Paul Ryan's marathon

Just sent an email to Malkin at her website letting her know she is missing another great "Kerry Like" story about Ryan's 2:5x marathon and his disposition for lying. I'm sure that with Malkin being so fair and even handed we'll see a beat down article on how Ryan can't be trusted in the next few days.

The point you're missing is that if he's willing to lie about something as meaningless as a 22 year-old marathon result without even flinching, why would he hesitate to lie about anything else? Even if you say "he lies just like every other politician," that means the best you can say about him is that he's no better than any of the rest of them--and could easily be worse than most, too. Not exactly a ringing endorsement.

I would think some folks would be hoping for better than that, but maybe I'm wrong.

O.o wrote:

Politics at its finest, lets investigate his athletic mettle and levee criticism of his political ability based on that.

The criticism isn't based on his athletic mettle, dummy. It's based on his moral mettle.

Schadenfreude wrote:

Well, though I believe that Romney and Ryan will do much better than Obama, I'll put it to you this way: How could they do any worse???

How about another WMD war in a place starting with the letters IRA, plus another big tax cut.

Bush Redux.

And once again, we'd have the VP actually making policy, while the figurehead president smiled for the cameras.

Sunny Guy

O.o wrote:

Politics at its finest, lets investigate his athletic mettle and levee criticism of his political ability based on that.

Sorry, Ryan ran his 2:55/4:01 back in the dark ages of 1990 so didn't win a mettle.

Seriously, what do you mean by "athletic mettle"? I'm not fibbin' -- that's a new term to me.

And by the way, "political ability" and honesty (or lack thereof) are pretty much apples and oranges. People who belive Ryan is a lying sack o' sh*t don't necessarily believe he has zero political skills.

He was pretty specific in his little fabrication. The posters who say he would not be expected to remember a 20-plus year old time, or that he is not learned in marathon times are just flat out wrong. He showed he is aware that "under three" is reputable, and backed it up with two fifty something. When the interviewer was surprised, but had moved on to the Miami U experience, Ryan brought him back to running with his comment on his speed as a young man.

He knew exactly what he was doing. P90X!

Plus he's a numbers guy, as Chairman of the Budget Committee, he is touted for his acumen with figures. Oh, the irony.

Not sure what all the fuss is about. Paul Ryan is a fine American. No need to question his past.

Seriously Brojos? 10+ minutes to get to the start at Grandma's? It's not like it's Chicago. But the bigger issue is this guy is a confirmed liar. You don't make a 1 hour plus mistake on your time, especially when it's your only marathon.

Put it this way, Paul Ryan, in his prime at 20-21 years old, ran slower than middle aged Kim Alexis, Sarah Palin, Will Ferell, Joan Van Ark, Gordon Ramsay, and Flea, and is comparable to Alanis Morissette, Meridith Baxter Birney, and even Oprah smashes him age graded (Clydesdale).

This is a big story because this guy got up in front of the country a couple of nights ago and in his attempt to convince everyone he should be VP, arguably lied his face off. The issues he lied about have been subject to so much spin that he can pretty much get away with this.

Now we find out he casually lied about something that is easily verifiable. Whether or not a marathon time is a big deal is irrelevant. He didn't fib, misspeak or whatever...he lied to make himself seem impressive. He knew 2:50 something was good so he said he did it despite being way way off. It is right to call his character into question after this revelation.

orbitboy wrote:

HL Mencken wrote:

Stop the presses-a politician is a "tool"

EVERY politician from city councilman on up is a lying, squirming weasel. Those that reach the national stage are the VERY best at being lying squirming weasels. It's remarkable the republic has lasted this long.

I won't argue with this in theory; however, some are much bigger liars than others. Some NEED to lie more than others, and it's important to distinguish the small ones from the big ones. If I see two guys standing on a street corner--one has a pocket knife and the other a machete--it would be idiotic to say, "They're both carrying knives, so they're both the same to me!"

not that he lies but that he is so bad at at !!!

How do you know when Paul Ryan is about to lie?

When he opens his mouth.

The key lesson: nothing Ryan says can pass the smell test for anyone who know anything about whatever topic he happens to be discussing. His pattern of serial lying goes far beyond the norm even for politicians.

Swanee wrote:

PAUL RYAN (8/29/2012): Right there at that plant, candidate Obama said: "I believe that if our government is there to support you, this plant will be here for another hundred years." That's what he said in 2008. ... That plant didn't last another year. ... The recovery that was promised is nowhere in sight.

Yeah, except that plant announced in June of 2008 that it would be stopping production. I mean, hold on a second. Siri, who was President in June 2008? "George Bush!" Thank you, Siri. You're the best.

....

You need work on your analytical skills. The point of that statement was that Obama went from town to town making specific promises, many of which have not been kept. The simple fact of the matter is Obama should not have made that promise. He attempted to sell the audience that plants like the one in Paul Ryan's home town would not stop production if they elected him. They did. He promised that he would cut the deficit in half. He added 5-6 trillion. He promised that unemployment would be under 8 percent. It has been above 8 percent for the last 4 years.

This story is simply an example of the empty promises of the Obama campaign. This is the story of the Obama economy.

And the plant officially closed later that year so everything he said is 100% accurate. Could Obama have done anything to stop the close of the plant of this particular plant? Probably not. But this promise, like his other promises, should not have been made in the first place. In campaigning it is more than fair to point to campaign promises and actual results.

... we could see nebulous Neptune sitting exactly on Ryan’s Ascendant, shrouding personal projection in a rose-colored fog, made all the more dazzling by a charismatic support from Mars in pioneering Aries. He is perceived as either a visionary or delusional...

