So awesome (via):
Why does it matter that Paul Ryan is a mountain man, at home above timberline on the fourteeners? Because there is no better index of character. It tells of someone’s backbone under pressure, resourcefulness in facing adversity, and trustworthiness for power. Conservative or liberal isn’t the point. The high peaks simply test your mettle. Declinists and defeatists need not apply. Excuses are for flatlanders.
Scott S.
Paul Ryan can beat up Chuck Norris *and* Bill Braskey.
Felinious Wench
Great. Now I have the Monty Python Luumberjack skit in my head.
As for the article, I think being president is actually quite the character-shaper compared to climbing a mountain.
Honest Observations
Don’t get to confident about the ads being pulled from Michigan and Pennsylvania. I smell a headfake.
kindness
Funny part of all this though. Ryan claims 40 14ers but he was forced to admit he didn’t summit 40 14ers. He’d been ON 40 14ers.
That’s like me claiming to have been to Atlanta because I spent an hour in the airport there on a lay over.
Felinious Wench
@Scott S.:
With his hands tied behind his back and his eyes closed, using only the Force. Because that’s how Paul Ryan rolls, people.
Ben Franklin
“Do you hunt ‘Grizz’, Pilgrim?”
flukebucket
Ryan comes off as being the kind of guy that would enjoy showering with Sandusky.
Triassic Sands
I know (from many years of personal experience) that the world of “climbers” (rock and mountaneers) is filled with some of the most selfish, egocentric people imaginable. Being at home above timberline says absolutely nothing about one’s fitness for public office. If anything, it is a cautionary note that should have to be overcome by the individuals to demonstrate that they are fit to hold public office.
Rommie
On the other hand, Mountain Don’t Lie. Even James T. Kirk found that one out.
Balconesfault
Each step of the way as Ryan climbs a mountain, is he thinking about how much better off the experience would be if the Federal Parks/Forests lands he were hiking on had long ago been sold off to private parties?
Jerzy Russian
Is this for real? Is so, why are you people polluting my beautiful mind?
Fester Addams
Didn’t get out of the boat. Is this another one of those is-this-satire discussions?
Rafer Janders
This is my favorite part:
No, I cannot imagine the man who has run the entire federal government of the United States for the last three and a half years, who is Commander-in-Chief of the United States military, who rescued the world financial industry and the US auto industry, who spearheaded universal health care for all Americans, and who got bin Laden, from doing something as monumentally difficult as running the Winter Olympics, or from coordinating a few dozen people to walk around New York City. The mind is simply incapable of such imagination….
Nudge, nudge, wink wink. Know what I mean?
Why does wingnut writing always devolve so quickly into homoerotic subtext?
Bulworth
Wow, I did not know this. That cinches it for me. RyanRomney ’12! ///
Rathskeller
Why does the GOP always want to spooge all over their heroes? I greatly admire Barack Obama, but I do not want to sleep with him.
Also, too, do mountain men typically lie about their marathon times? Just curious.
beltane
That passage smells like week-old moose chili.
Next thing we’ll here is how Paul Ryan climbed Mt Everest and K2 in the buff.
Felinious Wench
And my favorite Chuck Norris homage, translated for Little Rand.
Paul Ryan doesn’t sleep. He waits.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
I think a better test of mettle is if you can wear a Roman uniform.
Also, really, this argument could be made about anything:
Bruce S
Actually, from a “character” perspective, the kind of person drawn to mountain climbing (“not that there’s anything wrong with that”) is one of the last types I want in the Oval Office. Aside from all of the other disqualifying pieces of Paul Ryan, like his being a serial liar and a sociopathic “Objectivist” (who is, again, too cowardly to admit it when it’s become inconvenient, and runs to hide in the skirts of Thomas Aquinas.)
Rafer Janders
@kindness:
And he did them all in under three hours….
Balconesfault
If you want backbone and resourcefulness, why not pick a VP candidate who lives a remote shack in Montana?
Jewish Steel
So that prairie sun-chapping is outre now? Noted.
Can I also take this opportunity to respond to commenters who were bitching about John and ABL not giving up to the second reports of their doings at the DNC? I contributed a little money too and my expectation was not in-the-field reportage but some more carefully considered commentary post convention. I’m sure John and ABL will have some interesting insights. That’s why I read this blog, not for BREAKING NEWS!!!
But even if nobody has anything insightful to say, I’m glad to help send John and ABL there for all the larfs they provide (for free!) the rest of the year.
My .02
Comrade Dread
Oh sweet f***ing Buddha.
Are there really this many conservative closet cases working the political beat in our media?
Just come out and say you think he’s pretty and you’d climb Brokeback Mountain with him any day. Jeez…
Ben Franklin
@Triassic Sands:
Heh. The same Group is environmental, mainly because they want to preserve their personal playgrounds.
Mr. Longform
“Best parody ever” I’m thinking for the first couple of lines; then I’m thinking, “OK, parody is only good if you don’t push it too far;” and then I realized, “shit, they got me again.” This guy has some serious starbursts going on. The mountain he is trying desperately not to name is Brokeback.
SatanicPanic
I posted this on a previous thread, but re: his 40 14ers- pics or he didn’t do it.
Frankensteinbeck
@kindness:
We don’t even know he got out of his car. Maybe he’s driven through the Rockies repeatedly.
Mr. Longform
“Best parody ever” I’m thinking for the first couple of lines; then I’m thinking, “OK, parody is only good if you don’t push it too far;” and then I realized, “shit, they got me again.” This guy has some serious starbursts going on. The mountain The is trying desperately not to name is Brokeback.
Richard
The mountain climbing stories are probably just as accurate as his marathon whopper.
jl
Why does it matter that Paul Ryan may be bald face lying about being a mountain man, perhaps pretending to be at home above timberline on the fourteeners when he is not?
Because there is no better index of character than lying about ability to travel in wilderness. It tells of someone’s judgment either about telling the truth and being able to survive on their own, foolishness in facing adversity, and trustworthiness for power. Conservative or liberal isn’t the point. The high peaks simply test your mettle. Liars and delusional fabulists need not apply.
