Thing is, I did that, sort of. Not the braggart directly, but one of his admirers. I showed him the BBREF search file which showed no such name and got a "Well, you're a real ####### geek aren't you?" from him. As in, "I believe him, and not your geeky intertubes".

You took a cool story away from the admirer. He no longer has the story of, my awesome neighbor used to play in the minors with Rod Carew, so he's mad at you for that.

People want the story, the legend, the myth; not the truth.

I've got the same situation. A guy who lives near me claims he played minor league ball for the Twins in the 60's. Tells great stories about playing in the minors with Rod Carew, plying in spring training with Harmon Killebrew and Tony Oliva. But there's no record of anyone with his name playing minor league ball with the Twins in the 60's. Not even anyone with his last name regardless of his first name. But my friends and neighbors believe him, and drink in his stories. But if I call him out, I'm the #######. How does one deal with this? Let it go?

One of my parents' oldest friends told a great story of pitching in the pre-Twins Sens' system around that same time. He said this fat guy walked up to the plate and he was chuckling to himself how we was going to blow the fastball by him.
"It was Boog Powell," he'd say. "And the ball's still going."
Having just checked it out, he did play two seasons in Sens system, and both he and Boog were the Appy league at the same time.

Whoops - wrongthread.

You took a cool story away from the admirer. He no longer has the story of, my awesome neighbor used to play in the minors with Rod Carew, so he's mad at you for that.

People want the story, the legend, the myth; not the truth.

Yeah, "I have a neighbour who played minor league ball" is a funner story to tell than "I have a neighbour who lies about having played minor league ball". At the end of the day that dude is just a story they tell people.

Lots of people who have trained for years can't crack a 3 hour marathon. It usually takes a pretty intelligent training regimen to manage it (e.g. Yasso 800s). The people cracking 2:30 likely have genetic advantages over the average person. I think in most places running a sub 3:30 lets you qualify and wear a number, to give you an idea of what an accomplishment a sub 3 hour would be.

You took a cool story away from the admirer. He no longer has the story of, my awesome neighbor used to play in the minors with Rod Carew, so he's mad at you for that.

People want the story, the legend, the myth; not the truth.

Yeah, "I have a neighbour who played minor league ball" is a funner story to tell than "I have a neighbour who lies about having played minor league ball".

That's not always true, not by a long shot. A former employer of mine is such a world class liar that every outed lie of his just adds a page to a world-class resume of BS that gets circulated like quasi-samizdats among people who've known him. There are probably several thousand people throughout the DC area and throughout the book business who will react to a mention of this guy's name by immediately offering a story of their own about him, to everyone's entertainment. He's never claimed to have played minor league ball, but he did claim to have played freshman basketball for UVA, at a time when he was in fact a freshman drug dealer enrolled at American University, who had never even played varsity basketball in high school, and who could have been admitted to the University of Virginia only if his old man had bought the school. The world is full of former freshman basketball players, but bullshit artists like this guy are what keep comedians in business.

And you can pretty much say the same thing about a congenital fabricator like Paul Ryan. There was another Republican congressman from the midwest not that long ago (Jim Ryun) who really was one of the top milers in the world for several years. There was another GOP congressman (Bob Mathias) who was a two time Olympic decathlon gold medalist. If they'd told a story about a race of theirs to some interviewer, it would have rated a mention in the next day's paper and then been quickly forgotten. Whereas Paul Ryan's spontaneous fabrication is just one more entry in a book that's already had his handlers declaring open war against the fact checkers, and at some point this meme is going to be a lot more interesting (and entertaining) than the latest spin he's putting on that phony budget plan of his.

And you can pretty much say the same thing about a congenital fabricator like Paul Ryan.

So Ryan is a "congenital fabricator" because he said an auto plant in Janesville closed after Obama took office (which is TRUE) and because he gave an incorrect answer about a marathon he ran over 20 years ago?

You guys are funny.

So Ryan is a "congenital fabricator" because he said an auto plant in Janesville closed after Obama took office (which is TRUE) and because he gave an incorrect answer about a marathon he ran over 20 years ago? You guys are funny.

I'm assuming you missed the story on FOX calling Ryan's speech full of repeated fabrication.

I'm assuming you missed the story on FOX calling Ryan's speech full of repeated fabrication.

You mean the liberal op-ed?

You mean the liberal op-ed?

How about politifact?

Anyhow, the running story is dumb, and I don't agree with Andy about it.

incorrect answer

I agree with Lassus in that I think Andy is overplaying it, and like I said, it isn't going to affect the election. But if you read what Ryan actually said, he didn't "give an incorrect answer."

Anger and Ecstasy in Tampa (Atlantic Wire)

I am a huge Clint Eastwood fan."

"He is a great actor, and an even better director," the president told the (USA Today) aboard Air Force One on Saturday. "I think the last few movies that he's made have been terrific."

Eastwood's 12-minute improvised riff at the convention in Tampa centered on a exchange in which he pretended to have a conversation with an invisible Obama, represented by an empty chair. Obama's campaign Twitter account hit back with a photo of Obama in a chair with a presidential plate. "This seat's taken," it said.

So was the president offended?

"One thing about being president or running for president — if you're easily offended, you should probably choose another profession," the president said.

