Slog
News & ArtsSunday, September 2, 2012
2012 The Marathon Man
Posted by Paul Constant on Sun, Sep 2, 2012 at 5:07 AM
Granted, this isn't as important as his factually challenged RNC speech, but it still says something of his character:
"I had a two hour and fifty-something" marathon, Ryan said last week an interview. "I hurt a disc in my back, so I don’t run marathons anymore."
But the Ryan campaign confirmed to Runner's World that he has only run one marathon, the 1990 Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, Minnesota, which he finished in just over 4 hours.
"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 said in a prepared statement. "If I were to do any rounding, it would certainly be to four hours, not three. He gave me a good ribbing over this at dinner tonight."
So the supposed numbers genius of the Republicans believes you can round from over four hours to "two hour[s] and fifty-something." That's kind of a troubling thing to hear from the budget guy, but it's also indicative of a greater problem. As Jonah Lehrer just proved, if you're willing to casually lie or mislead about such a tiny detail, there are probably much bigger lies floating around in there, too. Lying is an especially bad trait if your last name rhymes with "Lyin'" and you're on a presidential ticket. Things tend to stick that way.
1
I wish the Dem convention would show a big screen with a picture of Rmoney and Lyin' Ryan with their pants on fire. Then, on another night, it would show Rmoney's face morphing into G.W. Bush and then morhing back into Rmoney, over and over.
2
I've run a few marathons, none of them under three hours. This is hilarious/maddening for two major reasons: (1) You don't just mis-remember your personal record time. (2) It doesn't get much more pathetically petty than shaving a whole hour off your PR. Running a marathon is an achievement, regardless of the time; pretending you did it faster than you did just shows that you don't value your own effort.
3
Sociopaths lie about all sorts of unimportant things, thinking no one will ever check. Remember Pat Robertson's claim he could leg press 2000 lbs? (at least he was doing that to push some bogus health drink he had a financial interest in)
If Romney/Rayn does get it, it will be comedic gold: an administration worthy of the North Korean regime in terms of grandiose exaggeration and utter incompetence.
If Romney/Rayn does get it, it will be comedic gold: an administration worthy of the North Korean regime in terms of grandiose exaggeration and utter incompetence.
5
I ran a marathon a few years ago, also coming in just over 4 hours. I am no fan of Lying' Ryan, but I give him a pass here. First, i often have to do a little mental calculation to remember that 4 is the number of hours in my marathon time, and 2 is the number of hours in my half marathon time, and 3 is the number of hours in the marathon times of my friends who are amazing runners. If you have run lots of races of different lengths, you can have trouble keeping the numbers all straight in the front of your brain. Second, anyone who ran a marathon in 4+ hours in his 20s will NEVER get to sub-3 hours in his life, and knows that it would be a completely implausible thing to falsely boast about. It's just too good. It's like him saying he's a scratch golfer when in fact he's a 15. I'm already appalled enough by Ryan, and don't feel the need to include this story among the reasons why.
6
I think a truth-challenged guy like Ryan would be much more likely to lie about his marathon time by shaving, say, 15 minutes off of it, and boasting a much better 3:45 than a 4+. He could probably get away with that. But who knows?
7
Sure, bearing false witness is a popular piety for people to get behind, I'm guilty too. But the commandment that hits home is coveting my neighbor's wife. Not serious, though certainly unsettling. Horn Dogs for Cuddle!!
8
I got so mad last night watching some "truth check" show that I almost broke my tv. They compared the outright lies of the Romney/Ryan ticket to Obama saying that Romney doesn't support abortion exceptions for rape and incest.
NEWSFLASH: Obama isn't lying here, the problem is that Romney has said both that he supports exceptions for rape and incest and that he fully supports the Republican platform, which has no such exceptions.
If you're opponent has no core principals and is constantly playing both sides of every issue, it's not a lie to pin his own statement du jour on him.
NEWSFLASH: Obama isn't lying here, the problem is that Romney has said both that he supports exceptions for rape and incest and that he fully supports the Republican platform, which has no such exceptions.
If you're opponent has no core principals and is constantly playing both sides of every issue, it's not a lie to pin his own statement du jour on him.
9
This is actually being reported all over--just google paul ryan and marathon for news stories. It's not something that generates the kind of headlines we'd see if Ryan is busted for sexual harassment, adultery, or perjury, but this is going to stick. It's going to be at least as big as the Seamus incident with Romney.