Excuses won;t work when you are lost in the woods and dying from hypothermia, or falling a thousand feet down a rock face with your dishonest or delusional fake guide, Paul Ryan.
Aet
Because nothing says ‘I am well qualified to lead’ than someone who retreats to an isolated area.
Community volunteering? F that. I want a guy who hunts furry things with a god-damned bow.
kindness
@beltane:
And he did it in under 3 hours!
Sorry Rafer, I didn’t see your post before I put this in.
Zifnab
Why not just drop the pretense and let Ryan go full Anthony Weiner. He can release a picture of a penis on Twitter, and then all the pundits can marvel at how big it is and how great it would feel in their mouths. :-p
I also should note that Gary Johnson has, like, a million pictures of himself on mountain bikes and motorcycles. Yet he continues to get virtually no coverage in the press. Double :-p God forbid anyone get a hard-on towards the spoiler candidate.
Violet
Oh, come on. A little respect. I posted that excerpt here almost a week ago.
My take is, he went to Colorado in the summer as a kid, like lots of families do on vacation. He hiked a couple of the easier fourteeners, some of them more than once. He’s gone back as an adult and also with his own family.
At some point he may have climbed some of the slightly harder ones, but not technical climbs. Just ones that take a bit more effort and aren’t a simple day hike. So, add in 1-3 of those. Then back to the easier fourteeners, like the kind you can drive all the way up or most of the way up.
He figures he’s “climbed”one or two of the fourteeners a year…that makes “almost 40” since he’s been going to Colorado for 20 years. That’s how he got that number. Sheer pulling it out of his ass.
Nina
First he claims he ran a marathon in 3 hours, turns out it was 4. Then he claims he climbed 40 fourteeners, turns out he just noodled along below the timberline.
Are we going to find out next that he never drove the weenermobile, he just pushed around a hot dog cart?
Bokonon
The bottom line is that Ryan is working out and climbing mountains and perfecting his physique… and fundraising … while other people draft his positions and talking points and speeches for him.
Great thinker.
I am going to guess that Ryan comes up with his lies (about 3 hour marathons and such) on his own, though.
beltane
The only conclusion I can draw from this is that Paul Ryan has also hiked the Appalachian Trail with a male companion.
DougJ
@Violet:
Sorry I just saw it now.
Downpuppy
From what I can tell, Andrews is a putz who took a fairly innocent story of having been on 2 climbs a year for 20 years (no reference to how many different mountains, or how many summits) and let his mancrush run away with the facts.
rlrr
I climb Everest, well I was on the same continent…
JPL
Well I climbed a mountain when I was seven months pregnant so take that Paul Ryan. I did use a rope for last 500 ft though. That is something Paul Ryan won’t boast about.
Legalize
Jim, Foolish Literalist
When he’s not re-reading that Men’s Health issue with Ryan Gosling on the cover (for the articles!), John Andrews is president of something called the “Centennial Institute“, a subdivision of something called “Colorado Christian University”. I don’t see the name Coors anywhere on the site, but I can’t imagine they’re not bankrolling these clowns. They do have Marilyn Musgrave, who was Michelle Bachmann without the telegenics.
@Violet: that’s actually pretty much the official explanation the campaign gave James Fallows.
jwb
@kindness: given what I’ve heard about the remoteness of many of these 14ers, I’d throw down a nice Mitwitt 10 grand that Ryan’s lying about having been on 40 14ers as well.
Anoniminous
Speaking as a person who has done mountaineering (trail, x-country, snow, and climbing) in the Cascades, Olympic peninsula, California Sierras, Rockies, and here in NM, taught mountaineering skills, and a former Search and Rescue person (too old to do it now,) manly-men who venture out into the mountains by their Randian Lonesomeness to impose their Galtian Power Fantasies on the wilderness tend to venture out of the mountains in body bags.
Ryan is a poseur and the idiot who wrote that article is an idiot.
ETA: @jl:
This
jgaugust
By the way, if none of you have seen this yet:
Paulryantimecalculator.com
It’s kinda brilliant…
Violet
@DougJ: No worries.
Chyron HR
At some point (the debates, maybe?) can we please have a public discussion about what would have happened to the 2002 Winter Olympic Games if Romney had not allegedly “saved” them?
Because I find the idea that an Olympics would have simply been canceled for the first time since World War II about as implausible as every other piece of the White Horse’s resume.
Bruce S
Isn’t there an “if you know what I mean?” missing from that sentence?
ChrisNYC
The term “mountain man” is not, I think, generally a winner politics wise. Or anything wise.
Warren Terra
Don’t miss this dedicated fan’s byline:
Basically, thinktank Wingnut Welfare recipient and (alleged) Colorado mountain climber Paul Ryan is, or at least claims to be, the man the author always wished himself to be. In context, it’s a love letter to the author’s own idealized self-image. It is in a way more deserving of pity and sympathy than of scorn.
catclub
@DougJ: Someone does not spend (waste) all his time at LGM. It has been there for days.
quannlace
Whats with all these ‘oh, be still my heart’ fluttery articles about Ryan’s baby-blues, his work-out routine, his running, his frat-house days and now, his manly peak-scaling.
And scant little lately about his credintntials as VP. And now that his main talking points were trashed last night, they’ll probably be even less.
******
All this romance of mountain climbing. All I can think of all those ’boutique climbers’ who’ve died trying to scale Everest.
Violet
@Nina:
No, we’re going to find out that the weinermobile drivers just did laundry at the laundromat he used in college and gave him some free stuff.
True story: this actually happened to me, although it was the laundromat I used while in my first apartment after college. I think I still have the weinermobile whistle somewhere that they gave me. It was fun to talk to them. They had great stories.
rmgosselin
Note to John Andrews: I’m pretty sure Teddy Roosevelt was a Progressive. Just sayin’.
Seanly
I’m surprised that Paul Ryan didn’t tell us about how he’ll always remember the time he and Neil Armstrong had on the Moon.
