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The Republican vice presidential candidate told voters 1.4 million businesses filed for bankruptcy. The actual number is 47,806 — a number that happens to be steadily improving as the economy continues to slowly recover.
In other words, Ryan — hailed by the media as an honest “wonk” who loves facts and figures — was off by a factor of 29…
And in the bigger picture, Jon Chait explains that Ryan’s reputation “has suffered a massive, swift erosion…. Now mainstream pundits are defending Ryan with versions of the ‘well, all politicians fib’ defense. Given that this constituency was once portraying Ryan as unusually honest, this represents a huge retreat for his political brand.
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