Just two weeks ago, Mitt Romney suggested attack ads rejected by "the various fact-checkers" shouldn't be on the air. Yesterday, the Republican added a caveat: when "the various fact-checkers" denounce his ads, they should be ignored as biased liberals.
To briefly recap, President Obama didn't weaken the work requirement in welfare law; Romney has lied nearly every day for two weeks, including more than once yesterday, saying the opposite of the truth. Literally every independent fact-checker that's looked at the claim has reached the same conclusion: Romney's smear has no basis in fact.
Yesterday, asked why he keeps repeating a claim disconnected from this plane of reality, Romney told the Des Moines Register he has no use for independent journalists who examine the issue "in the way they think is most consistent with their own views."
Yesterday, Romney campaign chairman John Sununu went a little further.
The full transcript of Sununu's interview with Wolf Blitzer is online, and I'll gladly give credit to the CNN host for pressing the Republican to defend his obvious falsehood. In fact, Blitzer literally read "the precise language from the Health and Human Services memo outlining what the states who seek this flexibility" can do.
And yet, the Romney campaign surrogate stuck to the lie anyway.
My favorite part came when Sununu explained what it would take for Team Romney to stop lying.
BLITZER: [E]very major fact checking organization out there says he has not -- has not gutted, has not gutted by any means the work requirements.
SUNUNU: All they need to do is have HHS send out a hard letter making sure that the only things that will qualify under the work requirement is hard training and the -- and the cooperative programs with employers and define it in such a way that what was allowed before is all that's allowed in the future.... That's all that's required.
Really, that's all that's required? Because that "hard letter" already exists -- the Obama administration published it (pdf) two months ago.
In it, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said, "Our goal is to accelerate job placement by moving more Americans from welfare to work, and no policy which undercuts that goal or waters down work requirements will be considered."
There is no ambiguity.
Romney and his team know this, but they keep telling the same racially charged lie -- five videos, including three broadcast ads, in just two weeks -- because they just don't give a damn. Confronted with reality, they're not embarrassed or ashamed; they just stick to the lie, assuming voters won't know the difference.
It's the era of post-truth politics, and Romney wants to test what he can get away with.
* Postscript: A quick word about independent fact-checkers. To hear Romney tell it, they're reliable when they agree with him, and biased liberals when they disagree with him.
That's ridiculous. If he wants to argue that these fact-checkers aren't always great at their jobs, he'll get no argument from me. Indeed, I've expressed deep concerns with PolitiFact's poor work on more than a few occasions. If Romney wants to say, "I've seen the reports, and let me tell you why they're mistaken," I'd be all ears.
But that's not the case he's making. Romney's argument is that independent fact-checkers are to be taken seriously, so long as they agree with him. It's intellectually lazy and unserious, and speaks volumes about his commitment to honesty.
Leave a Comment:
I saw Mr. Potato(e) Head crossing swords with Blitzer yesterday. What a perfect spokesman for all the Angry Old White Guys out there! Attaboy, Guv!
No surprise, really.
It's straight out of BOSS ROVE's playbook of fantastic tricks that will stupefy and amaze you!
I'm a 67 year old angry white-guy: You can call me Whitey, Honky, Gringo, Anglo, White-eyes, or White-man." I'll tell you one thing - I got the blues for my baby who fell for the GOP".
High Country
You forgot Cracker. ;-)
Herr GoebbelsJohn Sununu is doing an admirable job as Minister of Propaganda.Richard Hofstadter on the pseudo-conservative (i.e. what is today's movement conservative):
"It can most accurately be called pseudo-conservative -- I borrow the term from the study of The Authoritarian Personality published five years ago by Theodore W. Adorno and his associates -- because its exponents, although they believe themselves to be conservatives and usually employ the rhetoric of conservatism, show signs of a serious and restless dissatisfaction with American life, traditions and institutions."
"Their political reactions express rather a profound and largely unconscious hatred of our society and its ways -- a hatred which one would hesitate to impute to them if one did not have suggestive clinical evidence ...
The pseudo-conservative, Adorno writes, shows 'conventionality and authoritarian submissiveness' in his conscious thinking and 'violence, anarchic impulses, and chaotic destructiveness in the unconscious sphere…… The pseudo conservative is a man who, in the name of upholding traditional American values and institutions and defending them against more or less fictitious dangers, consciously or unconsciously aims at their abolition.'"
Thanks, SadOldVeteran, I've been screaming about Goebbels and The Big Lie on this blog for weeks, @'#%*! WEEKS. Thanks also to DAY3905329, for supplying the missing link. The Big Lie technique works best when it harnesses deep seated anger of people who can't articulate the reasons for their rage. The big lie gives them a false justification for their anger.
