Consider a brief series of events. Step One: Mitt Romney lies in an attack ad, falsely claiming that President Obama "gut welfare reform by dropping work requirements."
Step Two: Romney watches fact-checkers go berserk, condemning the ad for being demonstrably false.
Step Three: Romney expresses amazement that President Obama "keeps on running" ads, even after "the various fact-checkers" deem the spots "inaccurate."
Step Four: Romney launches a new attack ad accusing Obama of "quietly ending work requirements" in the welfare law -- an accusation that has no connection to this plane of reality.
Look at this quote from Friday again: "You know, in the past, when people pointed out that something was inaccurate, why, campaigns pulled the ad," Romney said on Bill Bennett's radio show. "They were embarrassed. Today, they just blast ahead. You know, the various fact-checkers look at some of these charges in the Obama ads and they say that they're wrong, and inaccurate, and yet he just keeps on running them."
If Lewis Carroll wrote a script for a presidential candidate, it'd look an awful lot like Mitt Romney's.
Keep in mind, this isn't some tangential point for Team Romney.
With Mitt Romney in Florida, Paul Ryan will hit the trail in Iowa on Monday where he will attack President Obama over welfare, Politico reports. Ryan will attend the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, and will speak at 1:30 p.m. CDT. The Romney campaign is still pushing the welfare narrative this week with a new ad that, like the first, falsely claims Obama has taken the work requirement out of welfare.
The Romney campaign is building its entire message around a blatant, shameless lie -- and then it's attacking Obama for being sleazy and lacking in character.
This is genuinely twisted.
And to reiterate a point from last week, if Obama were as awful a president as Romney claims, the Republican attack machine wouldn't have to make stuff up -- the truth would be so brutal that voters would recoil and flock to the GOP candidate naturally. What does it say about Romney's strength as a candidate that he has to make up garbage and hope voters don't know the difference?
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If Lewis Carroll wrote a script for a presidential candidate, it'd look an awful lot like Mitt Romney's.
Except a moron like Willard the Wanker couldn't read that one, since there might be polysyllabic words in it.
I like how you state in step four that Romney launches new attack ~~ an occlusion that has no connection to this plain of reality. Talk about miss leading, YOU are the Master of MISS LEADING. You don't deny Romney's claim that the work requirement was removed by President Obama, because you know it is true, you redirect those that are of lesser cognitive ability in to believing Romney's claims are untrue.
I bet Bill Clinton hates President Obama's too because this just another in a line of laws that Clinton passed that President Obama has got rid of by executive order. Factually Romney is 100% accurate, where you differ with him is what the impact will be.
chem,
Where do you find proof that Romney is 100% accurate in his claim? Please provide some source - like the actual Executive Order - that makes it clear. Otherwise you are just repeating Fox talking points. If you want to sway any voters here, back your claims up with incontrovertible facts. By the way Clinton himself has already responded in support of Obama on this issue, and this link is from your very own media masters at Fox...
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/08/08/bill-clinton-slams-new-romney-welfare-ad-says-it-is-disappointing/
And please - are we really to believe you made it through med school with such atrocious spelling and grammar?
I got my info from CNN week end report last week. However, you can go to the governments official sight and look at
Section 1115 of the Social Security Act. [42 U.S.C. 1315]; Section 402 of the Social Security Act. [42 U.S.C. 602]
and read the the federal mandate to be actively looking for a job has been dropped and is no longer a requirement. I find it funny that you would use a Fox link after making fun of Fox. Oh, and when you are trying to dispute FACTS, who cares about some guys opinion. The change in this law basically lets the government pick winners and loser, because if a Republican is in power he can choose who will get the benefits and who doesn't. This is a bad law change for the people not for the Republican or the Democrats
I felt obligated to use the Fox link. Otherwise there's no way you could possibly believe it.
Looks like it's still there to me -
http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OP_Home/ssact/title04/0402.htm
In Section A of General Provisions:
"(ii) Require a parent or caretaker receiving assistance under the program to engage in work (as defined by the State) once the State determines the parent or caretaker is ready to engage in work, or once the parent or caretaker has received assistance under the program for 24 months (whether or not consecutive), whichever is earlier, consistent with section 407(e)(2)."
Some thoughts:
1) Nice to see progressives have returned to "everyone's a moron but us"
2) I think anytime you open the use of waivers, you run the risk of abuse. Given the use of waivers by Sebilius under ACA, there is reason to be skeptical.
3) I think the use of the word lie is a bit strong since Romney is correct in that waivers can be abused. However, until we see how they are administered, he is probably reacting prematurely. But, this is politics.
