Three Lies From Paul Ryan

At last week's presidential debate, Mitt Romney was sure to let President Obama know that he "is not entitled to his own facts." We should listen, because Romney certainly has an enormous amount to improve upon when it comes to telling the truth: 43 percent of what comes out of his mouth is mostly false or worse.

It makes sense, then, that he would forget to pass this lesson along to his running-mate, Paul Ryan, who perpetuated this wave of lies in last night's vice-presidential debate. I've already outlined the Romney-Ryan top 10 lies, but now it's time for a few more.

Lie #11: The Affordable Care Act is a government takeover of healthcare.

"President Obama, he had his chance. He made his choices. His economic agenda, more spending, more borrowing, higher taxes, a government takeover of health care."
-- Paul Ryan

There's a reason Politifact rated this claim the Lie of the Year in 2010. Let's look at what this so-called "government takeover" entails: Every American citizen will be required to buy private insurance, and pay for their own healthcare. If anything, this sounds more aligned with conservative principles than those of liberals, who would most likely favor a truly government-run system like we see in parts of Europe. Perhaps this is why the crucial piece of the Affordable Care Act, the individual mandate, was first proposed by the conservative Heritage Foundation and first implemented by a Governor named Mitt Romney.

Lie #12: President Obama promised unemployment below 8 percent.

"They passed the stimulus. The idea that we could borrow $831 billion, spend it on all of these special interest groups, and that it would work out just fine, that unemployment would never get to 8 percent."
-- Paul Ryan

This one has been debunked time after time, but Ryan continues to double-down. Ryan is likely referring to a report by then-chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisors, Christina Romer, who made various projections surrounding the stimulus plan, passed in 2009. One of her projections was that unemployment, with the passage of the stimulus, would peak just below 8 percent. She made clear, however, that "the estimates presented in this memo are subject to significant margins of error." Regardless, an economic projection is hardly a promise.

Lie #13: President Obama disrespected Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu.

Our enemies "see President Obama in New York City the same day Bibi Netanyahu is and he, instead of meeting with him, goes on a daily talk show."
-- Paul Ryan

First off, this is simply inaccurate. On the week of September 24, both President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed the United Nations in New York City. And yes, the two did not sit down for a meeting -- because they weren't in town at the same time.

President Obama was in New York on Monday and Tuesday, and sat down for a recording of The View on Monday. Netanyahu did not arrive until later in the week, on Thursday. Either way, it's patently ridiculous to contend that allies are allies based on how many times they sit down for a cup of coffee. True support is shown in actions, and when it comes to Israel, no president has passed that test more times than President Obama. Perhaps that's why Israel's defense minister, Ehud Barak, declared that "this administration under President Obama is doing, in regard to our security, more than anything that I can remember in the past."

If you think Romney's 43 percent lie-rate is bad, consider Ryan's: 48 percent. In other words, for all the 47 percent of people who, according to Governor Romney, don't pay federal income tax and don't "care about their lives," there's a nice fat lie to go with it.