Facts are annoying to a snake oil slaesman, they can threaten and even topple a foundation built on anti-facts. It may sound strange to those of us who dwell in the reality based universe, but many in the Teaparty wingnut division of the GOP are just now hearing how out of step they are with that reality. Paul Ryan offers a window into the dissonance
NYMag — The thing about Ryan is that he has always resided in a counter-factual universe. He is a product of the hermetically sealed right-wing subculture. Many of the facts taken for granted by mainstream economists have never penetrated his brain. Ryan burst onto the national scene with a dense, fact-laden attack on the financing of Obama’s health-care bill that was essentially a series of hallucinations, pseudo-facts cooked up and recirculated by conservative apparatchiks who didn’t know what they were talking about or didn’t care. His big-think speeches reflect the influence of fact-free conservatives and collapse under scrutiny.
If you sit in a cage, even a very nice cage full of yummy treats and gentle pets and perks from admirers, you lose a certain edge. Ryan, like so many contemporary conservatives, has spent too much time being fed and nuzzled in that safe environment created by Fox and friends. Now it’s starting to show.
But I thought everyone knew that if you cut taxes to the supply side economics, Reagan will trickle down!
He also lied about his marathon time:
http://bostonglobe.com/opinion/editorials/2012/09/05/paul-ryan-marathon-time-hitting-wall/cHYUdzaGVZbo5cUS0A4UhK/story.html
Apparently facts just don’t matter.
That was odd. I guess if you run a whole bunch you might forget, but one or two full blown marathons? I climbed the Nose on El Cap, and I will never, ever forget the details of that experience. I have to think a 26 mile run would be similar.
Hard to believe anyone outside of a near pro runner would forget that.
So in essence he has his head so far up his own arse he looks like a human Ouroboros?
It seems to be a widespread problem. Remember when Soledad O’Brien tried to explain to John Sunnunu that his talking points had been debunked? All he could do was sputter back an accusation of bias and tell her to put an Obama bumper sticker on her forehead.
I blame Fox. Conservatives are now so used to having a platform where their talking points are never challenged – sadly, a practice that the other networks have adopted in order to catch up to Fox in the ratings – that they are simply ill-prepared for when a journalist actually gets it into her head that her job should include asking questions.
There once was a polly called Ryan,
Who couldn’t, really *couldn’t* stop lying.
He got picked by Mitt
But that choice just proved shit
And now in the polls they’ll be dying! ;-)
Durnit. I wouldn’t normally add the rarely voiced ‘g’ to ‘in’ words. Ie.
Ryan -> lyin’
Re dobby @ #2
What what must be galling to Ryan is that Sarah Palin ran a faster marathon then he did (almost an hour faster).
Trickle-down economics – some guy pissing down your back and telling you it’s raining.