Charge #3: Paul Ryan blamed Obama for Standard & Poor’s downgrade of American government debt from AAA to AA+, but Paul Ryan is actually to blame because he resisted tax increases that would have closed the deficit.

Here is what Ryan said: President Obama’s term “began with a perfect Triple-A credit rating for the United States; it ends with a downgraded America.”

I suppose it’s true that you can blame Ryan and the rest of the GOP for opposing trillions in tax increases, but it’s conversely true that you can blame Democrats for opposing spending cuts. At the end of the day, the question is who has been more constructive on the question of improving our long-term fiscal situation.

APOTHEFACT JUDGMENT: Ryan is correct that Obama has presided over this historic downgrade, but Republicans deserve a meaningful proportion of the blame for the fiscal situation that Obama inherited and then made worse.