Holden Pattern
You know who didn’t climb mountains? That fucking pansy cripple Franklin Delano Roosevelt and that fat fucking drunk Winston Churchill. So we know for a fact those flatlander assholes never did anything important, like showing resolve, leading a country, or defeating the Axis Powers.
JPL
Read the comments.. Lyin Ryan once again has to explain why he exaggerated.. link
Maybe Paul got out of the car and walked ten feet up a few peaks.
jl
@Nina:
” First he claims he ran a marathon in 3 hours, turns out it was 4. Then he claims he climbed 40 fourteeners, turns out he just noodled along below the timberline.
Are we going to find out next that he never drove the weenermobile, he just pushed around a hot dog cart? ”
Come to think of it, Ryan claims to know arithmetic too, and used it for his budget calculations.
Enquiring Minds Want to Know.
slag
Oh great. So, now we can only choose Presidents and Vice-Presidents who have spent a significant amount of time at extremely high altitudes. What could go wrong?
Butch
Why didn’t you tell me it was John Andrews? The guy’s a nitwit. Yes, Paul Ryan scaling the giant peaks around Janesville. (If you’ve never been there – Janesville couldn’t be much flatter.)
Tom S
Man on the mountain? Or fool on the hill?
GregB
Paul BunAyn.
JPL
Gawker has a post on the Ryan story also..link
This comment deserves discussion
I think the real question is: “Paul Lyin'” or “Lyin’ Ryan”? I’m betting the latter is going to stick, but I think the former is a little classier.
jwb
@jl: Ryan has been borrowing McMegan’s calculator, obviously.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Chyron HR: In one of those rare moments when I’m in step with the broader electorate, the whole “savior of the Olympics” things seems to have fallen flat outside Romney HQ. But I do hope he brings it up in the debate, because I’m sure BHO has the numbers on the cost of that gov’t bail-out.
The Dangerman
P90X? Sub-3-hour marathon? Mountain Man? I’m fairly certain that fairly soon that Ryan will make the claim that the 14ers wasn’t in reference to any wilderness area.
/johnholmes
Bob2
Stephen Hawking would like a word with Ryan
jl
@slag:
” now we can only choose Presidents and Vice-Presidents who have spent a significant amount of time at extremely high altitudes. ”
Vindication for Big Dwag’s, Dub’s and Obama’s youthful indescretions!
Cheech Marin/Charlie Sheen 2016!
cckids
@Chyron HR: Because I find the idea that an Olympics would have simply been canceled for the first time since World War II about as implausible as every other piece of the White Horse’s resume.
This. I can’t imagine Romney would have been able to “save” it anywhere but Utah, anyway, with the armies of Mormon volunteers who swooped in to help. Not to mention the boatloads of federal cash he siphoned to float the games. As with so many Romney stories, this doesn’t hold up to the slightest scrutiny.
Some surrogate or other needs to get the facts out though, it would look small for Pres. O to bring it up in the debates.
tonycpsu
TapFap the Rockies!jwb
@jwb: So now I see it is 28. I even question that.
WarMunchkin
Why the fuck am I reading a Hanes commercial as an argument for political office?
jl
@JPL:
” I think the real question is: “Paul Lyin’” or “Lyin’ Ryan”? I’m betting the latter is going to stick, but I think the former is a little classier. ”
“Lyin’ Ryan” has a more frontier flavor to it, fitting for a mountain man, so I will bet on that one getting the nod.
If Ryan keeps this up, suggest looking into John Muir for where Ryan lifted the stories Muir did a lot of crazy shit out in the boondocks and survived.
ChrisNYC
@Holden Pattern: brilliant
catclub
@slag: You could easily say the same about people who spend their time at sea. The ocean is unforgiving, blah-di-blah-diblah. But what you also learn about very many of the people who spend their time at sea is that they are highly unsuited for living with large numbers of people in the civilized world, and when they hit land, promptly get drunk until they are carried back to the ship.
I suspect the same of mountain climbers.
Seanly
Why does he even have to make such claims anyway? Most people I know wouldn’t always be applying so many qualifiers. They’d be humble about their accomplishments – “I ran a marathon and I’ve climbed a few mountains in CO.”
I’ve gotten to do a lot of cool things in my life, but in telling them to a crowd, I’d keep it short.
Also, “climbing” a mountain means different things to different folks. Did he hike up? Did he ascend on a line (I don’t even know the right terms)? I summitted Mt Whitney, but it’s highly accessible to backpackers & even day hikes without what I consider mountain climbing.
Violet
@JPL: From that article:
This is the guy who’s supposed to be good with numbers? Did he swallow McMegan’s calculator or something?
henrythefifth
I’d like to see some pics/logistics/dates/travel plans from those summits. Oh, they don’t exist? Surprising.
I seriously thought that column was a joke and there would be a punchline at the end about how, no, Paul Ryan had not in fact climbed anything close to 40 of the 14-ers.
It’s even funnier that it was for real.
jibeaux
@Rafer Janders: I have a short memory, but I thought “the GOP nominee” was technically Mitt Romney.
slag
@jl:
I look forward to Ryan’s “I couldn’t inhale” explanation.
JWL
Cartoon paraphrase: “Call them mountain men or sons of the soil, but in fact they’re just hillbillies”.
Waldo
Hahahahaha. Get a log cabin, you two!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Seanly:
He knows his primary constituency: The green rooms at MTP and CNN. He’s the macho wonk with the big blue eyes. And I think it’s time to wonder about colored contacts.
Villago Delenda Est
The problems with this “character” test is that Ryan has failed it, because he hasn’t summited all those 14ers. He’s lied about it, like he lied about his marathon time.
He’s a lying, boastful sack of shit, and he’s too fucking stupid to know that his lies can be checked against objective reality and found to be lies.
Those who praise him are dogshit, too.
JPL
@Violet: Give him a break, poor guy only has so many fingers and toes to count on.
NBC sports has a here we go again article… link
Argive
When one of my forebears was six years old, he drew a picture of an elephant and mailed it to Theodore Roosevelt shortly before TR was set to go on a hunting trip in Africa. Teddy actually wrote back, saying in part:
What are the chances Ryan would do something that cool?
slag
@catclub:
Alaska has both a lot of mountain men and a lot of seamen. We should get a VP from there!
