how about them explaining this?
(They don't have anything else.)
But no concern about seeing Obama’s real birth certificate.
This was a reckless boast on Ryan’s part. Politicians, of course, routinely do this kind of thing and must be called on it when nailed. However, if the rats want to make a big deal out of it then let’s revisit, ad infinitum, their own “stolen valor” scumbags, Senators Richard Blumenthal and Tom Harkin, who both lied about being Vietnam veterans.
There is a big difference between recklessly, even if innocently, exaggerating an old marathon time with claiming to be a war veteran. Ryan should get a smack on the back of the head from Romney; Blumenthal and Harkin should be in jail.
Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahhahahahahahahahahahahhahahhahahahahahahahahahahhahahhahahahahahahahahahahhahahhahahahahahahahahahahhahahhahahahahahahahahahahhahahhahahahahahahahahahahhahahhahahahahahahahahahahhahahhahahahahahahahahahahhahahhahahahahahahahahahahhahahhahahahahahahahahahahhahahhahahahahahahahahahahhahahhahahahahahahahahahahhahahhahahahahahahahahahahhahahhahahahahahahahahahahhahahhahahahahahahahahahahhahahhahahahahahahahahahahhahahhahahahahahahahahahahhahahhahahahahahahahahahahhahahhahahahahahahahahahahhahahhahahahahahahahahahahhahahhahahahahahahahahahahhahahhahahahahahahahahahahhahahhahahahahah!
Next up: Romney has exaggerated the size of fish that he hooked but that got away, and the Ryans claim that their kids get better grades than they do.
I haven’t read or heard the original interview, but Ryan doesn’t seem like the type to deliberately try to lie. My husband runs marathons all the time and you can see the race results immediately after the race now (with the bigger races) so Ryan would have known that. I would bet that instead it was simply a slip of the tongue on Ryan’s part. Goodness knows *I’ve* messed up like that a time or two, and I’ll bet others have as well. Wasn’t there some guy who said there were 57 states? ;o)
He should have known someone would check it out/Runners World did. They have this story on their site showing nasty comments. They never talk politics that I know of. I image that story will be gone soon or at least they’ll close off the comment section.
Gives the Republicans the perfect opportunity to reintroduce Neil Kinnock.
How many trees died so that the LA Times could publish this nonsense. Where’s Green Peace on this?
“Voters usually have some patience, but they can quickly become displeased with politicians whose prevarications become routine.”
Didn’t stop them voting in Obama/Biden
Our congresswoman, Jean Schmidt of 2d Ohio, nearly was derailed by a claim about marathon running. As it turned out, she did have proof to back up her claim
In normal circumstances, one doesn’t forget one’s best time by an hour. A sub 3 hour versus a 4 hour marathon is a huge difference.
The thing that always baffles me about this is that a 9 minute pace over 26 miles is an accomplishment. Sure, it isn’t a world record or anything, but simply completing the race is what marathoning is about.
It was a dumb mistake on Ryan’s part if the details we’ve been provided are correct.
Ryan broke one of the cardinal rules for Republicans. Never play fast and loose with the truth at any level thinking you`re going to get the same break as a democrat. Obama has lied left and right about his background and the “media” never called him on it. As active partners of the dems, they`ll turn this into a major attack on Ryan`s credibility.
The double standard is unfair and it sucks but Repubs know that going in. Don`t fudge the facts.. on anything. The oppo researchers will call you on it.
They don’t think like the rest of us.
Time for a useful comparison. Ryan was what 20 years old when he ran that marathon and he has already corrected his error. I am betting that his error is not quite up there with Bidenopolis, the chain toting Slurpee man with the Indian accent story, and his tiny plagiarism scandal that caused him to withdraw from the 1988 Presidential campaign but who knows, this could be big as a peanut.
Can someone remove this from “breaking news” so people waking up can actually partake in real news.
I dont come to FR for this type of bullshit.
It wasn’t a quibble. He exaggerated by more than an hour. But hey! Everybody lies about athletics.
At least he's not boasting he was born in Kenya.
My thought is that it was an obvious misspeak. If you are in a fish bowl and were going to intentionally exaggerate something about this, you would do so in a more believable manner (3 and a half hours, for instance) rather than saying something that would attract disbelief and fact-checking.
If Ryan were still running marathons then it would be hard to justify such an error, since he would be more aware of what is merely a decent time and what is an incredible time. But apparently he only ran one marathon and that was over 20 years ago.
Also, this wasn’t a tidbit thrown into the middle of a prepared speech. When i first saw the headline, i thought that it was a part of his convention speech, a part which i had missed for whatever reason. So i was thinking how stupid, for if it had been an innocent error it should have been caught and corrected ahead of time.
Instead, it was him speaking off the cuff about something that occurred years ago. These things happen and happen innocently in most cases. Certainly his mind has been focused on much more important things in the intervening years. The only thing that would be worrisome to me is if there is a pattern of him claiming a sub 3 hour time.