In Mitt Romney's very first television ad of the 2012 campaign, released in November, the Republican blatantly deceived the public. In 2008, Barack Obama quoted John McCain's campaign, but the Romney camp took Obama's line, wrenched it from context, and misled voters.
It was a cheap, deceitful move. It was also, apparently, a sign of things to come -- the Romney camp pushed this video fairly aggressively yesterday.
To hear the Romney campaign tell it, this is proof that President Obama has flip-flopped -- or at a minimum, contradicted himself -- on public-sector employment. But this is only true if you once again take the words out of context.
We see two quotes: the first is Obama last week, highlighting "weaknesses in our economy" that "have to do with state and local government" laying off public-sector workers. The second is Obama in May noting, "The only time government employment has gone down during a recession has been under me."
In its press release, the Romney campaign argued yesterday that the president "said the real weakness in the economy was state and local government employment -- yet a month earlier, he touted the fact that government employment had fallen on his watch."
If the Romney camp actually believes this, it's time to consider the possibility that the GOP campaign is much less intelligent than is generally believed. Put it this way: does the Republican's media team know what "touted" means?
Here's what Obama actually said in May:
"Just about every time we put these policies up for a vote, the Republicans in Congress got together and they said no. They said no to putting hundreds of thousands of construction workers back on the job repairing our roads and our bridges and our schools and our transit systems. No to a new tax cut for businesses that hire new workers. No to putting more teachers back in our classrooms, more cops back on the beat, more firefighters back to work. And this is at a time when we know one of the biggest drags on our economy has been layoffs by state and local governments -- that's true all across the country.
"And it's worth noting, by the way -- this is just a little aside -- after there was a recession under Ronald Reagan, government employment went way up. It went up after the recessions under the first George Bush and the second George Bush. So each time there was a recession with a Republican President, compensated -- we compensated by making sure that government didn't see a drastic reduction in employment.
"The only time government employment has gone down during a recession has been under me. So I make that point just so you don't buy into this whole bloated government argument that you hear. And frankly, if Congress had said yes to helping states put teachers back to work and put the economy before our politics, then tens of thousands more teachers in New York would have a job right now. That is a fact. And that would mean not only a lower unemployment rate, but also more customers for business."
Obama wasn't "touting" the fact that government employment had fallen on his watch; he was criticizing the factor that has held back economic growth. The Romney campaign sees a contradiction between the May and June quotes from the president, but the context obviously shows the two comments are making the same argument.
This isn't a close call. BuzzFeed conceded yesterday the Romney campaign took Obama "wildly out of context."
So, here's a question to ponder: did the Romney camp deliberately try to deceive reporters and the public, or is the Romney camp so confused by the basics of economics and jobs policy that it didn't realize the two Obama quotes are complementary?
Leave a Comment:
Perhaps they are not as dumb as you think:
We listen with half an ear to TeeVee commercials, and yet rush out to buy anything that is "New and Improved!"
And then there is the TeeVee itself: Romney is planning to spend a gazillion dollars on ads. So, will the network flacks/whores/"news"men question the content of those ads? (That is what we call a rhetorical question. . .)
The GOP learned in the whole health care debate that if you repeat a lie over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over, eventually people believe it. After all, if everyone keeps lying, and no one is calling them a liar, they must be telling the truth, right?
This is politics 101 - attack your opponent with a claim that is one of your biggest weaknesses. In this case, Romney knows that he carries the mantra of "flip-flopper", so he decided to call Obama a flip-flopper first. Now when Obama calls Romney a flip-flopper, their campaign can say "na uh, we said it first".
I have never heard Romney say anything that was not a lie. What does he stand for? What is his vision? What are his qualifications? Nothing.
... did the Romney camp deliberately try to deceive reporters and the public ...
... asks the author of the Mendacity Chronicles.
"... did the Romney camp deliberately try to deceive reporters and the public, or is the Romney camp so confused by the basics of economics and jobs policy that it didn't realize the two Obama quotes are complimentary?"
How about both at the same time?
Might there be a few very smart but twisted people who understand exactly how to package a message filled with deceit and lies to look reasonable? And then sell it to the rest of the Romney camp who don't question but believe everything their leaders tell them? And from there sell it to reporters who don't question things like they used to (What would Walter Cronkite have thought of this stuff?) and finally to the public.
What's really really sad is that there are lots of things that we can have legitimate truth-based (and productive!) arguments and discussions about. That is how democracy is supposed to work. That is why all of these provable lies and deception are so maddening and destructive.
Of course there are. There are two kinds of Republicans- fuc kers and fuc kees. The fuc kers write the seductive propaganda that twists weak minds, and the fuc kees are the one who believe those lies. There is no one else.