With Sun and Venus in Aquarius, he’d like to come across as everyone’s best friend (and he can — beautifully), but action-oriented Mars in me-me-me Aries needs to be obsessed with the glory of individual achievement and self-expression.

*lol*

There's something seriously wrong when a guy lies about something that only people who are sure to check care about. He's either a compulsive liar, or, arrogant as hell. You know, without all the lies he told in his RNC speech, this story would lack context and probably go away. As it is, this is probably the last straw for Romney Ryan.

MaynardMaster wrote:

How do you know when Paul Ryan is about to lie?

When he opens his mouth.

The key lesson: nothing Ryan says can pass the smell test for anyone who know anything about whatever topic he happens to be discussing. His pattern of serial lying goes far beyond the norm even for politicians.

I wonder if conservative columnist Michelle Malkin will comment on Ryan's marathon. Here is her article regarding John Kerry's claim that he ran the Boston Marathon.

JOHN KERRY: MARATHON MAN

By Michelle Malkin • October 8, 2004 02:01 PM

Before I take up the amusing little matter of whether John Kerry’s claim of having run the Boston Marathon is true, let me share some relevant personal background:

I am married to a long-distance runner. As any similarly situated spouse or significant other will tell you, runners are statistics freaks. Over the course of our 11-year-marriage (and nearly three years of courtship beforehand), I have had to listen to the stories behind every race and notable run my hubby has undertaken–from the fun runs he ran as a kid to every college steeplechase race to every community 5k and 10k race he has run in Los Angeles, Seattle, and the D.C. area. I have had to hear time and again about the training regimens before the races, the weather conditions on the day of each race, what was eaten before each run, and, of course, the times of each run.

But that’s not all. Runners aren’t only obsessed with their own times and performances. They’re obsessed with everyone else’s times and performances, too. My hubby, like most serious runners, is a font of running trivia. Want to know what the splits were for the winner of the Chicago Marathon in 1985? Or who the most recent American distance runner to win an Olympic medal was? Or the name of the first female finisher in the Boston Marathon in 1980? You get the idea.

So, anyway, the b.s. detector of my husband and many other runners went crazy when Kerry told sports reporters that he had run the Boston Marathon. This is a significant athletic achievement, if true. There is no official record of him having run, however, and the November issue of Runner’s World reports that “he doesn’t recall his time…”

No record of him having run? That means that if Kerry ran, he did so unofficially. In the running community, this is considered a major no-no. Unofficial runners do not pay to run (the costs involved in hosting a marathon are not trivial); they have a tendency to line up at the starting line ahead of registered runners; and they increase the likelihood of error in the recording of finishing times of registered runners. Running unofficially at Boston in the 1970s or 1980s would have been an especially egregious breach of runners’ etiquette because it was the nation’s most prestigious race and entry was limited to those who had met a tough qualifying time.

Doesn’t recall the year he ran? It’s possible, but the year of the race could easily be inferred from details Kerry should be able to remember. If he ran in 1977, he would remember the heat (nearly 80 degrees). If he ran in 1978, he would probably remember hearing about the close finish (two seconds between first and second places). If he ran in 1979, he would remember the cold, drizzly weather (40 degrees) and the American Records set by the winning man and woman. If he ran in 1980, he would definitely remember the Rosie Ruiz scandal.

Doesn’t recall his time? As I say, runners remember everything. And they never let you forget it either.

Football Fans for Truth has more here. Blue States for Bush weighs in here. And Eric Zorn, Chicago Tribune columnist, had these thoughts on his blog:

My nose began to twitch at Kerry’s apparent inability to recall the year of his first marathon–a very unlikely memory lapse given the intensity of the training experience.

If Kerry really ran this race, then Hillary Clinton is telling the truth about being named about Sir Edmund Hillary. The claims are equally incredible.

Meanwhile, President Bush’s impressive running record is here. 3:44:52 for the Houston Marathon. Whew! How do you like them apples, John?

Update: Reader Blaine Alvarez-Backus, who is himself an accomplished marathoner, writes:

[Y]ou’re spot-on about runners. I’ve done Boston, New York, Chicago, LA, Vermont, Twin Cities, Houston, and a bunch of smaller marathons to small to even mention, and I can remember the weather, what I wore, how I felt and what my times were. Kerry might have run the first 5 or 10k of Boston, but he sure as hell didn’t run it, or even run a qualifying time in either a half-marathon of a full marathon for it!

Most of my readers agree that running the Boston Marathon as a bandit would be improper. Dr. David Shimm disagrees:

While I share your opinion that Kerry is a serial liar and I think he is a sociopath, I should point out that running in the Boston Marathon as an unregistered “bandit” was hardly a “major no-no,” at least in the 70′s thru early 80′s (when I lived there). In fact, I even had a friend who ran a qualifying time fast enough to be an official entrant, but chose to run as a bandit to protest what he felt were exclusionary qualifying rules.

For more commentary on politics and running, check out this piece on the great miler Jim Ryun, which I wrote a few years ago after ESPN neglected to include Ryun among its “Congressional Athletes of the Century.”

Mush wrote:

This whole story is awesome. Im so proud of letsrun!

me too. one of the few times i will actually admit to reading here.

poptarts wrote:

[quote]Mush wrote:

This whole story is awesome. Im so proud of letsrun![quote]

me too. one of the few times i will actually admit to reading here.

Pretty brave words for a guy who goes by the ame of poptarts.