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There's often a gap between Romney's rhetoric and reality.
There may come a point at which the issue of Mitt Romney's propensity for falsehoods reaches some kind of critical mass. In fact, we may have already reached that point.
David Bernstein argued persuasively this week, "I think we've seen, over the past couple of months, an important tipping point where much of the national political media now recognizes ... that, in the Romney campaign, they are dealing with something unlike the normal spin and hyperbole. They are realizing that Romney and his campaign simply cannot be trusted, in any way, about anything."
I thought of Bernstein's piece on Tuesday when MSNBC's "Morning Joe" did two segments on Romney lying, rather blatantly, about his record on health care. It came the day before Rick Santorum also began targeting Romney as someone willing to "not tell the truth" to win.
Once a candidate earns a reputation for being shamelessly dishonest, it's awfully tough to reclaim a degree of credibility. And with that, here's this week's installment of Romney's biggest falsehoods of the week.
1. Commenting on his health care reform law in Massachusetts, Romney told voters in Ohio this week, "Early on, we were asked if what you did in Massachusetts should be something you'd have the federal government do? I said no from the very beginning. No. This is designed for our state and our circumstance."
2. Romney said of President Obama and veterans' health care, "He's going after TRICARE. Saying, 'Ok, we're going to raise the co-pays. We're going to cut the benefits.' Why is it we go after military families?"
This isn't even remotely accurate.
3. Romney said of Obama this week, "He gave a speech the other day at his State of the Union address. He didn't even mention the deficit or the debt."
Obama mentioned the deficit and the debt six times in his State of the Union address.
4. Pretending to understand U.S. policy in Iran, Romney said Obama "failed" to place sanctions on Iran.
That's the opposite of reality.
5. Also on Iran, Romney said this week that Obama "failed to communicate that military options are on the table" with regards to Iran's nuclear program.
That's also the exact opposite of reality.
6. On Tuesday night, Romney said Obama has "doubled" the deficit.
It's amazing Romney keeps saying this -- he's either lying or he's bad at arithmetic. When Obama took office, the deficit was about $1.3 trillion. Last year, it was $1.29 trillion. This year, it's on track to be about $1.1 trillion. Does Romney not know what "double" means?
7. In the same speech, Romney said Obama "lost our AAA credit rating."
No, actually, he didn't.
8. In the same speech, Romney argued, "President Obama wants to raise your taxes; I'm going to cut them."
Actually, Obama only wants to raise taxes on those making over $250,000 a year. Romney proposes massive tax breaks, except for those struggling most -- their taxes would go up under Romney's plan.
9. On Social Security and Medicare, Romney claimed, "I have a plan that saves both of them, and I have the courage to put that plan on the table."
No, actually, he doesn't -- at least not yet. Romney has presented no details about his "plan" for Medicare and Social Security.
10. Romney told AIPAC that Reagan's philosophy of "peace through strength" is why "the Iranians released the hostages on the same day and at the same hour that Reagan was sworn in."
Romney isn't just lying about what transpired in 1981; he's making a claim that's laughably untrue.
Paul Waldman wrote this week, "So here's my question: Just what will it take for reporters to start writing about the question of whether Mitt Romney is, deep within his heart, a liar?"
With each passing week, I find myself asking the same question.
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Yes, Romney lies nearly every time he opens his mouth, but then so are all the other Republican candidates and their clacks in the press. This goes for the members of Congress like Boehner and Cantor too. All we can do is to keep calling them out on their lies, half truths, exaggerations and all the other tools of propaganda they use all the time.
Lying is the new black.
not true, as evidenced by the fact that republicans seem to like lying and as for black, i think the evidence is clear there too
For Right-wingers, lying is the new patriotism.
A correction...
"So here's my question: Just what will it take for reporters to start writing about the question of whether Mitt Romney is, deep within his heart, a pathological liar?"
I assume that was a rhetorical question. The Corporately Owned Media will not write about Mittens' pathological lying nor will they ask any questions related to his role as an elder in the Mormon cult.
Steve... Is there a tag or grouping of the previous 8 weeks of your compilations? I thought I had saved each week, but I can't find the files. It's my favorite piece you do each week, as I spend so much of my time being frustrated that no one in the MSM is following the lack of truth in Romney's statements. Thanks!!
