-03T18:37:56Z")
> [@Rucksinator](#): > > Obama said “57” when he clearly meant “47”. Or he miscounted and forgot there are only 56 Dem primaries, which is the context in which he was speaking. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-compulsive-liar/633401/63 "2012-09-03T18:50:54Z")
> [@Rucksinator](#): > > Obama said “57” when he clearly meant “47”. And if he would have said “47,” the GOP would be claiming that he’s out of touch, that he thinks the U.S. is back in 1912 before Arizona was admitted to the Union, or some dumb shit. In fact, I think if he would have said “50,” they’d find a way to spin it to make him appear to be arrogant, clueless, socialist, and Muslim. You may not be Republican, but when you create false equivalences between an honest and inconsequential error that has zero political advantage and a out and out lie that makes a Republican look like a superman, you’re sure helping their cause. ---
**Author:** ![Truman\_Burbank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@Truman\_Burbank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truman_Burbank)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-compulsive-liar/633401/64 "2012-09-03T18:57:13Z")
> [@Stratocaster](#): > > I run marathons and I’ve inadvertently misstated my times, in just the way this appears to have occurred. I’m a plodding Clydesdale, never ran under 4 hours (I’ve run a half in under 2). I also know that every race I’ve ever run, I ran more than the stated distances (everyone does) and recalculated it just for giggles. I also read runners’ magazines and sometimes in conversation jumble thresholds for elite, very good and middle-of-the-packers like me. > > So, yes, I remember my times, but I’ve misstated them. On those rare occasions, I generally recognize my brain fart real time, and correct it–“Wait, I mean _four_ hours and X minutes.” I’m not saying that’s what Ryan did, but it doesn’t seem crazy to me. especially 20 years after the fact. Clydesdale, my ass - compared to me, you and Mace are sprinters. But, yeah, years later I can’t recall my times with any specificity at all. Like anything else, if you don’t retrieve it occasionally, the traces degrade over time… ---
**Author:** ![AlienVessels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba8739/32.png) [@AlienVessels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlienVessels)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-compulsive-liar/633401/65 "2012-09-03T19:00:55Z")
It’s not just the time he fudged and it wasn’t just one slip of the tongue. The radio interviewer went back to Ryan to confirm because the claimed time surprised the interviewer. And Ryan doubled down when he said he’d stopped running marathons (plural!) because of an injury when the evidence so far is that he’s run exactly one. It was a fish story. And by itself, not a huge deal. But in the context of a pattern of behavior, not so good. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-compulsive-liar/633401/66 "2012-09-03T19:03:09Z")
> [@Truman\_Burbank](#): > > Clydesdale, my ass - compared to me, you and Mace are sprinters. 😃 But Clydesdale refers as much to my size. 225 pounds is not the ideal weight for a marathoner! ---
**Author:** ![AlienVessels](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ba8739/32.png) [@AlienVessels](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlienVessels)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-compulsive-liar/633401/67 "2012-09-03T19:07:38Z")
> [@Truman\_Burbank](#): > > Clydesdale, my ass - compared to me, you and Mace are sprinters. But, yeah, years later I can’t recall my times with any specificity at all. Like anything else, if you don’t retrieve it occasionally, the traces degrade over time… When it’s something you’re competitive about, you tend to remember. > **[StockBot by Examiner.com - Stock Examiner bot by Examiner.com](https://examiner.com)** > > Discover Stock Examiner, the AI-powered chatbot delivering instant, interactive stock charts, real-time financials, breaking news, stock screeners, and more—all in one seamless experience. > [@](#): > > 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 ran a sub-three. Ryan is a fitness nut (apologies to the fitness nuts here). He’s competitive. ---