Violet
@JPL: “Here we go again.” Awesome! Way to invoke St. Ronnie in a comparison Ryan fails massively. Hah.
Don SinFalta
From Fallows
jl
@Anoniminous:
I nearly bit the dust doing dumb things just cross country camping.
You meet a lot of those he man types in Alaska. They have amazing stories when they come back alive. Met a guy who tried be the first person to canoe down a wild river in the Talkeetna range, and crawled over a day with a broken leg getting back from one attempt to the Hwy to flag down a car and go to hospital.
Thing is, I noticed, you go back to the area a few years later and remember to ask about crasy so and so, and you hear “Oh, yeah, that guy. He went tried that again two or three years ago and he never came back. Guess somebody will stumble across what’s left of him someday.”
Edit: which brings to mind, I remember when I had a friend who flew air taxi in Alaska and would let me go along when there was room. Almost every trip he would say “We gotta go do a little detour along the way. Got request to do a little look around for some guy out hiking x country (or climbing, or canoeing). He’s missing out there someplace. We’ll see some fun country.”
curiousleo
Ryan’s many lies kinda remind me of another VP candidate that had a little truth problem.
I won’t give Sullivan the page views but I’m guessing some of you do. Has he started obsessively documenting all of Ryan’s lies like he did Palin?
Oh. Wait. Ryan is a dude and Palin is a woman. So, that’s a no, then.
Richard
Paul Ryan invented the question mark.
burnspbesq
Further proof that it should have been the Rocky Mountain News that survived and the Post that died off.
Nerull
As a Wisconsin resident, I would just like to note that there are no mountains in WI. A few big hills. That’s it.
pragmatism
lived in CO for 8 yrs. Only summits are counted. You don’t get to 40 by being on 40 different mountains. You don’t get to 40 by reaching the summit of the same mountain 40 times. That will get you beat up on the trail and get your gorp stolen.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
Paul Ryan – Great VP nominee or Greatest VP nominee?
Tractarian
This much is clear:
Paul Ryan is a serial exaggerator.
He is also extremely vain.
Svensker
@Chyron HR:
The US and 64 other countries boycotted the 1980 Olympics because the Soviets were in Afghanistan (irony, huh?). A friend of mine had the merchandising contract from NBC for the games. He had about ten tons of T-shirts, hats, pins, etc. that got sent to the dumpster. Oh well.
rlrr
@Tractarian:
I bet he thinks that song is about him…
andy
From the breathless quality of the column, I’m thinking the writer must be suffering from oxygen starvation. I guess it really does enhance a man-crush…
MoeLarryAndJesus
That article gives new meaning to the word fluffernutter.
Geeno
@JPL: And just how do you KNOW he won’t? I think he’d go there if the interviewer was fawning enough.
SiubhanDuinne
@Bruce S:
How fast?
jl
@curiousleo:
” Oh. Wait. Ryan is a dude and Palin is a woman. So, that’s a no, then. ”
I guess some fantasies are harder to give up than others, depending on your tastes. I would go easier on Palin;’s tall tales, and felt sorry for her re the faux hunting TV episode, go figure.
MaryRC
@Felinious Wench:
Paul Ryan has a grizzly bear rug in his living room. The grizzly isn’t dead, it’s just scared to move.
Paul Ryan has already been to Mars. That’s why there are no signs of life there.
Before the boogieman goes to sleep, he checks under the bed for Paul Ryan.
Paul Ryan and Superman had a fight. Loser had to wear his underpants on top of his pants.
Omnes Omnibus
@Nerull: Rib Mountain.
There is decent climbing at Devils Lake but not the kind of thing that Ryan would use in a lying boast.
Jim Faith
Putin – Ryan 2012!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/putin-pilots-a-hang-glider-to-lead-young-endangered-white-siberian-cranes-in-flight/2012/09/06/b57ddef0-f7db-11e1-a93b-7185e3f88849_story.html
Violet
@curiousleo: To give Sully a little credit, Ryan’s lies are going viral. Sully was the only one paying attention to Palin’s lies. Everyone else was paying attention to her naughty librarian look.
elmo
I used to live in Mammoth Lakes, California, a ski town at 8000 feet in the Eastern Sierra. I know a lot of mountain climbers. Most of the ones I know are stone liberals.
My old boss, a great guy and a tough son of a bitch, did the High Route on skis between Mammoth and Fresno when he was 55 years old. Nine days above treeline, traversing about 50 miles. You eat only what you’ve carried in. He’s summitted Aconcagua – the highest mountain in all the Americas at almost 23K – and been up to Everest Base Camp (but didn’t summit Everest).
And he’s way too left for the Democrats – he’s one of the last remaining registered Peace and Freedom Party members.
So yeah, you want to talk about character, balls, and grit? Talk to him and he’ll school you.
Culture of Truth
He was a freaking community organizer! This is parody, I suppose.
jwb
OT, so Twitter tells me that the Wurlitzer is pounding out a mighty chorus on the great God-booing at the convention last night.
Johannes
Lyin’ Ryan kilt him a bear when he was only 3, too.
Ok, it was his Teddy.
What? He’s manly, fit for the mountain that dare not speak its name…
Patricia Kayden
Huh! So mountain climbing trumps all? I’ll remember that when Ryan runs for Pres in 2016. Repub standards are getting lower all the time.
hep kitty
Who says it matters? Oh you! So then it matters. Got it.
Rly? I am so sick of these man-crushes.
The Moar You Know
Oh this is fun.
Turgidson
Maybe on one of his heroic mountain climbs, Paul Ryan will stumble upon Galt’s Gulch and stay there and leave the rest of the country the fuck alone. If they’d let him stay, which they probably wouldn’t.
Here’s to hoping.
