The Ryan Calling Romney "Stench" Story Was Fake?

[RainbowUnicorn]

I dislike Romney and Ryan as much as anyone but why was this bullshit picked up here and on MSNBC and taken seriously like it was true? And what is wrong with Politico? I didn't realize it was the Onion now and you have to be careful about what is satire and what is fact. Frankly, there's enough ridiculous BS about Romney and Ryan to focus on that is absolutely true than to have to resort to running satire on Lawrence O'Donnel as fact.

[valerief]

1. Thank you for your concern. The story was probably true

until the PTB trickled down that it was not to taken as true. You know, one of those Romney retroactive falsehoods.

[immoderate]

2. It is my impression that the satire was written by Roger Simon at Politico.

He did not label it until it was widely distributed. He said he thought it would be obvious.

--imm

[annabanana]

7. He thought it would be "obvious"??

Hasn't he noticed how hard satire is these days?

[flpoljunkie]

18. Roger Simon's great!

[Cha]

22. The joke's on him. It rang only too true.

Is it too late to put that Genie back in the bottle?

[seabeyond]

3. maybe the author needs to put down at the bottom "satire". ya think. nt

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

4. Meh! Who gives a shit? nt

[oldhippydude]

35. you heard it here first....... etch a stench...n/t

[DURHAM D]

5. We here at DU are oh so grateful for your concern.

JFTR - Politico skews to the right.

[RainbowUnicorn]

8. Why are you acting so defensive?

Are some people's skin here that thin? Everything I said is true.

[DURHAM D]

9. Why are you acting like you don't like Democrats?

Edit: Why are you unable to see the whole picture? It was not just DU and MSNBC who picked up the story but from your post you clearly think that is the case. Why is that?

[RainbowUnicorn]

11. Lies are OK as long as they help our guys, right? That's what you're suggesting.

You think if the majority of Americans thought Bill Clinton's speech during the DNC was full of lies that would have convinced anyone to get on Obama's side like it did?

Jesus Christ, put down the kool-aid. Facts matter. I can't believe your first reaction to something like this would be accusing me of not being a Democrat.

[DURHAM D]

14. Your assertion that you told the truth is actually a lie.

[Jennicut]

25. It was not to be taken as a lie.

It was to be taken as satire. Chill out.

Simon makes several jokes such as Iowans are polite to soybeans, power points "was released by Microsoft in 1990 as a way to euthanize cattle using a method less cruel than hitting them over the head with iron mallets." Um, it wasn't. Because it's satire!

[RainbowUnicorn]

16. I heard about it on DU and MSNBC. Again, why are you so defensive? I'd like to see you in a debate

You'd fold like a piece of paper. Great way to represent the Democratic Party.

[DURHAM D]

17. LOL

You started with a lie and have kept it up. Others, besides me, have told you it spread beyond Democrats (MSNBC/DU) but you refuse to accept facts.

Why did you start this OP and why do you keep bumping your OP for others to see your defensiveness and your lie?


Answer: Just to trash Democrats while pretending to be concerned. What is obvious is obvious.

[RainbowUnicorn]

21. Yes, becuase someone named RainbowUnicorn that watches MSNBC is totally a right winger.

You're delusional. Your critical thinking is also absolutely poor. Saying that DU and MSNBC picked it up is "a lie" because I didn't mention more websites that did is moronic reasoning. Use the search function and watch the Lawerence O'Donnel episode from two days ago. I learned about the story because of O'Donnel and people at this forum interpreting it as true. I didn't learn it from right wing news outlets, because I don't consume them, you caveman. I'm annoyed because I copy-pasted it to other websites because I thought it was factual. But yes lets get mad at the person that doesn't approve of the dumbing down of political discourse.

[DURHAM D]

24. So this is all about your personal embarassment?

Sorry that happened to you.

[RainbowUnicorn]

32. And I'm sorry you had a conversation with me.

Now go learn some new memes to repeat.

[fleur-de-lisa]

6. Roger Simon at Politico started the whole thing a few days ago . . .

referring to Ryan's alleged disparaging nickname for Mitt Romney. Simon later apologized, saying that he thought everyone would realize it was a joke. In the same article, Simon also made a whole bunch of jokes about Paul Ryan's powerpoint presentation and those were obvious satire. But before Roger Simon realized everyone thought 'The Stench' was a real story, it kind of went viral. And that's also where 'Gilligan' came from, supposedly used by Romney staff in reference to Paul Ryan.