**Author:** ![Rucksinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/898d66/32.png) [@Rucksinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rucksinator)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-compulsive-liar/633401/68 "2012-09-03T19:19:05Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > …You may not be Republican, but when you create false equivalences between an honest and inconsequential error that has zero political advantage and a out and out lie that makes a Republican look like a superman, you’re sure helping their cause. When you take a mistatement and turn it into an argument that someone is a compulsive liar, I don’t think that you’re helping the cause either. Do you think that anyone is going to vote for Romney based on the notion that his VP used to be a fantastic marathoner? ---
**Author:** ![Rucksinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/898d66/32.png) [@Rucksinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rucksinator)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-compulsive-liar/633401/69 "2012-09-03T19:37:24Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > … between \*\*an honest and inconsequential error that has zero political advantage \*\*and a **out and out lie that makes a Republican look like a superman** , you’re sure helping their cause. I know I touched on this above, but do you really think that his marathon time is more consequential than how many states are in the union? ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-compulsive-liar/633401/70 "2012-09-03T19:44:44Z")
> [@Rucksinator](#): > > I know I touched on this above, but do you really think that his marathon time is more consequential than how many states are in the union? Jesus Christ, does ANYONE actually think Obama doesn’t know how many states there are? Very late in the primary season he said they’ve been to 57states when he meant to say 47. He had a verbal slip. Fucking shit happens, and four years later Republicans still have a boner about it? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-compulsive-liar/633401/71 "2012-09-03T19:52:01Z")
Cheaper than rhino horn. ---
**Author:** ![Rucksinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/898d66/32.png) [@Rucksinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rucksinator)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-compulsive-liar/633401/72 "2012-09-03T20:11:19Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Jesus Christ, does ANYONE actually think Obama doesn’t know how many states there are? Very late in the primary season he said they’ve been to 57states when he meant to say 47. He had a verbal slip. Fucking shit happens, and four years later Republicans still have a boner about it? Jesus Christ, I explained this in post 60. I didn’t think that I’d have to include a disclaimer proving that I’m aware of the facts of the situation every time I referenced this. [QUOTE=ME] Obama said “57” when he clearly meant “47”. He got the number in the 10’s spot off by one. (He was saying that he had been to 47 states, one more to go to, since they weren’t going to Hawai’i or Alaska. The republican lie was that he claimed that there were 57 states in the USA.) [/QUOTE] People in this thread sure are touchy. ---
**Author:** ![SirRay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@SirRay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirRay)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-compulsive-liar/633401/73 "2012-09-03T20:16:01Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Jesus Christ, does ANYONE actually think Obama doesn’t know how many states there are? Very late in the primary season he said they’ve been to 57states when he meant to say 47. He had a verbal slip. Fucking shit happens, and four years later Republicans still have a boner about it? Even better, [Obama corrected himself at a later campaign stop](http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/57states.asp). Did Ryan correct himself without prompting? ---
**Author:** ![BigAppleBucky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigapplebucky/32/178_2.png) [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-compulsive-liar/633401/74 "2012-09-03T22:32:55Z")
> [@Rucksinator](#): > > Getting back to the OP: I first heard this story when I read about Ryan apologizing for the mistake. I interpreted it as being similar to Obama “claiming” that there were 57 states: They both just got the most significant digit wrong by 1. But that was just my interpretation based on his own retraction/apology. > > What are some of his other lies? Ryan’s equivalent to the 57 state mis-speak: [http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/story/2012-09-02/paul-ryan-pregame-speech-video-watch-miami-ohio-state-locker-pep-talk-vp](http://aol.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/story/2012-09-02/paul-ryan-pregame-speech-video-watch-miami-ohio-state-locker-pep-talk-vp) > [@](#): > > And it also happens that Paul Ryan isn’t very good at giving pep talks. Unless of course you like your pep talks to have false statistics, awkward pauses and a decided lack of pep. > > “They tell me that **Ohio State hasn’t beaten an in-state team in about 100 years** ,” Ryan said in a video that has since been removed from YouTube. In fact, Ohio State has not lost to an in-state team in 100 years. That gaffe is akin to Obama’s 57 state mistake. (Obama was going to say he’d visited 50 states, then double clutched in mid-phrase remembering he actually had been in only 47 and it came out 57). Ryan got the results turned around in Ohio. Not a big deal. Neither was 57 states. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-compulsive-liar/633401/75 "2012-09-03T22:50:17Z")