Culture of Truth
There were payoffs so they brought in somebody fresh. The idea that the games were in a shambles or about to be canceled is ridiculous.
lamh35
WTF! The Romney camp really have NOTHING to combat Bill Clinton’s barn burner last night. They made the strategic mistake of complimenting Clinton and raising him as a good Dem vs Obama that they forgot A)unlike Reagan, Bill Clinton is still alive and B)unlike GWB, Bill Clinton is still active in politics and still loves the game and relishes being on scene and C)unlike the RNC, the Dems still like their former Presidents
oh please.
Romney camp just released a new video with Bill Clinton. This is just sad, is this all they got!
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/new-romney-ad-features-bill-clinton
Culture of Truth
How many peaks did that loser Reagan climb?
300baud
@Mr. Longform:
Nailed it! You win the thread.
Cassidy
@The Moar You Know: Teatard ad-libs?
trollhattan
Is Paul Ryan McMegan in drag? It would be irresponsible not to speculate.
The Ancient Randonneur
… and there I was at 30,000 feet …
Culture of Truth
Hillary / Norgay 2012
Anoniminous
@jl:
Yeah. Bought that t-shirt. “Oh the dumb things I have done.”
LOL
I’ve known and met, as you have, the people Lyin’ Ryan pretends to be. His big Fails in my eyes is his lack of Respect for them and also for the mountains and wilderness. Without it, a person ain’t nothing but a blow-hard.
hep kitty
@lamh35: AHAHAHAHA! woopsie!
Dennis SGMM
For Ryan the Mountain Man, Utah Phillips performing Moose Turd Pie.
Mandalay
@Tractarian:
I don’t think it is vanity at all. It would be vanity if he really did all the climbs, and truly ran a marathon in less than three hours, and then he bragged about it.
This lying is from someone who is desperately insecure. I think his problem is that he is in way over his head running for the vice presidency, and he knows it.
Legalize
@jgaugust:
I’m only 21 minutes off the 15k world record!
AnotherBruce
Hey, Al Gore climbed Mt. Rainier. Screw those Colorado mountains with a few snow fields in the summer. Try negotiating glaciers with crevasses and falling ice and then get back to me Mr.Nacho Ryan.
I’ll bet Al Gore could still beat you in an arm wrestling contest too, also. So there.
texpope
And remember – Ryan BUILT those mountains!
Joel
I think my gaydar just exploded.
Joel
I think my gaydar just exploded.
catclub
@Culture of Truth: I get it! I get it!
SteveM
If you really believe this crap, don’t you have to reject Romney/Ryan and vote for Gary Johnson, who’s actually climbed Mount Everest?
feebog
Mary RC for the thread win. Your internets is in the mail…
Honest Observations
Whatever the Teleprompter says tonight will be overshadowed by a dismal to mediocre jobs report tomorrow.
The ad pullouts? Total headfake. The voter integrity laws and Super PAC cash will pull in both Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Karl Rove and the Koch Bros. are planning a MASSIVE Fall Assault, Hopey Changey is about to get hit over the head with a motherfuckig hammer of Super PAC ads.
Original Lee
@Holden Pattern: I think Winston Churchill may have climbed a couple of mountains as a young man, when he was in South Africa. But it’s been a while since I’ve read a biography of him, so I could be wrong.
slag
@The Moar You Know: Haha! That is so true.
As someone who has spent a bit of time on mountains–climbing, skiing, snowshoeing, etc–I never really appreciated the quien es mas macho approach to any kind of activity. I find the people who take that approach often get in the way of my fun. And, almost always, I find that they’re overcompensating…for something.
quannlace
No, they also released a new ad of some chick arguing with a cardboard cutout of Obama. Cause the empty chair thing went over so well.
MaryRC
@feebog: Thanks, but I can’t claim the credit, they’re “Chuck Norris Facts”. At least Chuck Norris looks the part.
brantl
How did a kid that was “just scraping by” as Ryan claims happened when his dad died, afford all these vacations in Colorado? One part of his story or the other is full of shit…..
John D
@Honest Observations: In Michigan and Pennsylvania? Where the Super PACs have pulled their advertising as well?
Idiot.
Anoniminous
@MaryRC:
ROTFLMAO
@feebog:
Ditto.
@JPL:
Jesus! Good On You.
Inquiring Minds want to know: How many “pit stops” were required during the ascent?
:-)
Turgidson
I hope Bill is being deployed to the swing states to keep smacking Romney/Ryan around. They’ll rue the day they tried to drive a wedge between the two best politicians of the era, who I think have genuinely grown fond of each other since 2008, even if they’re not best buddies.
Much like FLOTUS, but in a completely different style, Clinton can deliver a crippling blow with subtlty and a smile. And he will. I think it was evident how much he was enjoying himself up there.
SatanicPanic
@The Moar You Know: bass player? Pfft, maybe for Senate ;)
trollhattan
@slag:
The truism about pilots applies equally to mountaineers: There are are old mountaineers, there are bold mountaineers, but there are no old, bold mountaineers.
“Into Thin Air” is perhaps the best tale of the importance of decision-making under stress I’ve ever read.
Honest Observations
@John D:
Pennsylvania is pretty much in the bag thanks to the new election integrity laws. They’ll move onto Michigan after they’ve secured Ohio.
SiubhanDuinne
@Belafon (formerly anonevent):
Why yes, yes it could:
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
This never would have happened if Paul Ryan hadn’t borrowed Fred Thompson’s Old Spice one day and woke up the next morning feeling like he can do anything.
lamh35
@Turgidson:
Romney camp’s worst nightmarE? Clinton To Tour Midwest For Obama
An itinerary for the president’s most effective supporter.
Methinks that Romney “Clinton” ad from this morning was probably not a great idea.
Dennis SGMM
@MaryRC:
You are good.
ericblair
In other mendacity news of the day,
Disillusioned Obama Supporter, uh, isn’t.
“Republicans debuted a new ad Thursday in which a frustrated former Obama supporter expresses her disappointment with the president. The only problem: The woman in the video is actually an RNC staffer.”
Keep it up, assholes.
“…and has climbed many Colorado Fourteeners.”
Izzat what kids are calling “hiking the Appalachian Trail” this year? I can’t keep up.