Please stop referring to them as MSM. They are the Corporately Owned Media and their TV prompter readers and highly paid writers are just fulfilling their assigned roles of message amplifiers and echo chambers of the republican messaging machine. The only way that is going to change is if the George Soros' of the world buy some of them or if there become enough corporately owned democrats that they can then be impartial.
At some point, even the shills on the so-called "news" side of Fox are going to have to start calling Romney on this stuff. What I don't understand is why reporters who are covering the campaign for major media - including NBC - aren't covering his lies in their reports.
Oh, wait. He told a television interviewer this week that his budget plans are so totally remarkable, they can't be "scored."
Mr. Benen,
this is a service to America that you do. please don't stop. I try and spread the word about this column every week.
we need someone who has the time to actually chronicle his lies, because it's important - and is a measure of the lack of his character.
so, once again, I say, please don't stop with this weekly column.
Hear, hear!
Someone is surprised that a person raised in a religion founded by a lying, b.s.-ing con artist, a tissue of lies and b.s. from beginning to end, who comes out of a society where people advance by their willingness to believe and act on the lies and b.s., turns out to be a world-class liar and bull@!$%#ter who can say or do anything without thought or care because that's what he's been taught from the first day of his life?
People may try to be all tolerant and such, but failing to pay attention to Romney's religion is to fail to pay attention to who and what he is.
I have a suggestion for Mr.and Mrs. Mitt.Do the"Undercover Boss"trick on the employees of your estates.You can dress up as an Amish couple to prove you are'nt Mormon.Wash a few dishes plant a few flowers and clean a toilet or two.They'll really be surprised when you take off your fake beard and the wife removes her bonnet. This way you can claim you know what the lower class are feeling.
You see Folks lying is not considered a sin in the Mormon religion. Neither is Greed or spittin on the Poor. These are all encouraged along with setting ones Hair on fire. Liar, liar hair on fire. Rmoney doesn't care ask his dog.
That is just nonsense. As for your first claim, I can refer you to Doctrine & Covenants 10:25, which says "[Satan] saith unto them: Deceive and lie in wait to catch, that ye may destroy; behold, this is no harm. And thus he flattereth them, and telleth them them that it is no sin to lie that they may catch a man in a lie, that they may destroy him." Hardly a recommendation for lying, then. And from 10:28, "wo be unto him that lieth to deceive because he supposeth that another lieth to deceive, for such are not exempt from the justice of God." And in 20:54, "And see that there is no iniquity in the church, neither hardness with each other, neither lying, backbiting, nor evil speaking." And, again, in 63:17, "Wherefore, I, the Lord, have said that the fearful, and the unbelieving, and all liars, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie, and the whoremonger, and the sorcerer, shall have their part in that lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." Moving on to the Book of Mormon, 2 Nephi 9:34, "Wo unto the liar, for he shall be thrust down into hell." Helaman 4:12-13, "And it was because of the pride of their hearts, because of their exceeding riches, yea, it was because of their oppression to the poor, withholding their food from the hungry, withholding their clothing from the naked, and smiting their humble brethren upon the cheek, making a mock of that which was sacred, denying the spirit of prophecy and of revelation, murdering, plundering, lying, stealing...therefore they did not prosper, but were afflicted and smitten, and driven before the Lamenites, until they had lost possession of almost all their lands." I could go on, but it should be clear that you are full of it.
There are many things for which Mormons and Mormonism may be criticized. There are many things for which Romney may be criticized, including his lies. But to tell lies of them in return, instead of making substantive criticisms...what does that make you?
I was being sarcastic but, you may want to forward this to Rmoney.
Sorry. It looked like seriousness. I was reminded instantly of this WWI-era book I picked up once, The Blot on Kaiser's Scutcheon, which in all seriousness made essentially the same case against Germans that you were not-making against Mormons. So, it looked to me as if you were coming from the same head-space. Oh, well. Stuff happens.
And you're right. Romney really should get in touch with the basics of the religion he claims to practice. I think he needs to practice some more before he's ready to perform in front of an audience.
