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On Tuesday, Mitt Romney decided to give Rick Santorum some curious advice. The former governor said that "misrepresenting the truth is not a good way" to boost one's campaign, and candidates looking to gain ground should "use truth as one of the pillars of your strategy."
After tackling the challenge of cataloguing Romney's audacious falsehoods, and watching this guy lie repeatedly (and at times even unnecessarily), hearing the candidate decry "misrepresenting the truth" was so jarring, I almost took it personally.
Perhaps the former governor has forgotten just how often he's failed to use the truth as one of the pillars of his strategy. To help remind him, here's the 10th installment of my weekly series, chronicling Mitt's mendacity.
1. Romney told voters in Mississippi this week, "Don't forget by the way that this President, how many months ago was it, 37 months ago, told us that if he could borrow $787 billion, almost $1 trillion, he would keep unemployment below 8 percent."
Putting aside the fact that $787 billion is not "almost $1 trillion," the "below 8 percent" canard just isn't true.
2. Romney also told Mississippi Republicans about the president, "He was going to cut the budget deficit in half. He's doubled it."
This is one of Romney's favorite lines, but it's simply absurd on its face -- 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? (Even if we believe Romney is confusing the words "deficit" and "debt," it's still wrong. The only modern presidents to double the debt on their watch were Reagan and George W. Bush. Obama inherited a $10 trillion debt, and it's nowhere near $20 trillion.)
3. Going after Rick Santorum this week, Romney said, "This is the guy that voted to fund Planned Parenthood."
This is wildly dishonest. Not only did Romney fund Planned Parenthood as governor, but during his Senate campaign, Romney attended a Planned Parenthood fundraiser (his wife even dropped off a $150 check).
4. Romney argued in a press statement this week that Obama plans to "end Medicare as we know it."
This is both dishonest and ironic. Obama's Affordable Care Act strengthens and protects Medicare, while Romney has endorsed Paul Ryan's House Republican budget plan, which ends Medicare and replaces it with a voucher scheme.
5. Romney mocked Obama this week by arguing, "This is a president who thinks America is doing better."
You know who agrees with the president? Mitt Romney.
6. On energy policy, Romney said Obama blamed higher gas prices on Republican presidential candidates who "are talking in a very muscular way about Iran and their nuclear program."
That's not what Obama said.
7. As Paul Krugman noted, Romney also argued that gasoline prices are high because President Obama won't allow unrestricted drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
What Romney's saying just isn't true.
8. Romney told Fox News' Megyn Kelly, "Time and again, I pointed out I'm not in favor of a health care plan that includes a national mandate."
Time and again, Romney has said he's in favor of a health care plan that includes a national mandate.
9. In the same interview, Romney told Kelly, "I believe we should get rid of Obamacare. It's a disaster. It's going to cost a $1 trillion-plus."
No, it won't. The Affordable Care Act actually cuts the deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars.
10. Romney told Fox News this morning about the president, "It's hard to create a job if you never had one."
The economy has created 3.4 million jobs in the last three years. As for Obama "never" having held a job, he's actually held several -- one of which happens to be serving as president of the United States during a time of several crises.
This week, MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell explained to viewers, "[T]he political media have a problem. It's a problem the press has always had and has never solved. When should they call a lie a lie? When a candidate like Mitt Romney, who lies much more than most candidates, says something that is utterly false, the press will say, it's 'not accurate.' They might even use the word 'false.' They might use the word 'untrue,' but they will never, ever use the word 'lie.' And that is what lying politicians like Mitt Romney count on every time they try to get away with one of their ridiculous lies.... In the silly rules of politics and political coverage, the word 'lie' just can't seem to find its place."
Romney is testing this thesis in a rather dramatic way.
Previous editions of Chronicling Mitt's Mendacity: Vol. I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX.
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Hee hee, they still don't get it. If anyone believed Santorum was for planned parenthood then Santorum would get a lot more votes.
One thing that gives the advantage to conservatives is that will tell any lie, any time and if caught, they will just change the subject. Democrats (liberals and moderates) try to argue issues with known facts (facts can sometimes change) but this requires an encyclopedic memory and a lot of continuous research. Lying (which the Republicans do constantly) requires none of this, just being a good con artist. Watch the interview with Inhofe to see it in action, look at the above statements from Romney.
In the end the US will need to split into the religious liars states and the open minded truth tellers states or we fight another civil war. There is no chance of working out reasonable solutions.
The saddest fact of all is that people actually beleive him and vote for him. Just like those who vote for Santorum because he wants to get to the real issues like the economy and the deficit when all he really is interested in is pushing a intrusive moralist agenda. Standard Republican credo: Don't let the truth get in the way of a good lie.
Will somebody *please* address this? Texas Governor Rick Perry has just pushed Medicaid for women's health out of Texas...
A US Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson told reporters on Thursday that the Obama administration's hands are tied on the issue. “Medicaid law is very clear; a state may not restrict patients’ choice of providers of services like mammograms and other cancer screenings, if those providers are qualified to deliver care covered by Medicaid. Patients, not state government officials, should be able to choose the doctors and other health care providers that are best for them and their families. In 2005, Texas requested this same authority to restrict patients’ choices, and the Bush Administration did not grant it to them either.
”http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/15/texas-loses-entire-womens_n_1349431.html?1331847590
Not quite. What he did was bad enough, but it only involves one small ($40 million) Medicaid-run program called the "Women's Health Program."