Omnes Omnibus
Taco is back? Oh, joy.
trollhattan
@Omnes Omnibus:
While I love the BJ nym, I also love tacos so am conflicted here….
But for olde tymes sake:
trollhattan
@trollhattan:
[FYWP]
UNLIMITED CORPORATE CASH!
Yutsano
@curiousleo: Yesbut…have you seen his blue eyes? And those hard abs? And a conservative?? Sully needs a damn papert towel factory for all the drooling he’s doing.
jl
Unlimited Corporate Cash is right. We are doomed.
Just think about it, with unlimited corporate cash, it doesn’t make any difference that they just gave up on MI and PA. Since it is unlimited, exactly the same amount of unlimited corporate cash is available for other states.
I think that makes sense, I am trying to emulate the logic of Unlimited Corporate Cash, since UCC is a winner.
The fact that they just got raised a Clinton makes no difference.
I predict that in their own way, Biden and Obama speeches will be just as memorable, and so, thusly, we are doomed. QED.
JGabriel
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__
John Andrews:
Paul Ryan’s Resourcefulness In Adversity: “Dad’s dead, I better marry up.”
.
Another Halocene Human
@Violet: Not true. The independent Alaskan press (can’t recall name of journalists/outfits) was my source of Sarah Palin info and news in 2008. (Thank you, internet.)
Sully was flogging the switched baby theory long after it failed to hold water. Alaskan journalists blew the troopergate scandal wide open. Now THAT was far more indicative of the sort of person Palin is.
schrodinger's cat
@SiubhanDuinne: BTW if Ryan is real manly man, manlier than Chuck Norris and Jack Bauer put together, he should give Tunch a bath.
Honest Observations
@jl:
Remember: new election integrity laws are in place in PA!
There will be no bounce for Obama because of a dismal job report combined with the low number of undecided voters.
It’s going to remain a very close race, with money being the decided factor. For the first time in history, an incumbent will be outspent by his challenger…scared?
Southern Beale
I’m picking up a homoerotic subtext here.
Also, with all of Ryan’s exaggerations about how many mountains he’s climbed and how fast his marathon times are, I’m thinking he’s compensating for something here. Maybe it’s just me.
GxB
Really, come on people this claim is clearly bull. Let’s just discuss the numbers.
I mean there’s Ron Jeremy and that Jonah Falcon guy they did a Daily Show segment a while back… so it’s not like there’s an army of us so well endowed… Though I’d guess they could be using the metric system, that’d be quite average, but who’d brag about that? But even so those two didn’t seem to be the type, let alone inclined to be willing to… what’s that?
[holds finger to ear]…
Atop a fourteener is a what now?… …and above the treeline doesn’t mean… Really?… Are you sure? These are Republicans after all…
Oh, Okay.
Nevermind.
trollhattan
@schrodinger’s cat:
“BTW if Ryan is real manly man, manlier than Chuck Norris and Jack Bauer put together, he should give Tunch a tongue bath.”
Enhanced, for the hell of it.
MaryRC
Thanks, but not that good! They’re all shamelessly stolen from Chuck Norris jokes. Chuck Norris, OTOH, is that good.
jl
Next 24 hours or so will be exciting, for political junkies.
WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) A slew of surprisingly strong economic reports on Thursday raises the chances that Friday’s critical August employment report will be better than had been anticipated by Wall Street economists.
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/august-jobs-report-may-be-better-than-feared-2012-09-06
trollhattan
@Honest Observations:
Certainly as a’skeert as Jerry was of Megs.
Interestingly, Megs has accomplished more than Willard and Ryan, combined. Worth more, too.
Chyron HR
@Honest Observations:
And if there is, you’ll change your name to “Truthful Thoughts” and pretend that you never said anything of the sort. That’s just how you roll.
Svensker
Wait, didn’t he say that he hurt his back so he can’t run marathons anymore? Doesn’t sound like his backbone is up to snuff!
Dennis SGMM
Here, for those you whose sensibilities might not be quite in tune with someone like Utah Phillips, Linkin Park, “I Bleed it Out.”
patroclus
When I was younger, I was sort of a mountain climber and used to hang out with real mountain climbers (who are almost all very cool people and left-libertarians, to the extent that they care about politics). Nowadays, my mountain climbing is all done with the help of a chairlift and I enjoy the skiing down much better.
I’ve done 3 14’s. Paul Ryan is Lyin.
brantl
@Honest Observations: “Hopey Changey is still going to kick their ass, since they can’t argue a point without lying and drooling.
Cassidy
@Yutsano: I don’t think that’s drool.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
This thread really should have been titled: Peak Wingnut.
jl
Quick Employment Report Preview
Also on the generally positive side was the gain in the ADP payrolls numbers, with private employees rising by 201k in August. Finally, initial claims were somewhat lower than in August. You can take these bits and pieces to create a quick model of the monthly change in nonfarm payrolls as a function of the ISM employment index (NMFEI), the monthly change in the ADP report, and the monthly change in initial claims:
(snipped out stat output and graph)
The model forecasts a nonfarm payroll gain of 198k for August. To be sure, the standard error of 88k is large in terms of payroll forecasts; I wouldn’t be surprised by anything between 110k and 290k. That said, the current consensus is 125k with a range of 70k to 177k, which seems low to me. So when Bill McBride concludes:
Overall it seems like the August report will be somewhat stronger than expected.
I find myself in agreement.
Bottom Line: The range of consensus forecasts for the August employment report look to be on the low side of what we should expect. If the consensus is correct, then the odds of the Fed easing further this month will swell; 125k or lower seems too low to rapidly alleviate what Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke describes as a “grave” employment situation. But something closer to the top of the consensus range and above could throw a wrench in expectations for the next Fed meeting.
http://economistsview.typepad.com/timduy/2012/09/quick-employment-report-preview.html
forked tongue
OH GOD, THAT”S MY COUSIN JOHN ANDREWS!