The U.S. military has halted the training of some Afghan forces while it digs deeper into their background following a surge of attacks by soldiers and police on their international partners, officials said Sunday.

The move only puts about 1,000 Afghan trainees into limbo, a small fraction of the country's security forces. But it shows how these attacks have the potential to derail the U.S.-Afghan handover of security so essential to the international drawdown strategy.

http://news.yahoo.com/us-stops-training-afghan-forces-attacks-143111273.html

The U.S. military has halted the training of some Afghan forces while it digs deeper into their background following a surge of attacks by soldiers and police on their international partners, officials said Sunday.

The move only puts about 1,000 Afghan trainees into limbo, a small fraction of the country's security forces. But it shows how these attacks have the potential to derail the U.S.-Afghan handover of security so essential to the international drawdown strategy.

WTF are we still doing in Afghanistan?

Pick the least abhorrent warlords, bribe them with enough guns and money, so we can stage SF in their areas when necessary, and get the eff out.

Afghanistan has never been a nation, is not a nation, and won't be one for a long time.

WTF are we still doing in Afghanistan?

And on this, I pretty much agree with snapper.

WTF are we still doing in Afghanistan?

Pick the least abhorrent warlords, bribe them with enough guns and money, so we can stage SF in their areas when necessary, and get the eff out.

Afghanistan has never been a nation, is not a nation, and won't be one for a long time.

neither is Iraq. There is no reason other than retribution and national defense concerns(which have been addressed as far as they will be) for us to be in those countries; they don't know what democracy is, and even if they could have it, they don't want it. Let them have all the civil wars they like as long as it's not our troops getting killed.Iraq and Afghanistan are no more "countries" than Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union were.

Been kind of amused by the length and wavering nature of this thread but Snapper's comment is so dead on had to weigh in.

I agree with Lassus in that I think Andy is overplaying it, and like I said, it isn't going to affect the election.

Of course it's not going to affect the election. Undecided distance runners residing in swing states are not exactly a critical voting mass. And if I'd ever thought about voting for Vulture and Voucher to begin with, that pathetic story of Ryan's wouldn't change my vote, either.

But if you read what Ryan actually said, he didn't "give an incorrect answer."

He certainly didn't. It was about on the same level as what Elizabeth Warren did in claiming that "Indian" ancestry when she was applying for her faculty position. On the one hand it's the sort of Little White Lie that is sadly all too commonplace among people who should know better, but on another level it could very well be a symptom of something worse. My opinion of Elizabeth Warren took a small nosedive when I heard about that bogus claim of hers, and when I read about a wildly bogus claim like Ryan's it's kind of hard not to wonder what other type of BS he spreads about himself whenever he thinks he can't be outed.

neither is Iraq. There is no reason other than retribution and national defense concerns(which have been addressed as far as they will be) for us to be in those countries; they don't know what democracy is, and even if they could have it, they don't want it. Let them have all the civil wars they like as long as it's not our troops getting killed.Iraq and Afghanistan are no more "countries" than Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union were.

Been kind of amused by the length and wavering nature of this thread but Snapper's comment is so dead on had to weigh in.

But, Iraq is actually civilized and governable, as opposed to a bunch of medieval wackjob tribalists.

I think a de-facto partition of Iraq (keep a central gov't, but give it no power) could have worked quite well, if we had put enough troops in initially, and had had a competent civil affairs strategy.

I would have divided Iraq into Kurdish, Sunni Arab, Shiite Arab, and Christian "states". With U.S. bases in the Kurdish and Christian areas.

That way, even if the Shiites became pawns of Iran, you don't lose the whole country.

Of course, if we actually exploit all our new found gas and oil reserves, maybe in ten years we can wash our hands of the whole Middle East, which would be glorious.

I believe the saying goes that if you hear the dog whistle, you're the dog.

You've misunderstood the dog whistle metaphor. There's a big difference between seeing someone blow red-faced into a dog whistle and hearing the whistle (and then howling or in response.)

New OTP thread for September...

There are no men like me.

There are always men like you.

Hey, I'm one of the critics. Like I said, too much in the way of tax cuts. Also, too dependent on "shovel-ready" stuff. If you're hiring civil engineers, that also moves the ball forward for improving infrastructure while getting money back into the economy.

I'm often more blunt in these discussions than I should be; the internet tends to intensify animosities and rhetoric in a way that face-to-face discussions rarely would. My meaning was that the AEI assessment of the stimulus was that it was a disappointment, and that feeling was and is widespread.

You've misunderstood the dog whistle metaphor. There's a big difference between seeing someone blow red-faced into a dog whistle and hearing the whistle (and then howling or in response.)

It is no more unusual to contend that Ayn Rand inspired you to enter into public service than it is to contend that Jesus or Chomsky served the same purpose. Passionate radicals tend to inspire action.

The dog whistle metaphor refers to the fact that a comment that inspired no serious interest on the right was interpreted by the left to be a call to arms of feared radicals. In fact, the only individuals who heard the "whistle" (or even insisted on its existence) are on the left.

I worked with one guy who claimed he went to Indiana and played for Bobby Knight. He said Bobby Knight red shirted him for 4 years so in the 5th year he would be this amazing top secret weapon of Bobby's. He did not stay employed long.

I worked with another guy who claimed his uncle received the Medal of Honor in Vietnam and yet when I looked up his name there was no records of it ever happening.

New thread.