Here is a reference to a solid backgrounder from the Texas observer:
http://www.texasobserver.org/contrarian/behind-the-headlines-the-real-story-of-the-womens-health-program
He would remind me of this theory of Goebbles, if he could just stick to it long enough. But I don't think he's intelligent enough.
This is an excellent point, and one that is widely ignored. The press continuously overlooks the lies that Romney tells on a daily basis like they don't matter. He keeps telling the same lies over and over again and some people are ignorant enough to believe him.... Since we can't all be rich white christian male republicans, we should start looking for a way to avoid the firing squads and "privatized prisons" right now....
but they have been doing it for so long and everyone knows i,t but as long as it is in the favor of the right wing agenda, they get alzheimers or amnesia
I keep imagining what it's going to be like at the debate. Because Mitt is just lyin', lyin', lyin' his big ol' head off.
Maybe you guys are too young to remember, but this is nothing new. Ronald Reagan routinely lied, was exposed by lefties, and the media and something like 1/2 of the American people just moved on. After he was President for a while, people just got used to it.
Being a compulsive liar is no bar to political success. Indeed, it is likely a requirement.
thank you for this public service
This week, MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell explained to viewers this week, "[T]he political media have a problem. It's a problem the press has always had and has never solved. When should they call a lie a lie? When a candidate like Mitt Romney, who lies much more than most candidates, says something that is utterly false, the press will say, it's 'not accurate.' They might even use the word 'false.' They might use the word 'untrue,' but they will never, ever use the word 'lie.' And that is what lying politicians like Mitt Romney count on every time they try to get away with one of their ridiculous lies.... In the silly rules of politics and political coverage, the word 'lie' just can't seem to find its place."
I can't watch any of these guys for more than a minute, they speak in sound bites, easy to digest morsels for their deluded 'fans'. I'll say it publicly, willard is a lying sack of @!$%#. As are newt and frothy.
Somewhere in the DNC offices there is a person in a small office who is collecting all these snippets of Romney's lies. When the snippets are spliced, it will make a Guinness record for the longest documentary ever filmed. It will make Gone With the Wind look like a short feature.
'Don't hate me because I LIE, hate me because I'm clueless'...channeling my inner Mitt.
I sincerely hope a huge number of women protest this election by giving Obama a landslide victory. It is the only thing that will wake up people that consistently vote against their own interests. They have been turning the clock back in many states on women's health, it is now or never. Otherwise we are back to the fifties. Wake up!
Snap! MaddowBlog strikes again. For more on Mitt's Mendacity, please consult the following video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mr633KzBtvE
Thank you, Rachel Maddow and staff for this great expose' on Romney and his serial lying. I give the American people credit for being smart enough to see through many of Romney's lies - but unfortunately, many of his lies will be taken as true. I have confidence in President Obama and Vice-President Biden to correct the record and blast Romney and his surrogates when they lie. I liked how passionate both Obama and Biden were yesterday!! The Democrats have a truck load of material documenting the absurdity of the GOP's positions on women's rights, taxes, etc.
The game has begun!! GOBAMA!!
And Rachel...I watched with intrigue your interview with Senator Inhofe. You did a great job of being polite while showing he has no understanding of reality. He was so rude saying things like 'your people' or 'you liberals'. I was completely unimpressed with this Senator. The only thing that makes him human is he has kids and grandkids. The only thing noteworthy is his grandkids call him Pop -I. TRMS did a very good job getting Inhofe to come on the show and to expose his archaic views on science.
And just why doesn't the media call out these obvious lies?? It is a great disservice to the American people, but then again, never expect the media to be impartial. With the major news organizations being owned by the very same giant corporations that are at the bottom of our problems, they never will forget on which side of their bread that the Republicans have buttered.
"The former governor said that "misrepresenting the truth is not a good way" to boost one's campaign, . . ."
I guess that completely shredding the truth works much better. At least, that seems to be Romney's approach.
I guess part of the problem is that, during the primary, none of Romney's opponents wants to contradict him when his lies make the President look bad. In the debates before the general election, at least President Obama will be there and will be able to say "that's not true". Then all the media outlets will presumably cover the controversy generated and more fact checking might happen. I don't think any Republican primary voters are going to vote for President Obama no matter how untruthful Romney is, so he isn't really misleading the voters the Democrats need to reach at the moment.
I share your dismay at the lack of respect for facts in what Bill Maher has taken to calling "the bubble". I suppose it is how they deal with the problem Stephen Colbert spoke of in his White House Correspondents' Dinner speech: "Reality has a well-known liberal bias."
Republican have created a "comfort zone" for themselves believing that if it's OK with Fox then it's what the American people want. Mitt should be a paid commentator for Fox but he's entertaining as a candidate. www.foxrepublican.com
The numerous videos and blog posts about Romney's multitude of bold-face lies are so appalling, so revealing, that it is hard to believe that even hard-core, liberal-hating conservatives could justify voting for him. Romney is the political equivalent of a guy in high school who habitually uses the, "Of course I love you, Baby. We're gonna be together forever," line . . . and it works like a charm. No matter how great the number of lies republican voters know Romney to have told, they will continue to hop into the backseat with him, and put out. The only difference is, if Romney were to become President, we would all be getting screwed.