4) Congress can always over rule HHS.
Tom, here's the thing though: Who requested the waivers, do you think?
Yeah. It was Republicans, in Republican states, who wanted permission to mess around with the work requirement and other stuff. Obama approved it.
So let me get this straight: A Republican running for president is upset that Obama gave Republicans the flexibility to do something "The American People" won't approve of. This is Obama's fault, so, in short: Obama doesn't want people to work for welfare!!!!!!!!!!!
I don't understand how you can look at yourself in the mirror believing this claptrap.
I can't imagine having the total lack of integrity that it takes for Romney and his representatives to claim outrage over anything the President's campaign has done when just about every ad they have run is based on lies. The fact that Romney can continue to spout these lies with a straight face on the campaign trail just indicates his total lack of an ethical center.
A liar knows the truth and says the opposite. A B.S.er doesn't care what the truth or the lie is. A sociopath creates his own truth.
Projection - it ain't just a function in a movie theater...
Actually Romney is correct. From the NYT regarding one of the waiver requests...
Perhaps, the state asked, those families hardest to employ could be exempted from the work requirements for six months while officials worked with them to stabilize their households.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/09/opinion/mr-romney-hits-bottom-on-welfare.html?_r=2&hp
Worse a Republican asked for the work requirements be lifted. Will Democrats be far behind? So yes, breaking the law to grant waivers will lead to free money for nothing.
Very first paragraph of article referenced by Shooter. Who's point is he trying ot prove?
"Mitt Romney’s campaign has hit new depths of truth-twisting with its accusation that President Obama plans to “gut welfare reform” by ending federal work requirements. The claim is blatantly false, but it says a great deal about Mr. Romney’s increasingly desperate desire to define the president as something he is not."
Actually that's only half the story. If anyone bothered to actually look at the original information they would see that the work requirements would only be dropped IF the state could show other more effective measures were put in place. So what will have to happen in this case is 1.) the state will have to show some type of program is being put in place to cover these family's that results in a higher level of employment than the current system. If that means giving them a waiver and putting the whole family through training programs and counseling of some form to ensure at the end of the 6 months they are employable than so be it.
yes that's the story and nobody believes it. That's why waivers are specifically denied in the bill.
No it is not just a function in a movie theater. Molly Ivins once wrote that whatever Newt is criticizes the Democrats for is what he is actually doing. They want this election so bad they can taste it - Romney doesn't provide jobs and Ryan wants to cut the short end of the stick. A Catholic Bishop and a bus load of Nuns are after them both saying Ryan's budget is immoral. There won't be anything left of anything in this country if they get elected. If Romney gets elected, he just wants to cut taxes and will probably give himself amnesty for hiding his profits off shore - A man who refuses to pay taxes to the country he wants to be president of. WOW, and the public buys this?
Casey: True that. It is technically correct that if everybody were processed as you said, then in the realm of "anything is possible" there could be welfare without a work requirement. It's a very small window for case-by-case processing. I and others have brought it up in previous posts, but looping the untrue statement "Obama ending welfare work requirements" will persist.
Shooter242... I read that article and the whole statement is "Last year, an aide to Brian Sandoval, the Republican governor of Nevada, asked to discuss flexibility in imposing those requirements. Perhaps, the state asked, those families hardest to employ could be exempted from the work requirements for six months while officials worked with them to stabilize their households."
a Republican asked to discuss flexibility,so your jump to "So yes, breaking the law to grant waivers will lead to free money for nothing." you followed that comment with "That's why waivers are specifically denied in the bill." makes no sense at all. C'mon I expect more from a proud troll such as you...notice how polite I am, I heard that drives some people crazy.
Which part of that are having difficulty with?
Polite is nice.
The President hasn't gutted welfare reform.
http://factcheck.org/2012/08/does-obamas-plan-gut-welfare-reform/
You might as well give up with shooter. He has his set of facts and they ain't gonna change.
THIS is the crux of the matter: "And to reiterate a point from last week, if Obama were as awful a president as Romney claims, the Republican attack machine wouldn't have to make stuff up -- the truth would be so brutal that voters would recoil and flock to the GOP candidate naturally. What does it say about Romney's strength as a candidate that he has to make up garbage and hope voters don't know the difference?"
Romney and his campaign team have no principles, no ethics and NO SHAME.
Dammit, how many times do I have to bring up Goebbels and the Big Lie?
