Did Paul Ryan Steal Bean Anecdote From Kurt Cobain for Vice Presidential Debate?

Did U.S. congressman and vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan lift one of the anecdotes he told during Thursday's debate against Joe Biden from, of all people, Kurt Cobain? At one point during his time at the podium, Ryan told the adorable story of how his daughter Liza got the nickname Bean, explaining that she looked like a bean in an ultrasound he and his wife received.

"You know, I think about ten and a half years ago, my wife Janna and I went to Mercy hospital in Janesville where I was born for our seven week ultrasound for our first born child," Ryan said, using his response to explain how "reason and science" factor into his views on abortion. "And we saw that heartbeat. Our little baby was in the shape of a bean, and to this day we have nicknamed our first born, Liza, 'Bean'."

Gawker reports that it didn't take long for some eagle-eyed Nirvana fans to hop on Twitter and point out the similarity between Ryan's tale and Cobain's own explanation about how his daughter, Frances Bean Cobain, got her middle name. Cobain said that the unborn child resembled a kidney bean on his wife Courtney Love's ultrasound, and if the similarity between the two anecdotes seems like nothing more than a strange coincidence, consider the fact that Ryan has professed himself to be a huge fan of the late, great grunge band.

Frances, who has born at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in West Hollywood, Calif., in August of 1992, was about 20 months old when her father committed suicide.