The Republican Oath (Recited Together with the Republican No Tax Increase Pledge)

("Ryan Admits Misstating Marathon Time")

"I swear to tell a lie, a complete lie and nothing but a lie, so help me God."

To borrow a term made famous by Roger Clemens, it was not that Mr. Ryan lied about his accomplishment, but that he "misremembered" it. As he misremembered almost every fact in his convention speech except that he was born and presently lives in Janesville, Wisconsin.

Among the most egregious Ryan fictional tales told in his remarks on stage were that:

• his party's avowed promise was to protect the weak;
• the debt ceiling fiasco and the ensuing credit downgrade for our country was a product of the Democrats' misfeasance;
• President Obama was to blame for the shuttering of a GM plant in Mr. Ryan's hometown whose closure was announced during the term of President Bush;
• and the mother of them all, a $716 billion reduction in Medicare funds was not the cutting of inefficiencies in the system, but rather the reducing of benefits for the Medicare recipients and that these reductions were endorsed only by the Democrats.

Mr. Ryan's most recent slips were but the latest examples of a Republican problem of epidemic proportion. If only the fact checkers would leave Mr. Ryan and his party alone to fabricate without recrimination, they would be so much happier.

Facts, as it turns out, are only what you say they are. And misrembering, in this universe, is just a fact of life.