10
Lies?
Like calling Isaac (and Irene) "hurricanes" and scaring the whole country over what turned out to be a beneficial rain shower that is helping the drought?
Like calling Isaac (and Irene) "hurricanes" and scaring the whole country over what turned out to be a beneficial rain shower that is helping the drought?
13
I'm so disappointed. I thought it was going to be story about a terrified Matt Taibbi strapped into a dentist's chair with a bite block in his mouth, and Mitt Romney standing next to him with a whirring dentist's drill in his hand asking, "Is it safe?"
14
If you've ever run a marathon, if you've ever done ANY distance running, you don't confuse a 2:50 with a 3:50 marathon time. It's like the difference between saying, "Back in high school I was in the Golden Gloves program, and I once went three rounds with Mohammd Ali." and saying "Back in high school I was in the Golden Gloves program, and I once went three rounds with Mo Malley." Yeah sure they sound a little the same, but you just don't confuse the two.
15
@10 "A beneficial rainshower"!? Have you been watching the news - at all - or are you really that callous? Would you rather be ignorant or heartless?
It's a *lie*, people. Let's call it what it is, just like his story about the GM plant was a lie, and his assertions that Obama has done nothing are galling lies when it's the Republicans that have tirelessly played obstructionists literately from Day One of the Obama presidency. Paul Ryan is the type of guy who would lie to make himself look better and make the other guy look worse without thinking twice about it.
And I really hope this story of Ryan's dumb, petty mendacity gets good traction.
It's a *lie*, people. Let's call it what it is, just like his story about the GM plant was a lie, and his assertions that Obama has done nothing are galling lies when it's the Republicans that have tirelessly played obstructionists literately from Day One of the Obama presidency. Paul Ryan is the type of guy who would lie to make himself look better and make the other guy look worse without thinking twice about it.
And I really hope this story of Ryan's dumb, petty mendacity gets good traction.
16
I have run one full marathon and two half marathons, and remember my time down to the minute.
Ryan's is totally full of shit and to find out he did his in over 4 hours...what was he doing? Walking it with Oprah and shoving bon bons in his face?
Ryan's is totally full of shit and to find out he did his in over 4 hours...what was he doing? Walking it with Oprah and shoving bon bons in his face?
17
Oh hooray, more classically diagnostic sociopath behavior. This makes me feel wonderful about our political system.
18
@15: Callous, ignorant, heartless, take your pick. And remember that they are not mutually exclusive.
He's a dyed-in-the-wool Republican, but he hates this year's candidate. So he's had no choice but to turn troll, as any other response would require integrity, which he sorely lacks. You now have even more reason to ignore everything he posts.
He's a dyed-in-the-wool Republican, but he hates this year's candidate. So he's had no choice but to turn troll, as any other response would require integrity, which he sorely lacks. You now have even more reason to ignore everything he posts.
20
@10 - Let me guess, if someone asked you who you found most inspirational on Slog, you'd say "StrangersWorstNightmare" wouldn't you?
21
So…
Ryan fudged on a marathon finish time.
Biden plagiarized his way through law school (earning himself an F for a course when he turned in 5 pages of someone else’s work as his own), Plagiarized his speeches (stealing from JFK and RFK, Hubert Humphrey and, perhaps most famously, British Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock) and told lies about how he happened to plagiarize Kinnock and whopping lies about his educational background: "I went to law school on a full academic scholarship” (he didn’t); he graduated in the top half of his law-school class (he didn’t) and that he had earned three undergraduate degrees, when in fact he had earned one.
Ryan seems less nefarious in his "lies".
Ryan fudged on a marathon finish time.
Biden plagiarized his way through law school (earning himself an F for a course when he turned in 5 pages of someone else’s work as his own), Plagiarized his speeches (stealing from JFK and RFK, Hubert Humphrey and, perhaps most famously, British Labor Party leader Neil Kinnock) and told lies about how he happened to plagiarize Kinnock and whopping lies about his educational background: "I went to law school on a full academic scholarship” (he didn’t); he graduated in the top half of his law-school class (he didn’t) and that he had earned three undergraduate degrees, when in fact he had earned one.
Ryan seems less nefarious in his "lies".
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