AP "Fact Check"

[RgrF]

Conventions were once worth watching. Nominations were not always preordained, floor fights and the expectation that something unexpected might happen made them interesting.

There hasn't been an interesting convention on either side since the primary voting system was adopted. If I want to be lied to I'll spend my time watching FoxNews or MSNBC.

[Avenger]

Lemon Drop wrote:

So as an involved citizen who wants to be informed and decide for myself

You watch the Republican convention to be "informed"? Get outta here.

[cbelt3]

Oh, no insult intended. I personally think, as noted above, that the useful content of these speechification is limited. But if you enjoy it, more power to you.

Conventions just aren't any fun any more for me.... too devoid of useful content.

[$tevie]

I think seeing Ryan lay out the blueprint of the R/R campaign of lies is extremely edifying. And I imagine the Obama camp did, too, and will go into the debates ready to shoot each and every one of them down. I would hope that R/R has more to bring to the table than those lies or they are going to be killed in the debates.

[RgrF]

Did you say debates? When did that start to happen?

[Lemon Drop]

I look forward to the Biden v. Ryan debate.

Even though Veep debate performance is fairly inconsequential to the election outcome, Joe is going to mop the floor with that kid.

[RgrF]

Won't mean a thing and from what I've heard of the restrictions fronted from the Romney camp, that won't mean anything either. The turning point will be the ungodly amount of money unleashed during the runnup to voting.

[Lemon Drop]

http://www.2012presidentialelectionnews....-schedule/

The debate formats are set and the moderators will choose the topics. Romney has no say in that.
They are going to do 15 minutes per topic, which will be good. The candidates are going to have go beyond soundbites, and I suspect this will be tough for Romney who doesn't like to go into details too much.

[$tevie]

Roger, you really just need a sound bite (I voted against it before I voted for it) or a concept (McCain is nuts) to catch the public's fancy and it can have a great influence. If Paul Ryan is a liar catches on, it is going to hurt their campaign regardless of dollars spent. Americans like their lying politicians to be more surreptitious about it.

[decay]

http://www.salon.com/2012/08/30/paul_ryans_brazen_lies/

an excerpt:

He attacked Obama for failing to keep open a Janesville GM plant that closed under Bush in 2008. He hit him for a credit-rating downgrade that S&P essentially blamed on GOP intransigence. He claimed that all taxpayers got from the 2009 stimulus was “more debt,” when most got a tax cut (and the stimulus is known to have saved between 1.4 and 3.3 million jobs). He derided the president for walking away from the Simpson Bowles commission deficit-cutting recommendations when Ryan himself, a commission member, voted against those recommendations.

He blamed Obama for a deficit mostly created by programs he himself voted for – from two wars, tax cuts, new Medicare benefits and TARP.