Perhaps we're being unfair in presuming that he knows he's lying. What's that old saying?..
Ah yes -- Neurotics build castles in the sky, Psychotics live in them.
On my way through the company cafeteria yesterday afternoon, I saw the usual Fox "news" channel doing an expose' on "liberal media bias" and wondered whether they were just doing a refresher or if someone had actually committed journalism.
Nice to know.
I have started following the lead of a friend. When I go to a public or semi-public venue, like a doctor's office waiting area or a cafeteria or, hell, even fast food places, and a TV is set to Fox and no one is actually watching it (or watching it but expressing disgust with Fox), I just get up and change it to MSNBC. Or sometimes CNN or Headline News.
I work at a motel, and we are supposed to have the lobby tv on Fox. One of our regular guests likes to change it to Headline News or MSNBC, and the night audit clerk always changes it back. I wouldn't, but that's me...
Steve, there are two main reasons I won't be taking your advice:
I envy you, Steve. I've not heard anyone express disgust with being forced to watch Fox Propoganda TV while waiting for services in public places like our City Hall.
It would give me more hope if I did...
@D.C.
"or if someone had actually committed journalism."
Thank you for making my day!
You can't get MSNBC in some Vegas hotels. But you can get Fox and CNN. I complained at Harrahs about two years ago. I don't know if they have changed.
I used to work for an organization of Bed & Breakfasts and would get the comment cards from guests. One that seared itself into my memory was that, as a "negative" on their stay, the inn didn't carry Fox News and the guest & her husband made a point of only staying at places that carried Fox News, so though it was lovely, they wouldn't be back.
That was in around 2003 ... I can only imagine how much dumber those folks are by now.
When I go to the VA, whatever clinic I am at, the TV is almost always on Faux Snooze. One time I went over to the clerk and asked if he was aware that Faux is dedicated to the destruction of the VA and the end of his job as well as the denial of services by a government agency to the clients. He said yes. I asked if I could change the channel, he told me where to do it. I did and all the Auld Phartz started complaining that "our channel" wasn't on. I got up and gave them a quick lecture on who wants to privatize the VA and who runs Faux, for which effort one of the older ones got up and called me a "communist."
It was good to remember that the truth of my time in my country's service was that I was never around so many morons in one place at one time ever again in my life. Yes, there were those who weren't, but looking back, they were a tiny minority.
I travel all over the country for work. I notice that hotels in the South almost always have Fox News and ones elsewhere have CNN. The same with restaurants or other businesses. I've never seen one tuned to MSNBC. I always either change the channel or ask management to change the channel if I can't. Even if people appear to not be paying attention their brain is hearing that garbage on a subconscious level and making an impact. Also, whenever I'm staying in a hotel and MSNBC is not on their channel lineup but Fox News is, I complain to management and let them know that they have guests from all political backgrounds and they should give us appropriate choices in order to provide "keep em coming back" customer service. I don't know if any of this helps, but at least I feel better because I know I have not sat quietly by and let a wrong thing happen.
So, Romney has become so arrogant as to think that his reality is the only one that matters ?? That if 'he' doesn't think he's lying then no one has no right to 'call him out' on it ??
Uh... this man may very well be insane....
You're missing the point. He's never going to stop because he thinks diverting class resentment into racial resentment is his only hope of winning. And he's right, it is his only hope and most of the movement you see in the polls lately is precisely because of it.
Every time you hear a white middle or working class person talking about how they think the government is "trying to do too many things" they're not talking about facts. The fact is that a) those people are invariably not talking about "their" Social Security and Medicare which, they will tell you is different because they paid for it, and b) non-defenses discretionary spending as a percent of GDP is the lowest its been since before the New Deal.
No, if you probe them a bit and find out exactly what specific things are among those "too many things" that they so disapprove of, it invariably boils down to "social welfare programs I (wrongly) perceive as primarily benefiting minorities."
And they didn't come by that POV because its true. They came by it because a lot of rich people have spent lot of money for a lot of years whispering that poison into their ears. And they did it for the very specific reason of keeping people whose interests are actually closely aligned divided.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_personality_disorder
And they didn't come by that POV because its true. They came by it because a lot of rich people have spent lot of money for a lot of years whispering that poison into their ears. And they did it for the very specific reason of keeping people whose interests are actually closely aligned divided.
Which is exactly how ol' Marse Bobby Lee got all those hillbillies to fight for the right of their rulers to have slaves and thus keep their own lives down back 150 years ago, and how they manipulated the South ever after - "you may be bad off, but at least you're white and you're not one of them nigras."
And it's worked outside the South, too, the South merely being the most obvious example.
everytime I even see RoMoney walking it reminds me of a man I once knew very well. A true narcissist. Unfortunately I knew this man too well for too long. And he was pretty wealthy, too....makes me wince
I see that "hard letter" is the new "long form."
