Wednesday evening, Paulie Ryan had to give a speech at the Republican Wingnut Fest National Convention. Not a long speech, only 40 minutes, but plenty of time to talk some talking points, talk some smack, talk some advertising talk. And plenty of good, solid, factually accurate (plus, Repub-favorable) material available. So why did he choose to lie instead?

Infotainment outlets from the Right (Fox) to the Left (Huffpo) and everywhere in between had a hootenanny fact-checking his speech, so Mr. Blunt and Cranky shan’t re-invent that wheel for you. All y’all know how to use search engines, after all. The short version: Ryan lied like a cheap, moldy old rug, and just about everyone knows he did it.

And the hell of it is, he didn’t have to. He has a long record of government service (he’s done almost nothing else, after all), Obama has some baggage that could be brought up, and Mitt has serious business successes to brag about.  So Ryan could have delivered a rousing oration that brought the crowd to its feet, without lying once. So why did he lie?

Your humble blogger has to admit, he is stumped this time. The motivations behind the bald-faced and repeated lies of the GOP Presidential ticket of late escape him. Even after fact-checkers point out that the lies are lies, these two keep on telling the same lies.  (The behavior of most down-ticket liars is more traditional, opting for “I mis-spoke” or a variant thereof, unlike the ticket-toppers who just keep on lying the same lies ad nauseum.)

One thing to note: hardcore Repubs and those who hate Obama do not care about the lies or the liars – they will vote for Romney/Ryan no matter what. But even that does not explain the complete and utter lack of shame for the lies, or the lack of respect for facts on display by the Bull Elephants of late.

There are some theories floating about the ether, purporting to explain the lies of the Ryan/Romney Campaign: we’ll dig into them tomorrow.

Mr. B & C