Only 91 years, not 100 (Oberlin, 1921, at Ohio Field). But Ryan went to _Miami_. The in-state team OSU was in the process of whomping on Saturday. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-compulsive-liar/633401/76 "2012-09-03T22:50:52Z")
> [@Rucksinator](#): > > I know I touched on this above, but do you really think that his marathon time is more consequential than how many states are in the union? I think a deliberate self-aggrandizing lie is more consequential than an honest error, yes. ---
**Author:** ![jshore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@jshore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jshore)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-compulsive-liar/633401/77 "2012-09-03T23:33:17Z")
I think people here defending Ryan are missing the point: (1) It is not such a big issue that this one statement about his marathon time was false, but that rather that it is not an isolated incident and is thus an emblematic example of a pattern of lies, deception, and self-aggrandizement. After all, the same sort of self-aggrandizement charges were leveled against Al Gore (“I invented the internet”) except that they were made on the basis of things that Gore never actually said; here, the charges are based on something that Ryan really did say. (2) It is also part of a larger picture of the Republicans’ self-aggrandizement and worship of their own wealth and “success”. It is the attitude whereby Romney claims that he built it and his apparent belief that it is perfectly justifiable that “job creators” like himself pay federal taxes at a lower rate than many of the middle class. In fact, the whole notion of rich folks as “job creators” is a bunch of nonsense created by rich folks & Republicans to stroke their own collective egos. They are no more job creators than the regular folks who go out and buy the products that those businesses sell, thereby creating the demand that leads to the businesses to have to hire more people. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-compulsive-liar/633401/78 "2012-09-04T00:42:17Z")
I think it bugs people because we all know a douchebag that lies about stuff like this. “Yeah, bro, I got a perfect score on the SAT. Didn’t even study for it. It was easy as shit too.” You just want to stab him with a fork. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-compulsive-liar/633401/79 "2012-09-04T00:48:23Z")
“… And my wife. Morgan Fairchild. Whom I have \*slept \*with. Yeah, _that’s_ the ticket!” ---
**Author:** ![Rucksinator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/898d66/32.png) [@Rucksinator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rucksinator)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-compulsive-liar/633401/80 "2012-09-04T01:24:45Z")
> [@jshore](#): > > I think people here defending Ryan are missing the point: > > (1) It is not such a big issue that this one statement about his marathon time was false, but that rather that it is not an isolated incident and is thus an emblematic example of a pattern of lies, deception, and self-aggrandizement. After all, the same sort of self-aggrandizement charges were leveled against Al Gore (“I invented the internet”) except that they were made on the basis of things that Gore never actually said; here, the charges are based on something that Ryan really did say. > > (2) It is also part of a larger picture of the Republicans’ self-aggrandizement and worship of their own wealth and “success”. It is the attitude whereby Romney claims that he built it and his apparent belief that it is perfectly justifiable that “job creators” like himself pay federal taxes at a lower rate than many of the middle class. In fact, the whole notion of rich folks as “job creators” is a bunch of nonsense created by rich folks & Republicans to stroke their own collective egos. They are no more job creators than the regular folks who go out and buy the products that those businesses sell, thereby creating the demand that leads to the businesses to have to hire more people. I’m not defending Ryan. What I’m doing is disputing the notion that a misspeak, combined with regurtitating Republican talking points, equals being a “compulsive liar”. By this criteria, the majority of Americans that follow politics are “compulsive liars”. > [@](#): > > it is not an isolated incident and is thus an emblematic example of a pattern of lies, deception, and self-aggrandizement. If Ryan has made several other false claims about how wonderful he is then I would like to hear them. I just think that this one claim could be chalked up to a misspeak, and the others chalked up to Republicans being shitty liars who will do anything to win this election. But to call someone a “compulsive liar”, I think you need to have more than that. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-compulsive-liar/633401.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paul-ryan-compulsive-liar/633401.md?page=5)