You have an angry population looking for a simple and self-serving reason for their bitterness. If you want to mobilize that population for your own political ends, you give them a villain, and keep referencing that villain as the cause of all their problems. If the cause of the people's bitterness is complex and multifaceted, constantly referencing the villain will get them to believe the Big lie as gospel, and it will spread. For Goebbels, it was the Jews of Europe. In the contemporary United States, You tell lies about a Black Man so your base can claim they're against his policies, not his race.
So called Death Panels was an example of this, and it worked to a large extent. Lies about welfare policy are a continuation of this strategy, and it may work.
Where were the Tea Party budget hawks when W pissed away our surplus on one mismanaged war and one fraudulent war? they were joining Cheney and the neocons who said debt was good, a stimulus to the economy.
This is not a "Vote for Romney/Ryan" strategy, it's a "Don't Vote At All" strategy. Taking over the country is easier when you a: prevent some people from participating and b: discourage others from wanting to.
Romney and Ryan are not protecting Medicare, they're gutting Medicare AND Medicaid and privatizing Social Security, not even to pay down the deficit but to pay for wealthy tax cuts that will lead to amazing investments that will pay dividends that will drive down the deficit, according to them, and only them.
So all they have to do is convince you that Obama is effing you too, and you'll either not vote or go third party.
And that's how Republicans win.
A "Don't Vote at All" decision by voters is going to be a vote for Romney. I hope people don't take that route.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as
Government by organized mob". . . Franklin Delano Roosevelt
I hope they don't either. I don't think people realize how serious this is. They've idled along existing on hate for Obama and still listen to Limbaugh and FOX and ugly ads from Karl Rove's super PAC. I am still surprised how organized they were in sweeping 2010 midterms and how quickly they set out to destroy Unions and public service jobs. Obama has it right, it's Romneyhood!
“The money powers prey upon the nation in times of peace and conspire against it in times of adversity. It is more despotic than a monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, and more selfish than bureaucracy. It denounces as public enemies, all who question its methods or throw light upon its crimes…. when corporations have been enthroned an era of corruption in high places follows, the money powers of the country will endeavor to prolong it’s reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is
destroyed." – Abraham Lincoln
Wow, ShirleyWilliams-3463497...Both of those quotes could have been penned today! Amazing...it was going on then and continues today. Such a shame.
Romney's questionable Bain investors, French car accident, tax returns, perjured documents, lack of definitive policies and climate of secrecy in general are deeply suspect. The Dems. can not let Romney off the hook by focusing too heavily on Ryan.
The Obama team is too smart to be distracted by the shiny object that is Paul Ryan. Unfortunately, the media..........
Tax returns, especially!
I demand to see the long-form worth-certificates!
;-)
Romney only wants to be president for one reason: to rig the system further in his favor at the expensive of america's continued existance. Shold we really be shocked that he is pushing disproven lies as the crux of his arguement, since technically, Obama in 3 year has created more upward economic growth and job creation than the whole 8 years of bush. All he has is lies. His record as govener is terrible when you get down to it, and he has to constantly skirt around his own ethical violations and corruption. This, apperently, is the modern republican party: they will cut off your hands and feet, then demonize you when you collect disabilities.
Or bankrupt your company, steal your pension, cut your insurance, ship your job overseas and then try to deny you unemployment. Blame the victim is the name of their game. They play dirty and when they get tangled in their own web, they scream foul. I saw the following comment on another blog and thought it fit. Didn't get the author's name.
Mitt Romney is not running a campaign; he's making a hostile takeover bid.
Holy @!$%#...that's soooo true. He's making a hostile takeover bid! OMG!
I would venture to say it's rooted more deeply than that - I believe it's a spoiled little boy's attempt to one-up his father. This man lacks intellectual curiosity and empathy to a degree that is shameful in a candidate for President. He has no opinions of his own - and when he does express one, it's quickly repealed once he's had a chance to meet with his puppet-masters. Handing him the keys to the Oval Office is the equivalent of resigning our country to the control of corporations and placing ourselves in a bondage that is unmistakable.
All of a sudden, Mittens is worrying about the middle class? I cry BS!
I just can't help but think of Romney and Ryan as R&R, a railroad train with a boxcar full of lies, in fact they're going off the rails on their crazy train.
The problem is that the so-called voters who are the target for this tripe get their news from Fox and live on sound-bites. Or, as Mel Brooks says:" You've got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know... morons."
Willard ( the rat bastard lier ) is just a piece of s**t with no credibility. And he has another rat piece of s**t running with him. Both of these guys are ready to destroy the middle class and kiss the asses of the wealthy. Just the fact he wont release his returns and don't want his time at Bain to be revealed shows he is not to be trusted. He's using the same tactics for running as he would in business and we all know how big corporations tell the truth all the time.
