Not Buyin' Lyin' Ryan


From Mitt Romney:

Unconditional love is a gift that Ann and I have tried to pass on to our sons and now to our grandchildren. All the laws and legislation in the world will never heal this world like the loving hearts and arms of mothers and fathers. If every child could drift to sleep feeling wrapped in the love of their family – and God's love — this world would be a far more gentle and better place.

Those days were toughest on Ann, of course. She was heroic. Five boys, with our families a long way away. I had to travel a lot for my job then and I'd call and try to offer support. But every mom knows that doesn't help get the homework done or the kids out the door to school.I knew that her job as a mom was harder than mine. And I knew without question, that her job as a mom was a lot more important than mine. And as America saw Tuesday night, Ann would have succeeded at anything she wanted to.

Like a lot of families in a new place with no family, we found kinship with a wide circle of friends through our church. When we were new to the community it was welcoming and as the years went by, it was a joy to help others who had just moved to town or just joined our church. We had remarkably vibrant and diverse congregants from all walks of life and many who were new to America. We prayed together, our kids played together and we always stood ready to help each other out in different ways.


From his wife:

And that is where this boy I met at a high school dance comes in.  His name is Mitt Roney and you should really get to know him.  I could tell you why I fell in love with him; he was tall, laughed a lot.  He was nervous.  Girls like that.  It shows the guy's a little intimidated.  He was nice to my parents, but he was also really glad when they were not around.

I don't mind that. But more than anything, he made me laugh. some of you might not know this, but I am the granddaughter of a welsh coal miner.

From the First Lady:

You see, even though back then Barack was a senator and a presidential candidate . to me, he was still the guy who'd picked me up for our dates in a car that was so rusted out, I could actually see the pavement going by through a hole in the passenger side door . he was the guy whose proudest possession was a coffee table he'd found in a dumpster, and whose only pair of decent shoes was half a size too small.

But when Barack started telling me about his family — that's when I knew I had found a kindred spirit, someone whose values and upbringing were so much like mine.

You see, Barack and I were both raised by families who didn't have much in the way of money or material possessions but who had given us something far more valuable — their unconditional love, their unflinching sacrifice, and the chance to go places they had never imagined for themselves.

From her husband:

Michelle, I love you. The other night, I think the entire country saw just how lucky I am. Malia and Sasha, you make me so proud…but don’t get any ideas, you’re still going to class tomorrow.

From the Vice-President:

Jilly, I want you to know that Beau, Hunt, Ashley, and I are so proud of you. We admire the way you treat every single student who walks into your classroom. You not only teach them. You give them confidence. And the passion you bring to easing the burden on the families of our warriors. They know you understand what they're going through. It makes a difference. And I'm grateful. So grateful that you said Yes on that fifth try.

From the individual who wants to replace him:

For my part, your nomination is an unexpected turn. It certainly came as news to my family, and I'd like you to meet them: My wife Janna, our daughter Liza, and our boys Charlie and Sam.

The kids are happy to see their grandma, who lives in Florida. There she is— my Mom, Betty.

My dad, a small-town lawyer, was also named Paul. Until we lost him when I was 16, he was a gentle presence in my life. I like to think he'd be proud of me and my sister and brothers, because I'm sure proud of him and of where I come from, Janesville, Wisconsin.

I live on the same block where I grew up. We belong to the same parish where I was baptized. Janesville is that kind of place.

Fortunately, excess of saccharin being dangerous to health, we were spared a speech by Mrs. Ryan and Mrs. Biden.  Still, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, Michelle Obama, and Ann Romney all can claim to be great family men/women, inasmuch as we have no evidence to the contrary.

Bill Clinton, however, avoided talk of his family, though Hillary and Chelsea may be wonderful persons.  His remarks would have been (literally) incredible, given all that we know about Bill's checkered family history.  He didn't try to strain our credulity, and did not play on our emotions in the same fashion as did Mitt, Ann, Michelle, Barack, Joe, and Paul.

Bill Clinton, apparently, has at least some sense of shame.   Not so, the U.S. Representative from Wisconsin's First Congressional District.
  
WARNING:  RUN ON SENTENCE AHEAD

There were the lies (or clear intent to mislead) in his acceptance speech of August 29, in which he: strongly inferred that the automobile plant in his hometown of Janesville, Wisconsin closed after Barack Obama became President than before; the stimulus "the working men and women of this country were cut out of" but which added more than one million jobs; the Medicare cuts in which "our parents and grandparents (are) being sacrificed," but which came almost exclusively from reductions in reimbursement to hospitals and insurance companies; the Simpson-Bowles commission which "came back with an urgent report," in response to which the President "did absolutely nothing," though the commission never issued a report; the triple-A credit rating which turned into "a downgraded America" because of Barack Obama, but whose downgrade was engineered by House Republicans (of whom he has been a leading member); his concern for "the strong to protect the weak," when his own budget pays for further, radical tax cuts for the wealthy primarily by cutting aid to the poor.

More recently, Ryan claimed "President Obama is rolling back welfare reform," even though he merely has granted the waivers requested by several GOP governors for flexibility in implementing welfare standards.   He has also criticized Obama for the defense cuts required by sequestration in the Budget Control Act, which he himself voted for, and whose cuts he pointedly endorsed and did not criticize until he became a vice-presidential nominee.

As a bonus, it's not only these consequential flights from objective reality which characterize the man and his character.   Consider the sub-three hour marathon he ran which, it turns out, was run in over four hours.  Consider also that Ryan, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel "has made close to 40 climbs of Colorado's "Fourteeners" (14,000-foot peaks)," which, unsurprisingly, turns out not to be true.

For good cause, he's called Lyin' Ryan- but not by the Family Research Council, which hosts the Values Voter Summit.   Yes, Paul Ryan spoke (transcript, here) at today's Values Voter Summit, and not to plead forgiveness for his sin of rampant dishonesty.    The man who is not ethically challenged but ethnically barren, and who has raised lying to an art form, was there to criticize President Obama.

At one point Mr. Ryan, who interrupted his lecture by reminding us he is Catholic- hardly an endorsement- accused President Obama of "trying to trade on the record of Bill Clinton."
With Republicans pretending they do not maintain for citizen Clinton the loathing they held for President Clinton, their vice-presidential candidate ought to consider emulating one of the former President's admirable qualities.   His record known, Clinton does not claim to be what he is not, a man of awesome personal integrity; and Paul Ryan, having been found to be a clone of Pinocchio, ought not to pretend he's a man with any sense of decency.




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