The Obama Diary

President Barack Obama reacts after recognizing actress Sissy Spacek in Charlottesville, Va., Aug. 29, 2012. The President happened upon Spacek while greeting people following a stop in the town. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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Jonathan Cohn: …. I’d like to talk, instead, about what Ryan actually said — not because I find Ryan’s ideas objectionable, although I do, but because I thought he was so brazenly willing to twist the truth.

At least five times, Ryan misrepresented the facts. And while none of the statements were new, the context was. It’s one thing to hear them on a thirty-second television spot or even in a stump speech before a small crowd. It’s something else entirely to hear them in prime time address, as a vice presidential nominee is accepting his party’s nomination and speaking to the entire country.

Here are the five statements that deserve serious scrutiny….

Full post here

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Steve Benen: At the Republican National Convention last night, Paul Ryan told so many demonstrable lies, he raised important questions about his character and what’s left of his integrity. What matters next, however, is whether anyone notices.

….. let’s not ignore those inclined to give Ryan a pass. Howard Kurtz said last night’s speech included “distortions,” but it didn’t matter, because the speech “worked.” Similarly, Charles Mahtesian noted some of Ryan’s more obvious falsehoods, but said the dishonesty was irrelevant….

Chris Cillizza named Ryan one of the night’s “winners,” for “eloquently” delivering a well-written speech “packed with great lines.” What about all of the claims in the speech that were obviously untrue? Cillizza didn’t mention it. Evaluating “delivery” matters; evaluating the truth is someone else’s job.

…. Ryan, like his running mate, tells obvious falsehoods because he’s confident there will be no consequences. He simply assumes he can lie with impunity because the media doesn’t care to separate fact from fiction.

This is a critical test of the political world, and a few too many are failing.

See full post here

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PolitiFact

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I never thought I’d see the day I’d link to Foxnews.com (thanks amk), but this piece from Sally Kohn is worth reading, even for this line alone:

“….. to anyone paying the slightest bit of attention to facts, Ryan’s speech was an apparent attempt to set the world record for the greatest number of blatant lies and misrepresentations slipped into a single political speech. On this measure, while it was Romney who ran the Olympics, Ryan earned the gold.”

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See the full post here, including Michelle Obama on the Letterman Show