I have to say, I still think it's hilarious and I will continue to call them 'Gilligan' and 'The Stench'! It's priceless!

[Nancy Waterman]

10. It says a lot how many people actually thought it was true

The GOP have become so chronically shameless and nasty, that anything is believable these days.

And Ryan probably doesn't much like Romney and is probably concerned about his own ambition and would probably love to go rogue, so it really didn't seem a stretch. I believed it based on the fact it was written by Roger Simon.

[JoePhilly]

12. Great satire appears to be true. Just a fact. And its very funny.

[Cali_Democrat]

13. You seem angry

Relax. People are still referring to Romney as "The Stench".

Palin never actually said she could see Russia from her house, but it stuck anyway.

Now "The Stench" is sticking to Romney.

[Tx4obama]

15. I call it fair. Look at all the BS the GOPers make up about Obama and FoxNews reports as true.

If it hadn't sounded like it was true then folks wouldn't have fell for it.

It shows that the Republican Party as gotten so disgusting that things like what was written sounded like it was real

[Springslips]

19. As a former reporter. . .

It sickens me; it is very bad, bad journalism. Politico is not known for satire, and the story sounds true. ( there was nothing excessively loony in the piece.)

Also, if it was satire, what was it highlighting? A good satire make a point along with laughter. It was funny, I like the stench meme, but really, it was a hack for laugh.

If politico going to have satire they need to label it, or make so outlandish to be obvious.

[Avalux]

20. So what, it's a fantastic nickname! I keep using it.

We'll all have to wipe off the stench after this election. It's perfect.

[Jennicut]

23. No one gives power point presentations at rallies, that was a giveaway.

I thought it was satire all along.

Obviously Paul Ryan did not do a power point presentation at a rally.

And Roger Simon has written in that style before. I read his columns a lot. I used to not be able to stand him but he has made some insightful points about the state of the Romney campaign lately.

I would like to thank Roger Simon for coming up with the nickname "the Stench." It is clever and I have been using it but I knew Ryan did not call Romney that.

Simon was trying to make the point that it will be hard for Ryan to run away from being tied to Romney if that campaign fails, which it looks like it is going to do.

This is obvious satire:

Sources close to the Ryan campaign tell me his two new PowerPoint presentations will be: “How a Bill Becomes Law” and “Canada: Friendly Giant to the North.”

"Tell Stench I’m having finger sandwiches with Peggy Noonan and will text him later.”

[RainbowUnicorn]

28. You can have sarcasm and jokes in a regular news collumn.

It wasn't clear it was satire. Seriously, I learned about this due to O'Donnel treating it like news in the opening of his show. It's not job to fact check for him. The fact it went viral as a true thing isn't very good.

[Jennicut]

36. Some of the quotes in that article are hysterical but obviously not true.

Like that microsoft made power point to kill cattle with. I think people focused on the parts they wanted to and didn't really look at the parts that were sarcastic.

[Oregonian]

26. I say let it ride

Like they did in 2004 with swift boat.

[louis-t]

27. And that is my answer to anyone who complains.

RR is so phony, so ridiculously crazy that it's hard to tell what's real and what isn't.

[flamingdem]

29. This whole thing stinks! nt

[Kalidurga]

30. Remember when Newt said five year olds should work as janitors in school?

Well, I thought that story was a fake it wasn't. This one, I wasn't sure nor did I care. I didn't really think Ryan used the word stench, but I could easily picture him to telling his staff "If that Twit calls, tell him I am not on the rolling calamity bus today, I will back on in Ohio where people will greet me with cheers."

Anyway it is not our problem if Mitt looks so toxic this story can be taken as true. That is Mitt's problem.

[liberalmuse]

31. The story was on POLITICO.

DUers don't normally read that crap, but I think many of us thought it was humor/snark and commented on it. It was taken with a grain of salt, because Politico isn't exactly considered a valid news source. The author that wrote the piece is a bit more credible than most on that site, there's a possibility it could be accurate. I really do think Ryan will have to wash off the Romney stench (if the 'pubs don't manage to disenfranchise enough voters to steal the election for him, that is).

[tanyev]

33. It was. Might be true any day now, though.

[riverwalker]

34. how it started

Craig Robinson former head of republican party in Iowa said "If Ryan wants to run for office again, he has to wash the stench of Romney off of him". Then later that day, Politico had the satirical article. So most people knew it was satire, having heard the earlier comment by the repub.