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Paul Ryan attempts to change his story regarding Janesville GM plant

Mitt Romney's running mate, Paul Ryan, has walked himself into a bit of trouble in the past week. Actually, it'd be more literally accurate to say that he's talked himself into some trouble.

Following Ryan's speech at the Republican National Convention, a Fox News columnist even referred to it as "a mountain of cow dung". She also questioned if Ryan was trying to set the record for most lies told in a single political speech.

One of the fibs Mr. Ryan told was with regard to a Janesville, Wisconsin GM plant closing.

In his speech, he said the following:

"My home state voted for President Obama. When he talked about change, many people liked the sound of it, especially in Janesville, where we were about to lose a major factory. A lot of guys I went to high school with worked at that GM plant. Right there at that plant, candidate Obama said: 'I believe that if our government is there to support you...this plant will be here for another hundred years.' That’s what he said in 2008. Well, as it turned out, that plant didn’t last another year. It is locked up and empty to this day. And that’s how it is in so many towns today, where the recovery that was promised is nowhere in sight."

After the Obama team (and many other Democrats) fact-checked that statement and presented those results to the media and public, Paul Ryan has decided to alter hit story some. You see, that very Janesville plan shut down on December 23rd of 2008, close to a month before Obama became president. Due to that, it would be impossible for the closing of the plant to have been Obama's fault. It's not often you hear of a man convicted with murder a full month before he was born. If that has ever occurred, I would be curious to see documentation of that. 

So just yesterday, Ryan said the following: 

"What they are trying to suggest is that I said Barack Obama was responsible for the plant shutdown in Janesville. That is not what I was saying, read the speech. What I was saying is the president ought to be held to account for his broken promises. After the plant was shut down he said he would lead efforts to restore the plant. It’s still idle."

I'm sorry, Pinocchio Ryan, but that version of the story doesn't work either. Obama never promised to restore the plant. 

He said, "And I believe that IF our government is there to support you, and give you the assistance you need to re-tool and make the transition, that this plant will be here for another hundred years..."

Obama never suggested he's restore the plant if it closed. He said that IF the government supported the plant, it could last for a very long period of time. Unfortunately, it appears as if the government at that point in time - led by George W. Bush - wasn't too interested in supplying that very support. It now appears as if Ryan is pulling out his Bush-why-we-really-went-to-Iraq card. Perhaps he'll get things right on the 7th or 8th attempt.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/04/paul-ryan-today_n_1853759.html

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