I love the Ryan Marathon lie story.

[cali]

I love it even though he told a really facile lie once caught. Most of all, I love how the story developed and how he got caught. I know it won't change anything but I think it is quite revealing. What does it tell us about Ryan? Well, it tells us he's an insufferable braggart. It tell us of his need to be thought of as excellent in everything he does or has ever done. It tells us he's so entitled that he thinks he can get away with lying about just about everything and anything.

And not that we here at DU believed it for the proverbial NY minute, but it tells us his reputation for honesty is bullshit.

There have been some great stories written, so I've linked to a few and I've also linked to a runners site where they're discussing Ryan..





http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/09/the-real-mystery-of-paul-ryans-marathon-time/261866/
http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=4785636
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2012/08/paul-ryan-marathon.html
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2012/09/does-it-matter-if-paul-ryan-misstated-his-marathon-time.html

[liberal N proud]

1. It is important because it reveals a pattern of habitual lying!

[BlueStreak]

28. Exactly. I understand why he lies about the political stuff.

If he told the truth, he's never win reelection to his Congressional seat, let alone be elected VP. He lies because that is the only way to do the job the Koch brothers are paying him to do. That is perfectly rational. It is not excusable, but it is rational.

What is not rational is lying about something inconsequential like the marathon. And continuing to lie about it when given the chance to walk it back. And only stop lying when presented with the cold documents. His actual results of 4 hours and one minute were very respectable. There was no need to lie. He is a sociopath. He has nothing in his makeup that guides him here.

And please note that there were two elements to the lie. One was that he run an amazing world-class pace under 3 hours. But there was also the very strong implication that he had run multiple marathons. After all, he explicitly referred to his "personal best". That implies there must have been more than one race. If you run only one race, that isn't a "personal best", it is just what you did on your only run.

He lies because it is habitual and because he has never been held accountable for what he says. Well, that is changing, and in a way he is not prepared to deal with.

[mysuzuki2]

2. I ran a 3:41 marathon in 1979.

I beat that fucker Ryan!

[cali]

3. Yay you!

I ran a half marathon once. Slowly.

[Booster]

4. I have never run a marathon but if something ugly enough starts chasing me, I just might.

[zbdent]

5. Don't call him a liar ... it can be done ...

hell, I made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs.

[Poiuyt]

10. Is that you, Han?

[BadgerKid]

21. Parsec is a unit of distance

not of time.

--Sheldon

[Hassin Bin Sober]

27. Maybe Han took a short cut.

[renate]

33. YES! that always drove me UP THE WALL

How could George Lucas not have known that? Even when I was twelve I knew better and it PISSED ME OFF.

Phew... thank you for giving me a chance to vent after all these years. It really, really, really bugged me.

[eridani]

36. I thought it was a deliberate joke myself

Making fun of a certain kind of old science fiction story

[zbdent]

38. As I understand it, it was meant as a joke ...

that Han was rather boastful, but didn't really understand exactly what he said, either.

[sadbear]

6. Paul Jong Il

or Kim Jong Ryan. Take your pick.

[flamingdem]

13. How did the Kim Jong idea get started?

Was he a marathon runner??

[treestar]

14. Great achievements were claimed for Kim Jong Il

that he probably never did.

[sadbear]

16. Kim Jong Il was the greatest golfer and bowler in the history of mankind.

[flamingdem]

24. ohh. I wonder if he was any good at synchronized swimming?

you never know

[jberryhill]

31. He invented synchronized swimming!

[jberryhill]

30. Was he a marathon runner?

Most glorious dear leader showed the way for all of the people and said that we do not run against each other, but when any of us runs, we all run as one people. And then he got into a Mercedes, drove to the finish line, and beat everyone in the race.

But, yeah, he was the best at everything. A real man after Paul Lyin's heart.

[RagAss]

7. Pathological !

[enough]

8. It hits a nerve because everyone knows what it means to lie about your

personal accomplishments in sport. Everyone knows what kind of people do it. Everyone knows someone who does it. Everyone knows what a temptation it is, and why you don't do it.

Most of all, the lie is absolutely disrespectful of anyone who trains and runs (or bikes or swims) in any kind of race, or trains and plays and in any kind of match, and lives with the actual results, good or bad. The disrespect for the sport is repulsive.

[XemaSab]

11. I've never participated in a "sport," but birding is based on integrity

If Kenn Kaufman says that he saw 666 species in 1973, I believe him because he's got a good reputation and he has integrity. If my insufferable archnemesis said that he saw 746 species in 2011, I wouldn't believe him because he's a jerk and he has no integrity.

There's always the temptation to fudge something or get creative, but who does that? Every time I try to get creative I feel remorse later that completely crushes any possible "joy" I could get out of it.