Mandalay
A brutal takedown of Paul Ryan from a member of one of his favorite bands, Rage Against The Machine:
You see, the super rich must rationalize having more than they could ever spend while millions of children in the U.S. go to bed hungry every night. So, when they look themselves in the mirror, they convince themselves that “Those people are undeserving. They’re . . . lesser.” Some of these guys on the extreme right are more cynical than Paul Ryan, but he seems to really believe in this stuff. This unbridled rage against those who have the least is a cornerstone of the Romney-Ryan ticket.
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/tom-morello-paul-ryan-is-the-embodiment-of-the-machine-our-music-rages-against-20120816
GxB
Just a friendly reminder, don’t feed the trolls, it’ll only encourage them to breed and multiply.
GxB
Just a friendly reminder, don’t feed the trolls, it’ll only encourage them to breed and multiply.
jimmiraybob
It should be pointed out that many if not all of the CO 14ers are accessible by hiking trail. Still takes effort though. I “climbed” three in a long day a few years ago (when I was young – still in the 40s), even doing some bushwhacking on the way back to camp. There was even a “girl” along. Our backbones were fortified by encountering an interesting porcupine. We were further tested by having to eat fresh trout. Our senses were sharpened by having to use a map. I didn’t have a goosedown bag. To endure was to survive.
Our characters were greater.
We were mountain men.
SatanicPanic
@Honest Observations:
No, that would be you.
jl
@jl: The link is to Tim Duy’s Fedwatch, via Mark Thoma’s Economist’s View blog.
Uncle Ebeneezer
You know who also liked being up in the mountains…
Mandalay
A brutal takedown of Paul Ryan from a member of one of his favorite bands, Rage Against The Machine:
You see, the super rich must rationalize having more than they could ever spend while millions of children in the U.S. go to bed hungry every night. So, when they look themselves in the mirror, they convince themselves that “Those people are undeserving. They’re . . . lesser.” Some of these guys on the extreme right are more cynical than Paul Ryan, but he seems to really believe in this stuff. This unbridled rage against those who have the least is a cornerstone of the Romney-Ryan ticket.
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/tom-morello-paul-ryan-is-the-embodiment-of-the-machine-our-music-rages-against-20120816
Uncle Ebeneezer
You know who also liked being up in the mountains…
Uncle Ebeneezer
You know who also liked being up in the mountains…
Retief
Which is why I nominate zombie Tenzing Norgay for President.
grandpa john
@Chyron HR: He saved them is the same way that Salt Lake City would have eventually saved them, by going to the government and pleading for a bunch of cash to bail them out. So no he didn’t build that by himself but with load of help from the government, another of his lies.
SiubhanDuinne
@schrodinger’s cat:
Hahaha.
@trollhattan:
Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!!
Downpuppy
@jl: If I EVER meet one o’ you Texas YAY-HOOS that AINT drunk water from a hoof print, I’ll…I’ll shake his hand or buy him a Dan’l Webster see-gar.
? Martin
@Villago Delenda Est: I’m struggling to accept he’s climbed Pyramid and Capitol. Those are really hard climbs. Those are climbs that at least one person dies doing pretty much every year. I’m going to need a bit more to accept he did those. I don’t take issue that he’s summited a lot of the easier 14ers, but he’s way to casual about how he describes all of this – just as with the marathon. Yeah, he did the marathon, but he embellished his result. I think the same is happening here.
ThresherK
What will Ryan have done next?
I got one vote for free-diving the Marianas Trench.
jl
@jimmiraybob:
That’s nothing. When I did Mt. Whitney, no TP in the last pit toilet before the summit. But I was resourceful and read NPS trail advice beforehand, and had some in a baggie.
That was a close one.
? Martin
Obama should challenge Ryan to a televised 3 on 3 basketball game at the WH. Do something for charity. Each brings two non-pro players for their team.
We’ll be able to tell instantly how fit and athletic Ryan is from that. It should settle a lot of this down.
geg6
OT
I am not a huge Ed Kilgore fan. But I have to say that this might be the best piece on the effect of Clinton’s speech I’ve read anywhere:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2012_09/the_onesided_battle_of_ideas039711.php
I think that is exactly right. That Big Dawg. He’s smarter than I ever thought he was. I’m not someone who ever underestimated him. Damn, if this is right, it could up end the whole race, and not in a good news for
John McCainMitt Romney way.Calouste
@quannlace:
Lyin’ Ryan is not running for VP, he’s running for Crown Prince.
Dennis SGMM
@jimmiraybob:
Still use topo maps and lensatic compass. Still hit the mountains, although I seem to need to stop and catch my breath more than I used to.
I doubt that Ryan has any idea of the can of worms that he’s so thoughtlessly opened up.
slag
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ:
Genius. Or maybe some state will generously name one of it’s hilltops after Ryan. Who wouldn’t want to climb Wingnut Peak?
BC
@Holden Pattern: Aww, but I did read that Churchill carried Roosevelt on his back up to a minaret to view the sunset (I think) in Casablanca in 1943. I think I read that in one of Churchill’s memoirs.
The Moar You Know
I’m beginning to realize that at some point in the last decade or so, it’s become socially acceptable to lie. To anybody, for any reason.
This is not a good development for society.
geg6
FYWP.
Everything after the link and before the last paragraph in #197 should be in blockquote.
FlipYrWhig
@Culture of Truth:
Norgay? Um, I think you might want to revisit the “Nor” part.
SiubhanDuinne
You know, I should never have climbed out of that mountain boat — but I did.
And this paragraph, oy:
I don’t know whether to laugh, sob, or throw up.
JGabriel
__
__
Honest Observations:
Nope. Wanna know why?
Because tonight President Obama is giving his speech. And he won’t be competing with Mitt Romney. He’ll be competing with Bill Clinton’s performance from last night. President Obama will bring his A game.
Romney will never measure up.
Self-interested conservative billionaires who put greed before country can give Romney as much as they want (and they will), but the Insecure Flip-Floppin’ Quarter-Billionaire Opportunist from Uncanny Valley will never make the sale.
.
Rafer Janders
@Mandalay:
Umm, vanity IS insecurity. Secure people are not vain.
