Max Read writes:

What is wrong with fitness infomercial "after" model Paul Ryan? Not only did the Republican vice presidential candidate claim to have a run a marathon in less than three hours — a lie for which he got busted, and bodied, by Runner's World — he's also claimed to have "made close to 40 climbs of Colorado's 'Fourteeners' (14,000-foot peaks)".

Which he almost certainly hasn't.

Back in 2009, Ryan, bragging as usual about his P90X regimen in a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel interview, dropped the claim about the mountains. The Atlantic's James Fallows picked it up, and cited a climbing message board to confirm his skepticism:

To have climbed forty and not be a resident means that you would have had to devote entire summers to climbing fourteeners, in essence becoming a "lifestyle" hiker/scrambler. I doubt Ryan had the time or dedication to fourteeners to take the required time out from his political career. Even if you did four a summer, that would be ten summers devoted to traveling to Colorado for the purpose of high altitude hiking. Even if you live here and can drive to the trail heads, forty is a huge commitment of time and energy.

Paul Ryan is the guy at the bar who keeps telling you he could "probably" beat Usain Bolt in a race, "if I was in better shape." Paul Ryan's ex-girlfriend looked like a cross between Lindsay Lohan and Katherine Heigel. Paul Ryan was at the very first Train show. Paul Ryan once took on three guys in a fight and won. And so on.

More importantly: Does Paul Ryan even have a six pack? No one has seen a shirtless photo of this guy in years, remember. Does Paul Ryan actually have a hot body? The people demand to know. Show us your sick abs, Paul. If that's even your real name.

The Romney Campaign let the Atlantic know that Paul Ryan meant "close to 40" climbs, not "close to 40" mountains.

Fire extinguisher applied to pants, once again.

I'll just put these here...

• Paul Ryan shirtless photo

• Mitt Romney shirtless photo

• Paul Ryan anagrams

• Paul Ryan moves like Shakira

• Paul Ryan - Sexy and I Know It

• Paul Ryan dancing

You're welcome.

Pied Piper <--- Rats. Just thought of a great nickname for Ryan: The Ripped Piper.

This actually seems reasonable: Ryan's mother is an outdoors enthusiast who led her husband and four kids on regular trips to hike and ski in the Colorado Rockies.

Ryan's brother Tobin says that on one of these trips, as the family hiked through the snow toward a herd of sheep in a mountain meadow near Snowmass peak, 6-year-old Paul took in the scenery and spontaneously burst out singing, "America the Beautiful."

LMAO at the thought of Paul Ryan randomly bursting into song.

"Toward a herd of sheep" sounds suspicious ....

This is beyond silly. As a former track athlete, I obsess over times and splits and the like; however, if I talk to someone who has run track, cross country, competed in marathons or competitions -- albeit not as a "serious" competitive athlete, they just don't track their time super seriously. They don't care enough. The fact we are even talking about his marathon time seems slightly ludicrous to me.

My father at 50+ years old in his first marathon ever ran 3:40 and second marathon ever fan 3:30 an change. And he's never once done track training -- ever. Yeah this guy does awesome workouts, but honestly, for someone who is in running shape the workouts are not that big of a deal:

I for one, as a runner, couldn't care less what his marathon time is nor even the fact that he remembered or boasted about it wrong. This whole election and hype cycle of American media + politics in the 21st century misses the forest for the trees.

Then once more, but faster: 1600m at 5K pace, 800m recovery; 1200m, 600 recovery; 800m, 400 recovery; 400m, 200 recovery.

And a third set: 1600m at or under 5K pace, 800m recovery; 1200m, 600 recovery; 800m, 400 recovery; 400m, 200 recovery.

We'd jog 3 miles beforehand, on a cross-country course, and another 3 mile after to cool down. That's about 17 miles, total, including 11 on the track.

The problem is that Paul Ryan was bragging about something that happened 20 years ago, and his story was nowhere close to true.

It would be so much easier to trust him if he would use a phrase like "That was a long time ago and I don't remember my time" instead of making something up that a fact checker can determine was a fabrication.

It really calls to question his credibility if he's willing to fake something trivial.

Ultimately, it's like Gov. Romney's tax returns -- at the end of the day, nobody really cares one way or the other. Unfortunate, certainly, but reality.

That's a really sad reflection on the electorate that our standards are so low.

What drives an undecided person to go with the guy who hides things and the guy who can't get his story straight?

Because compared with those two guys, Obama and Biden really know what they're doing.

Republicans seem to admire his ability to lie in much the same way they admired Bush'sability to be stupid. It's their definition of "moxie".

I believe Bill Clinton calls it "brass".

It's a cynical person who sees a canidate's lies as moxie.

Or a deluded one.

Cynical is better than deluded, because it means he's in control.

Clarification: Ryan is cynical, his Republican supporters are deluded.

So he's like Noah and they're like the flood? :)