Steve, they don't care. You know it and I know it. They plan to lie and deceive their way all the way to the White House.
If we had a responsible press corps, they would call them on this crap. However, they are more interested in 'gaffes' and the 'horse race'.
Until the MSM decides that it is important, it will continue.
That's what happens when media ownership is consolidated and merged, they are allowed to disseminate "news" to the public.
Disgraceful! I learned Journalism in junior high 5 W's no longer is the standard, it seems. It has to woven into some story that agrees with their selling of a story. Very shameful. They have no shame, but they should really know, they are harming this country by buying up all the media and telling us what we should believe. Communist Vietnam had the propaganda on the radio, bleating out propaganda.
Don't they owe it to us to read the entire quote, at least? Even rebuttal of what a candidate claims?
Honestly, we need to stop beating around the bush on this issue and start calling it like it is: The GOP base hates Obama "just because." It doesn't matter how many facts you throw into their faces, the hate is there and it's not going away until Obam goes away. That's what the Romney campaign is capitalizing on now, even if it is a lie. Nothing we're going to say or do is going to change the base's mind, and everything that the GOP establishment and the Romney campaign say is just going to reinforce the base's beliefs.
I think what we need is when the debates roll around this year, we need to take full advantage of all this 21st century technology, primarily in using it for live fact-checking and crowd-sourcing during the debates and REALLY have a discussion about stuff. If Romney wants to spout off something in the debate, then check it, verify it, and if it comes up false, call him out in it right then and there before he has a chance to flip-flop backstage. Same goes for Obama, of course, but I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have as hard of a time being grilled in such a way as Romney would.
"So, here's a question to ponder: did the Romney camp deliberately try to deceive reporters and the public, or is the Romney camp so confused by the basics of economics and jobs policy that..."
I'm going with c) all of the above. While the GOP are living on Fantasy Island, they're also doing the bidding of their corporate 1% masters. Rawmoney being a 1% is actually delusional enough to believe the lies that he tells; and is so far removed from actual working Americans - he really doesn't have a clue about how "working Americans" live, work, play - he is out of touch!
Speaking as an educated lady: no...none of those young people on those media teams are as intelligent as they think they are. They allow Spellcheck to copyedit for them and thus, such stupidities as "tow the party line" get into print. None of them knows the difference between primary news sources and analyzing the analysts analyses; so they repeat email and blog misrepresentations constantly and exponentially. Very, VERY few of them actually (despite what they say) think critically for themselves; they mistake cause for effect all the time.
This is the result of gutting the Department of Education; of allowing "home schooling" and of "No Child Left Behind." They all think they're brilliant and they are dismally ignorant!
Media news people need to do their job, and force the candidates to define themselves! Instead, we are fed a rather large portion of negative redundancy that reinforces the Frank Luntz school of political perversity!
Until the electorate demand Mitt Romney define himself, and produce campaign rhetoric more honorable than what he's chosen to produce so far, and the media begin to put the screws to Romney's lack of scruples, I can't but feel uncomfortable our democracy is being greatly challenged this election cycle as it has on a few tragic occasions in the past! -Kevo
"Blur: How to Know What's True in the Age of Information Overload" by BillKovach and Tom Rosenstiel
Includes a section on "The Way of Skeptical Knowing...amounts to asking - and knowing how to answer - a series of systematic questions... including the following.
After I read this chapter, I tried it out - watched Fox News long enough to hear a Republican (forget his name) say that the reason businesses are not hiring now is due to the high cost of employing a full time worker - if the salary is $45,00 the total cost to the company is $65,000.
So I went digging for data - went to Bureau of Labor Statistics and found a tables with TONS of data about Cost of Employment. After totally some columns up and simple ratios, I discovered that he was absolutely correct (within rounding error). [BTW the total costs include the cost of sick days, vacation days, pension, workman's comp, unemployment insurance and whole bunch of other benefits etc]
So I went back to the historic data in the same tables and did the same calculations.
What this guy said was true, but his conclusion that this is why businesses are not hiring NOW is bogus. The historic data showed that the ratio of worker salary to total cost has been essentially UNCHANGED for decades - including the Clinton years when the economy was booming and unemployment was low!!!!
Maybe he was taken out of context ;>
I would understand a company not adding jobs if their sector of the economy is not expanding.
Well, you know, this sort of thing kind of requires a direct response, doesn't it?
When it comes to knowing what's coming at them from the Republicans, Democrats know exactly what's going to happen, don't they? (OK, from history I guess we do have to consider the possibility that Democrats really are stupid enough not to know ... )
But will the Obama campaign deal with this effectively? We know the answer: no. Because doing so might require using language that is honest and not euphemistic. That might rankle and not sooth like daytime TV. That might be negative and not saccharine. That might have to use the "lie" and not "inaccuracy." You get the picture.