Remember, vanity is not another word for confidence.
tBone
Jesus Christ. That skeevy little mash note reads like it was written by Peggy Noonan after a 48-hour bathtub meth and Red Bull binge, and then edited by Erick Erickson and Rich Lowry. God help us all if Ryan ever shows up on an aircraft carrier in a flightsuit.
Brachiator
You know who else was a mountain man?
The Unabomber.
The GOP: Working hard for the nutcase survivalist vote.
And yeah, this shit is reaching the nutcase event horizon where it is indistinguishable from a parody gay sex video or a Leni Riefenstahl film.
burnspbesq
@Honest Observations:
ADP says you’re full of shit. I agree.
Citizen_X
Like a Colorado Rocky Mountain lie,
who cares if Mom eats cat food till she dies?
Do you doubt my three-hour marathons, my abs and my blue eyes?
Rocky Mountain lie…lie in Colorado
Tractarian
@Mandalay:
I’m gonna stick with vain.
ellie
@Retief: Hahahaha! I laughed out loud at this.
Tonal Crow
Fixed.
Anoniminous
This thread is so full of WIN! it needs to be bronzed and put in a park.
Waldo
@Jim Faith: Looks like the Ryan/Putin concept is gaining traction.
F7
@? Martin:
Capitol and Pyramid are pretty burly (Capitol in particular). Everyone I know who’s done Capitol has a picture of themselves dry-humping across the knife-edge, so I hope some good Coloradoan asks for that.
But most 14ers (~80% of the 54) are basically
1. Drive to trailhead (4WD helps for some).
2. Walk a bunch up a relatively clear standard route, maybe a bit of Class 3 scrambling here or there.
3. Eat at summit.
4. Walk a bunch back down.
5. Drive home.
It’s reasonably physically challenging, but to put it in perspective, my flatlander 60-year-old father did two 14er summits with me last year, so clearly he’s ready to be Vice-President, what with his Self-discipline, surefootedness, stamina, grit, gumption, vision, daring, toughness, prudence, drive, the will to rise, the refusal to quit, team thinking, practical intelligence, joie de vivre, a zest for the difficult and a disdain for the allegedly impossible.
kindness
OK so we all see that Ryan is a serial exaggerator. Typically, if I remember my 101 Psych this is to compensate for some perceived deficiency in his own mind.
Could it be that this stud muffin Ryan is actually carrying around an Angry Inch in his pup tent? Sully would like to know. Me….not so much.
LittlePig
I thought they arrested people for climbing on Colorado fourteeners. I thought they had to be eightteeners before that kind of thing happened.
Matt McIrvin
I hiked up Longs Peak once! Almost! I got too lightheaded to keep going at about 13,500, there was a storm coming and we had to turn around.
This makes me exactly 1/40 as awesome as Paul Ryan, which means that I should be able to run a sub-120-hour marathon.
Or read 30 pages of Atlas Shrugged.
JGabriel
@The Moar You Know:
It started in the Reagan era, particularly among MBAs.
.
mai naem
I brought up Fallow’s column yesterday with the Romney campaign’s clarification. Look, I am no mountain climber but my bullshit detector is pinging pretty damn loud. Why would you say 40 climbs. It makes so sense. I have done climbing around where I live. Not anywhere near 14000 feet but unless you are doing some super high or super dangerous peak you are just not going to count it as 5 individual climbs. If it’s just a regular no big deal peak you’re just going to say “Oh, yeah I’ve climbed X peaka few times.” Additionally, why was Paul Ryan in Colorado anyway? The way he makes it sound, he’s been working hard,going to school, getting married, running marathons, doing P90X. Seriously, now I am supposed to believe he’s made several trips to Colorado to do 40 climbs. Whatevah.
And, BTW, I still think this twit is lying about his height. I’m even more convinced now. He had pics with Barack Obama during the healthcare debate and Obama looks either taller or the same height and Obama’s supposed to be 6’1″ Bill Clinton was 6’2″ but you figure he’s shrunk. They were both the same height on stage last night. Tony Horton the P90x guy is 5’11”. The one pic with Horton and Ryan looks like they’re about the same height but it’s possible Ryan’s leaning over a little. I know this is not a big deal, I know it’s not policy, but it’s just one more thing he’s willing to lie about and, well, if he wants to lie about something so stupid what else is he going to lie about?
AA+ Bonds
This is a great article about erections and the author’s insecurity regarding them
Villago Delenda Est
@Citizen_X:
Brilliant. Simply brilliant.
AA+ Bonds
This rugged mountain militia-man bullshit is not exactly the best way for Republicans to address the demographic changes that have made Colorado into a Democratic state
That’s just my opinion
Tonal Crow
Ha! John Galt didn’t just climb 14,000-foot mountains, he made them with his own hands. As an infant.
SmallAxe
Lovin the Stones reference DougJ, Lovin Cup one of my faves… Just one drink!
peggy
@F7:
Exactly the point.
5’5″ fighting weight of 177 I climbed Long’s Peak- no one was asking me to run for office. I’ve climbed all the peaks over 4,000 in NH- looking like a lump on every single one. If ropes aren’t involved, it isn’t very difficult or even that athletic, compared to say basketball.
sm*t cl*de
Because there is no better index of character.
I don’t know. For me, “willingness to write obsequious hackwork, swallowing egregious lies and regurgitating them” is a better index.
rea
@Zifnab: Why not just drop the pretense and let Ryan go full Anthony Weiner. He can release a picture of a penis on Twitter
Ryan would twitter a penis picture, and it would turn out to be someone else’s . . .
SW
Yes, this in Colorado Springs where they built a fucking road up to the top of their fourteener, Pikes peak so every fat assed turd bucket from Texas driving an SUV can slither up there eating cheese doodles.
Flatlander
@Nerull: Just another whopper from Lyin’ Ryan. Wisconsin is the flatlands. The state is flatter than a pancake. Timms Hill, the highest point, is below 2000 feet. Ryan is a flatlander.
lou
Another point. He regularly flies to Colorado for weekends to do this. How many Americans can afford to do that? and his constituency has to be reading between the lines and wondering why he isn’t spending more time in Wisconsin.