OK, here's an idea if Steve is getting tired of tracking Mitt's lies. How about supplementing it with a "Santorum's Screwy Scribblings" which tracks the outright b.s. coming from his mouth?
Wow... Just wow...
I can't be the only one who has noticed that all of these candidates are pretty much certifiable. I have long be a major cynic about our politics and the people who run that world but...now it has become a true joke. The war on women is over the top. The lack of anything credible or even remotely pertinent being discussed is awe inspiring. But the thing that scares me the most is the number of everyday citizens (especiall the women) who are sincerely buying into this entire guffaw creating routine. We are in deep doo-doo trouble and I don't see any light at the end of this dank, dark tunnel.
The other thing that is so startling about the avalanche of lies coming from Romney is that this is a candidate who BEGAN this process with a serious trust issue with the base of his own party!!! Yet, Romney and his team seem to believe that they can get away with running a relentlessly negative lie-filled campaign against his more conservative rivals for the nomination and that rank-and-file conservatives are just going to swallow it and get in line like good little sheep when it comes time for the general election. What unbelievable arrogance! And Romney's supporters take absolutely no responsibility for the fact that their candidate is the one who went negative - and who went all-out negative: Now that we've carpet-bombed your candidates to the point where they're mathematically in ruins it's time for you and your candidates to suck it up and get out of our way.
Here's the basic thing that the Romney people just do not get: Where a candidate winds up getting is not the only thing that matters - it matters HOW a candidate gets there. It isn't just a matter of mathematics - it's also a matter of chemistry - and Romney has blown it very very badly with the chemistry part.
Thanks Rachel and team for your due diligence and keeping the facts straight. My concern is not that Mitt Romney is a pathological liar but how do we get the truth to the blind people that believe him?
Liar liar pants on fire, I only wish.
We might then get to see if he is wearing the special Mormon underwear.
There are three, perhaps among many, possible explanations for this: Mr. Romney forgets what he said before, so every time he opens his mouths is a brand new event for him; he truly believes that what he says is the whole truth and nothing but; or, my personal favorite, he has so much disrespect for his base that he knows he can say anything he likes and they will never question him.
Any one of these points would make him patently usuitable to lead any country let alone a super-power.
Sadly, the fact that people who are likely to vote for him WANT to believe the lies about the President and his administration, is what just might get him elected.
I'm going with the evil twin story.
If every politician, and those who appear on TV and radio, had to take the oath to 'tell the truth and the whole truth", the airwaves would be silent!
Here is Willard's problem. The Kouzes-Posner First Law of Leadership states that "If you don't believe in the messenger, you won't believe the message." That's the problem that independents and moderates have with Mitt. The corollary to this is "You can't believe in the messenger if you don't know what the messenger believes." That's the problem the extreme right has with Mitt.
And so Mitt continues to try to appeal to both. In the process he flips, flops, and lies to cover his position changes and lack of understanding or knowledge.
There is an old Russian proverb that says "If you chase two rabbits, you won't catch either one." And so it goes with Mitt. Poor Mitt.
There are certain words people like Mittens should not even attempt to say. "Y'all" is high on the list.
Mitt and the rest of them would be canidates for the Progressive car insurance commercial, the one where the agents pants catch on fire and at the end they say no mas pantalones. Seems though the Republican party are a bunch of liars. President Obama is the one thats being upfront with the American people.
Thank you for posting this. I watched that speech and just about everything he said made me uncomfortable. Just one lie after another, bald faced. I turned it off once he said that Obama lost our AAA rating. I mean, that wasn't even all that long ago!
I'm sure that he will get the Southern vote now that he's learned how to speak like Yosemite Sam and Foghorn Leghorn.
Does it count as lying if he's wearing his magic underwear?
All politicians are liars. It is a question of how many and how big.
You can always tell when Mitt's lying - his lips are moving
Thanks for exposing Mitt for the liar he is!
Great addition to this sad list. Please, please continue compiling the (mis)statements and relevant source material.
Not only is this catalog of Mitt's menadacities a very valuable campaign resource for the immediate future, but also it may prove a useful historical artifact someday. From an even larger perspective, it is crucial to keep alive the principles of fact and evidence in our public discourse.