Democrats don't do hormone stuff well. They shirk from it. They don't stand up to bullies. And that's why Republicans don't respect them, and why Democrats repeatedly get their a$s handed to them.
Oops, I forgot:
"So, here's a question to ponder: did the Romney camp deliberately try to deceive reporters and the public, or is the Romney camp so confused by the basics of economics and jobs policy that it didn't realize the two Obama quotes are complimentary?"
We know the answer to that question: deliberate. Better questions are:
- Are reporters ignorant and/or stupid enough to not know what Romney is doing?
- What are the real fundamental reasons reporting doesn't reflect an honest picture of reality?
Sure, Romney's disgusting lies are nauseating, but, we have to realize, this is his only chance and that is what he will do because he knows a very large segment of the American public is stupid beyond belief. But the real scandal is the media.
Disgusted... Democrats so heterogeneous a group that your generalizations are problematic - some of us do the "hormonal" stuff just fine, thank you! However:
I wish I could "upvote" that to infinity! The key to a healthy, functioning democratic republic is a citizenry sufficiently well-informed to make reasonable choices. The key to that is a free and independent press that is willing and able to make the information available and accessible. I try to be optimistic about the future health of our body politic, but sometimes it ain't easy...
At this point, I'm very, very unsympathetic to the "heterogeneous" argument, Democrats like herding cats, yada, yada, yada. Everybody knows there comes a time when the "team" takes precedence over the "individual." It is at least 15 years past the time for Democrats to realize that they need to present a unified, coherent message and set of policies that reflect that message to the country. This is way, way, way overdue.
The failure of Democrats to stand up to lying Republicans is why I am pessimistic about the future of this country.
Try watching some Obama ads too.
Sure. Which ones?
The ones in the Both-Sides-Do-It dimensional plane.
The ad seems to be trying to get Obama reelected, because people who vote Republican don't believe anything from left-wing medias, but the people with that notion in their heads(Obama=big spender) will have to knock that complaint off their list. Nice.
The Republicans have a rule: "Saying it several times makes it true." Thus, what they wish were true, they simply repeat over and over. That makes it true.
When I read your Chronicling Mitt's Mendacity posts I often tally which entries fit into these categories:
- deliberately deceitful
- ignorant/unprofessional gaffe
subcategories include:
- character assassination
- arrogant aggrandizement
As you note, it is often hard to know which lies are simple ignorance/unprofessional research, but often a 5 minutes web search makes you believe much is deliberately deceitful. Ample evidence can be found from the CBO, GAO, EIA, and CRS, plus the (usually) professional work at Politifact, FactCheck.org, and the Post's Factchecker.
FYI, there have been 20 character assassination attacks in the last ten installments.
It seems that, while claiming to want this election to be about the economy, and only about the economy, the Romney campaign is scared to death that the American voting public will hear the truth about the economy, so they resort to worst bald faced lies imaginable in order to criticize Obama's record, taking statements out of context and editing them to make them mean the exact opposite of what Obama actually said. And the American people will fall for this crap - amazing!!
The Romney campaign ads have the same editorial ethos of right-wing media generally (Fox, Breitbart, O'Keefe, etc.). I think, just based on observation, that what is going on is this: They know deep down the real truth about Democrats and leftists. They believe that Democrats and leftists unintentionally let the truth slip out if they talk long enough, but this truth is concealed in the noise of all the lies. So, they believe that in order to get this truth out to the masses, they have to snip out all the noise in order to highlight the truth (as they see it). I doubt that they really understand that what they are doing is dishonest.
Yes, they know Democrats and leftists are Patriots and hate them for it. They hate the constitutional republic founded by leftists that overthrew the noble class, hate the rule of law that compromises aristocratic privilege, hate taxation that corrupts noblesse oblige, hate uppity peasants that dare to question the judgment of their betters, hate secular humanists who question God and His holy word (whatever it is), hate regulations and labor unions that empower the people and restrict short profits for the ownership class...
I doubt that they really understand that what they are doing is dishonest because they feel that undermining the illegitimate constitutional republic is an act of virtue by Loyalist agents behind enemy lines, planting disinformation.
Republicans and right-wingers unintentionally let the truth slip out if they talk long enough, but this truth is concealed in the noise of all the lies. So, they believe that in order to get this truth out to the masses, YOU have to snip out all the noise in order to highlight the truth as they say it straight out. Republicans and right-wingers unintentionally let the truth slip out because they are too dumb to keep a secret. Just listen and wait, they'll tell you what they are up to.
.