On Wednesday night, Paul Ryan gave his Republican National Committee acceptance speech. And it wasn’t long before the “news” media came forth with the big lies he told. Five huge lies that make Paul Ryan a dishonest scumbag.

Except they weren’t lies. Instead, what we have is dishonest spin from the media being parroted over and over again. Apparently the hope is that if Paul Ryan is called a liar often enough, people will believe it, regardless of the truth.

So let’s go through these alleged lies.

WHAT RYAN SAID:

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.

THE SPIN:

Faulted Obama for failing to deliver a 2008 campaign promise to keep a Wisconsin plant open. It closed less than a month before Obama took office.

THE TRUTH:

The media obviously mischaracterized what Ryan actually said. He quoted Obama’s statement that government support would keep the plant open. And the fact is that the plant is closed. Government support of GM did not stop that plan from closing, and there is no hope of the plant re-opening.  Ryan went on to talk about the failure of government spending, and the fact that it hasn’t brought about economic recovery. Ryan’s point was clear, and nothing in it was a lie.

UPDATE: And the plant actually closed after Obama took office, not before.

WHAT RYAN SAID:

[Stimulus funds] went to companies like Solyndra, with their gold-plated connections, subsidized jobs, and make-believe markets. The stimulus was a case of political patronage, corporate welfare, and cronyism at their worst. You, the working men and women of this country, were cut out of the deal.

What did the taxpayers get out of the Obama stimulus? More debt. That money wasn’t just spent and wasted— it was borrowed, spent, and wasted.

THE SPIN:

Claimed the American people were “cut out” of stimulus spending. Actually, more than a quarter of all stimulus dollars went for tax relief for workers.

THE TRUTH:

The vast majority of the stimulus spending went to corporate interests. Yes, workers got something in the deal. But it was very little in comparison to what was handed to undeserving corporations and special interests. It is clear that Ryan was saying that the stimulus was a bad deal for the average American, and that is true.

WHAT RYAN SAID:

You see, even with all the hidden taxes to pay for the health care takeover, even with new taxes on nearly a million small businesses, the planners in Washington still didn’t have enough money. They needed more. They needed hundreds of billions more. So, they just took it all away from Medicare. Seven hundred and sixteen billion dollars, funneled out of Medicare by President Obama. An obligation we have to our parents and grandparents is being sacrificed, all to pay for a new entitlement we didn’t even ask for. The greatest threat to Medicare is Obamacare, and we’re going to stop it.

THE SPIN:

Accused President Obama’s health care law of funneling money away from Medicare “at the expense of the elderly.” In fact, Medicare’s chief actuary says the law “substantially improves” the system’s finances, and Ryan himself has embraced the same savings.

THE TRUTH:

More than $700 billion is being taken out of Medicare through reductions in payments to service providers.  That money is going to go into the new Obamacare program.  The media is saying there really aren’t cuts because the patients on Medicare won’t see any changes. But the fact is that money is being taken away from Medicare providers, so indeed, that is a cut engineered by Obama. Again, Paul Ryan was on the side of truth.

WHAT RYAN SAID:

Obamacare, as much as anything else, explains why a presidency that began with such anticipation now comes to such a disappointing close.

It began with a financial crisis; it ends with a job crisis.

It began with a housing crisis they alone didn’t cause; it ends with a housing crisis they didn’t correct.

It began with a perfect Triple-A credit rating for the United States; it ends with a downgraded America.

THE SPIN:

Blamed Obama for the loss of a AAA credit rating for the U.S. Actually, Standard & Poor’s blamed the downgrade on the uncompromising stands of both Republicans and Democrats.

THE TRUTH:

What Paul Ryan said was 100% true. His clear point was that the country has suffered while Obama has been in office. He provided examples of how the country is worse off since Obama took office. It is sad, but it is true.

WHAT RYAN SAID:

He created a bipartisan debt commission. They came back with an urgent report. He thanked them, sent them on their way, and then did exactly nothing.

Republicans stepped up with good-faith reforms and solutions equal to the problems. How did the president respond? By doing nothing— nothing except to dodge and demagogue the issue.

So here we are, $16 trillion in debt and still he does nothing. In Europe, massive debts have put entire governments at risk of collapse, and still he does nothing. And all we have heard from this president and his team are attacks on anyone who dares to point out the obvious.

THE SPIN:

Accused Obama of doing “exactly nothing” about recommendations of a bipartisan deficit commission — which Ryan himself helped scuttle.

THE TRUTH:

The bipartisan debt commission recommendations were not brought to a vote. That doesn’t mean Obama had to do nothing more. But he did nothing more. And that was Paul Ryan’s point. Why not work on reforms that might be agreed upon? Again, Ryan’s statements were true.

It’s sad that the media had to try so hard to find lies in Paul Ryan’s speech. They had to spin what Ryan actually said to try to make it a lie. And they still failed miserably.