Why? Because for most birders, as for most athletes, the fun is really in setting your own personal record and pushing yourself. If I currently have a personal record of 110 species in a day for Shasta County, then I went out on Monday and got 120 species for Shasta County, I would feel great about beating my previous record, even if it's still 56 species short of the all-time big day for the county.

Similarly, if I were to run a marathon and I had a time of 6 hours and then I went and trained and next year had a time of 5 hours, I would feel good about that.

Who cares if some other person ran the thing in 2 hours?

I'll tell you who cares: only someone who is deeply insecure about themselves and who doesn't understand that the real competition is with yourself.

[joshcryer]

18. Heh, I'm the same way.

I can't "get creative" or "fudge something" as you say without feeling really shitty basically instantly. What helps is that I've learned to be proud of my failures as if they were successes (like an idiot) so for instance I busted my hand on a transmisson, I posted pics to Facebook all proud of my "accomplishment," stuff like that. So there's no big compulsion to "get creative" that much.

But I do have a family that is really "creative" on all sorts of stuff. Buy something for $10 at a yard sale? It was $5.

But the itch is still there because people want to be respected and value others' opinions, etc. Glad I grew out of caring so much these days.

[BlueStreak]

29. Your comments are spot on. Very insightful. That is why the marathon lie resonates.

[Quantess]

37. It is like cheating after the fact.

He retroactively cheated.

[enough]

39. A special kind of cheating. (nt)

[Kber]

9. It's a simple story that anyone can relate to.

There's no complex parsing of what "saving" medicare might look like. There's no complex parsing of what "saving" social security might look like.

It's a very simple, easily checked, story with a very simple, easily explained ending.

I'm tempted to say "so what?", but, as so many have pointed out, it points out a character flaw that might be disqualifying to too many people. There's just no option to "baffle with bullshit" on this one.

[reformist2]

12. It only stands to reason that people will question whether his budget numbers add up or not.

[joshcryer]

15. Runners / marathoners don't take this crap lightly, either.

I once exaggerated (lied) about my run time and immediately corrected myself so I didn't get into too much trouble but the smugness of those I was bragging to was instant and I'll probably never live that down. I basically said I could do a 5 mile in 30 minutes but that is just absurd, it's closer to 45 minutes on a good day (more realistically 50 minutes to an hour). I can do a 6 minute mile, but not many human beings on the planet can keep up that pace for 5 miles (or more).

So yeah, it's one of those things that is just easily spotted even by non-runners. Runners will spot it immediately though.

[Monk06]

17. Maybe we can Swift-a-thon him. Swift-a-thon Runners For Truth.

[karynnj]

25. Very poor analogy

Ryan did NOT run a sub 3 hour race, Kerry was a genuine war hero. Ryan lied, Kerry didn't - in fact he almost never spoke of his bronze or silver stars - he spoke of serving.

The SBVT lied - the runners would be telling the truth

[Bolo Boffin]

19. Someone on Twitter pointed out that Ryan's own brother chose exposing him over blood

Apparently real runners do not play about that stuff.

[jmowreader]

20. It tells me he'll lie when it would be more convenient to tell the truth

If he would have just said he was a marathoner, people would be suitably impressed. And it would have been the truth.

But claiming that he did something completely disprovable? It just paints him as a typical "a lying weasel so crooked he has to screw his pants on" politician.

[ibegurpard]

22. these are the kinds of lies that piss me off the most

I can understand lying to keep yourself out of trouble or to get something you want...but to lie for no reason...I despise people who do that.

[grantcart]

23. As a 3 hour plus marathoner I am deeply offended.

1987 and my Chevy Impala was burning smoke and about to throw a rod. The last 26 miles took me 3 hours and 48 minuts, but I got there.

[AleksS]

26. I'm running a marathon in October, I'm going to make a shirt to wear:

I'm running a marathon in October, I'm going to make a shirt to wear:

"My PR is 3:53--that's 2:53 in Republican!"

[renate]

34. do it!--that's AWESOME!

[cali]

35. lol Great.

and great good luck on the race!

[ecstatic]

32. OMG. Sarah Palin beat his time at 41 years old

She ran it in 3:59, Ryan ran it at 4:01 at 20 yrs old. Sorry, but that's hilarious! Again, does he really do P90 regularly or is that a lie too?

[gulliver]

40. This is going to cost them big time.

That kind of lie gets you fired. It indelibly defines your character. It makes people dislike you.

This hits the Republicans right in the male advantage. A lot of Republican guys will flip the switch on Ryan over this. I think we will see a lot of great Democratic ads starring the lying Akin-pal and boy-author of the Ryan Budget. Every Republican candidate is groaning about now.