All very good points.
That's the problem... a whole segment of ignorant voters don't know the difference and won't hear the difference on their sources for "news" i.e. Fox et al.
Romney mit Goebbels
Who in the mind of the Faux crowd would even know who Joseph Goebbels is. Karl Rove is the JG of our time.
He puts the Mitt in "Gott Mitt Uns."
"Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor (Ex 20:16)." I was under the impression that the Mormons read from the King James 1611. If so, then romney, with eyes wide open, made a willfull decision to break a comandment of God for power and profit. I guess Mitts a "Jack Morman."
But come on - have a heart! His campaign is all lies. He can't start distinguishing one lie from another, for Pete's sake.
There's an old musician's joke, "Why do you drink so much at rehearsal? --So it'll be just like the performance!"
Romney is a liar and an embarrassment to our country. And he's willing to let his henchmen keep people from voting so he can steal those states. Pathetic.
Republicans are grasping for straws and testing the voters to see what works. If this issue gets no traction, Romney will try another issue. But the problem is that when voters do pay attention to the issue, the lies will discovered and that may turn off some voters.
Don't underestimate the hearts of the "Moneychangers," nothing has changed. After Christ turned over the tables of the their in the Temple they plotted to get Him. These were Jesus' main antagonist. These ancient MC's would be proud of Mitt Romney, "Moneychanger extraordinaire."
Jesus also says we will be judged as a nation by how we treat the least among us and Republican policies couldn't be further from the true meaning of Christianity, no matter how many anti choice laws they pass or how many gays rights they deny. Self righteous hypocrites should read the Bible insteading of just thumping it. We cannot judge another and Congress can't begin to determine decisions that should be made between woman and Dr. Romney wants to be President so he can grant himself amnesty for hiding his money and not paying taxes to the country he wants to be President of. Patriots pay their taxes and the set policy for the good of all, not the Romneyhood way of the Republicans.
I'm a nurse from RI. I understnd the Ryan plan will not effect those currently on Medicare....only those under 55. What about Medicaid recipients? Many are physically or mentally handicapped and receive food stamps and thousands reside in nursing homes. Are current recipients just going to be cut off? I think the public needs to know specifics for Ryan's plan regarding Medicaid and food stamps.
Remember what happened to the residents in mental hospitals thirty years ago?
I do and we are still feeling the effects today. While many of the mental hospitals were sub par, getting rid of them instead of improving the system has led to almost no resources for the mentally ill unless they can afford private institutions. Pathetic for a country as rich as this one.
I am a nurse from RI. I understand the Ryan plan will not effect current recipients... but will change medicare as we know it for those under 55. What are the specific changes that will be made to Medicaid? Thousands of elderly reside in nursing homes and are on Medicaid.. as are many who are physically or mentally handicapped. What will happen to them? The public needs to know more about what fate awaits those people, who are currently among the most vulnerable in our country, under a Ryan plan.
You've touched on what I view as a serious breach by progressives arguing against the Ryan plan: Most of the criticism suggests that current Medicare recipients will be affected and commits the very right wing sin of trying to frighten seniors into voting for our side. To parallel the argument in Steve's piece, there is quite enough genuine horror in this plan to make our case against the Republicans without having to resort to hyperbole and fear-mongering. That is--or should be--beneath us.
I agree. The Romney/Ryan team will stress that today's medicare recipients will not be effected... but will say little about those things they would like to defund immediately.
R/R stresses that today's Medicare recipients will not be affected. And I trust R/R to tell the truth. </snark>
The question I have for this blog and others , especially reporters like Rachael Maddow and othfers is, do you understand how your silence on the air about equivalence, that fair is fair, is what allows these attacks to continue? that you do not insist on fact based reporting is what allows these attacks to continue?
What are you talking about?
I've seen Rachel and Steve and others on this network repeatedly calling out the MSM and other media for the sins of false equivalence, "they all do it," failing to challenge lies, etc.
Also, one should always give people the respect of spelling their names correctly, which you did not.
Thus we must conclude that dear mister P.T. Barnum was right. You can fool some of the people all of the time--those people do seem to be many in the republican party.
If Republicans represent the 1% and 2% wealthiest, how do they get 50% of the votes ?
Medicaid supports the elderly in nursing homes because they are so costly - if they have any money as in nest egg, it is quickly used up. Ryan's plan is not good for the elderly or anybody else except the few very rich in this country. They'll cut whoever they can to give the few the tax cuts. Under the ACA, Obama gave federal funding to the states to improve their Medicaid. Brownback of KS, among many others are rejecting that money. Idiots