Michael Cohen: "Never have I heard a major political speech so brazenly and stunningly dishonest."

[highplainsdem]

From The Guardian -- Cohen's analysis is the second one on this page:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/30/paul-ryan-speech-rnc-panel-verdict

Listening to Paul Ryan's vice-presidential speech this evening, I think I came within an inch of having a full-blown aneurysm. Never have I heard a major political speech so brazenly and stunningly dishonest. Others will want to talk about Ryan's strong performance and the wild crowd reaction from the assembled GOP delegates, but I'll just spend a few minutes chronicling his cavalcade of lies.

Ryan began with a doozy: implicitly blaming Obama for the closing of a General Motors plant in his town of Janesville, Wisconsin. First, that plant was closed when George W Bush was still president. (In fact, here's a press release from Ryan decrying the closure in June 2008, six months before Obama took office.) So, in a sense, Ryan was complaining that Obama didn't re-open it – a fairly amazing charge from a candidate and a party that have spent the last two days decrying the role of government in the private sector. It's an even more amazing when you consider that Ryan's running-mate opposed the auto bailout and even penned an op-ed titled "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt."

-snip-

And perhaps most amazingly, Ryan criticized Obama for creating a bipartisan debt commission and ignoring its recommendations – recommendations that Ryan voted against as a member of the commission.

I could go on. The GOP has done more than create an alternate reality; they have built it on a host of political lies, misstatements and untruths. Ryan's speech was a good example of just how far the GOP has strayed from the truth – and of how debased our political discourse has become.

[ncgrits]

1. I'm "within an inch of having a full-blown aneurysm" myself--just reading this!!!! nt

[snappyturtle]

2. K&R My head did explode last night with my swearing at the computer.

I thought the speech, hence the lies, were never ending. Torturous to hear. My poor cat thought I was mad at her!

If the Dems don't hit this cascade of lies hard and in a swift swoop, we are doomed. imho

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

3. The verb "To Ryan" to become new dictionary entry

for the kind of brazen and stunningly dishonest lies in a major political speech that place the listener within an inch of having a full-blown aneurysm.