In three separate instances during the vice presidential candidates’ debate last night, Paul Ryan falsely accused the Obama administration of referring to Syrian dictator Bashar Assad as a “reformer”:
- RYAN: We should not have called Bashar Assad a reformer when he was turning his Russian-provided guns on his own people.
- RYAN: Now let me say it this way. How would we do things differently? We wouldn’t refer Bashar Assad as a reformer when he’s killing his own civilians with his Russian-provided weapons
- RYAN: But what we should have done earlier is work with those freedom fighters, those dissidents in Syria. We should not have called Bashar Assad a reformer, and we should not have — we should not have waited to Russia to give us the green light —
VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN: We didn’t call Assad —
MS. RADDATZ: What’s your criteria for —
REP. RYAN: We should not have waited for Russia to give us the green light at the U.N. to do something about it.
On Fox News today, Romney campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul was asked (at minute 1:25) about the accusation, which the AP had reported to be false:
FOX HOST: The Associated Press did a fact check, Andrea, and says that nobody in the administration ever called Bashar Assad a reformer — that that was characterized…
ANDREA SAUL: That’s inaccurate.
FOX HOST: Okay, then … they say ..
SAUL: That’s inaccurate. Hillary Clinton … Hillary Clinton was the one who called Assad a reformer. Paul Ryan was correct when he said that.
But both Paul Ryan and Andrea Saul were lying. The quote they’re referring to occurred during an interview with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the March 27, 2012, edition of CBS’ Face the Nation [PDF]:
HILLARY CLINTON: Well, if there were a coalition of the international community, if there were the passage of a Security Council resolution, if there were a call by the Arab League, if there was a condemnation that was universal, but that is not going to happen because I don’t think that it’s yet clear what will occur. What will unfold? There is a different leader in Syria now. Many of the members of Congress of both parties who have gone to Syria in recent months have said they believe he’s a reformer. What’s been happening there the last few weeks is deeply concerning. But there’s a difference between calling out aircraft and indiscriminately strafing and bombing your own cities, then police actions, which frankly have exceeded the use of force that any of us would want to see. (Emphasis added.)
So this quote — “Many of the members of Congress of both parties who have gone to Syria in recent months have said they believe he’s a reformer.” — forms the basis of an accusation that the Obama administration referred to a bloody despot as a reformer.
That’s not just a lie. It’s despicable.
