Fact-checking fact checkers on Ryan’s claims about GM plant in Janesville

Videos of speeches by Rep. Paul Ryan and others at the RNC are published at YouTube. (Screen snip, RNC YouTube channel)Dem-friendly media and Democrats have accused GOP presidential nominee Paul Ryan of lying about a GM plant in Janesville.

A careful check of the fact-checkers shows Ryan didn't lie.

During his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday, Ryan said this—I’ve bolded key parts:

My home state voted for President Obama. When he talked about change, many people liked the sound of it, especially in Janesville, where we were about to lose a major factory.

A lot of guys I went to high school with worked at that GM plant. Right there at that plant, candidate Obama said: “I believe that if our government is there to support you … this plant will be here for another hundred years.” That’s what he said in 2008.

Well, as it turned out, that plant didn’t last another year. It is locked up and empty to this day. And that’s how it is in so many towns today, where the recovery that was promised is nowhere in sight.

Shortly after Ryan's speech—it was a sensational address—Twitter lit up with claims from outraged Democrats that Ryan had lied.

The Washington Post then attempted to fact check and that didn’t work out so well either. It’s possible the writer didn’t listen closely or have a transcript.

Twitchy cleared it all up. Here’re relevant facts and links:

• Note Ryan’s designation of President Barack Obama as “candidate Obama”—and Obama’s claims that if the government “is there to support you” the plant would “be here for another hundred years.” Obama’s exact words were: “And I believe that if our government is there to support you, and give you the assistance you need to re-tool and make this transition, that this plant will be here for another hundred years.”
• According to The Milwaukee-Wisconsin Sentinel, the Janesville plant closed in 2009. The paper said the plant was on “standby.”
• WaPo’s claim the plant closed in 2008 is incorrect. WaPo's claim that "Ryan misleads" is incorrect. Ryan's "phrasing" is accurate.

Bottom line: Obama promised 100 years in that speech he made in Janesville. He didn’t deliver. That's one wild promise those fact checkers might want to explore. Or alternatively, just head to Twitchy.

 (Analysis by Kay B. Day/Aug. 30, 2012)

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