Romney's relatively pathological, and therefore is a good representative for the GOP. Gobama!
Right on, Steve. They "stuck to the lie". Now if only a few more would just out and out say it.....
Did Scarborough train with Sununu? They seem to share a similar disregard for truthfulness, and really don't seem to care. Gobama!
IIRC, the other day, even "Joke" Scarborough conceded that he couldn't find any factual basis for Rawmoney's welfare smears...
Vulture/Voucher 2012
Proving Two Rights DO Make a Wrong!
;-)
That they would put that flustered obnoxious turd out here as a spokesman , says all you need to know .
Please Willard, can't you even find someone good looking to lie to us.
RommelRomney is definately going down a dangerous path here and taking theReichRight Wing and possibly the country along with him.Of all the possibilities you want to use in your metaphor, Erwin Rommel is the one you don't want to use. He was executed by the Nazis for giving his support to the July 20th conspirators and was an anti-Nazi.
Just sayin'...
Thank you, took the words out of my mouth! Rommel may have been a German soldier, but he gave his life aligned with those trying to stop/kill Hitler.
Poor old ;ying Mitt says "my s...t don't stink!" Then cries when any PAC sides with Obama?
Hey wittless Mitt, your party opened the door with its "corporations are people" crap so STFU.
Pssst--you go to h-e-double toothpicks for lying. Read that thar Bible you 'uns thump daily see what it says about lying liars.
I'm not a Wolf Blitzer fan. I watched him practically assume the fetal position during an interview with Dick Cheney. But I was very impressed with his handling of Sununu yesterday. Wolf challenged the lies several times. Hopefully it's the start of a trend.
I found it hard to believe what I was seeing with that interview. Watching a talentless hack shed his hackery and actually act like a journalist is an amazing thing nowadays. (Sadly - it should be the norm)
I think the positive response for Soledad O'Brian's "take no prisoners" approach has had an effect. CNN has been floundering in the ratings for a awhile. It would be professional suicide for any other on-air journalists to act in a way that is inconsistent with the new standard. Very refreshing and about time.( I'm hopeful.)
Sinu ... um ... ah ... Sununu is really an easy target compared to most of the other bald-faced-Republi-liars out there. No one actually comes to his defense either, he's just the GOP 'hack to attack'. It's his job to be sacrificial and he's really good at it. His reward will be a job in Romney administration, probably something like Energy Czar, Homeland Defense or better yet Postmaster General so he can kill that off quicker.
Maybe it's just me but my family values don't include:
Lies or people that tell them.
Hatred for those that aren't just like me.
Blaming others for my own stupidity.
Arrogantly believing that I am the Queen.
Willful blindness to FACTS.
Trying to make others look bad, just so I can seem good.
Dog whistles to the racists among US.
For all of the GOTP/bible thumping they really are a sorry and immoral group!
Here Zora, let me help you into the Post-Mitt New USA:
Lies aren't lies if you believe them hard enough
Spittle-flecked gun toting hatred isn't for the sinner, it's for the sin
Blaming others absolves one of stupidity...culpability...responsibility...
Unless it's "your turn" to be Queen
Willful blindness to GOD
Both sides do it!
We're not racist, we're exceptional
and finally...
God has forgiven me. You however are going to hell.
My favorite quote from the interview is when Mr. Sununu uses the phrase "that a lot of people have been talking about...." Goes right up there with "Some people are saying...", and "It the feeling of a lot of people...". Man those groups ("some people" and "a lot of people") sure do have a bunch of information that political researchers and fact-checkers seem to miss in their hours upon hours of investigation.
Thanks, Mr. Sununu, for using that phrase, er... I mean group, that tells us it's OK to just trust what you say, but not hold you accountable for saying it. After all, "a lot of people" say we should......
Some say Sununu is Sununuts, but I suppose they could be wrong...
Vulture/Voucher 2012
Proving Two Rights DO Make a Wrong!
;-)
Well, I heard my uncle's neighbor's babysitter's mother say it, therefore it must be true.
God, is there a worse surrogate than Sununu? He has the personality of a rabid ferret with a migraine and his voice makes Dick Morris sound like Garrison Keillor. By all means, Romney campaign, I want to hear that nasal whine while watching his jowls flop around on my 46-inch high-def TV with surround sound. At least Nancy Pfotenhauer was pleasant to look as she was BS-ing us.
Are Mormons going to sue Romney for defamation?
Dudes! Where are the trolls? Is it Troll Appreciation Day in South Carolina?
Maybe they're off doing lie coordination.
Its called the Republican National Convention.
I am waiting for the Chicago Tribune to do a "Listen Here Mr. Nixon" type editorial that they ran during the Watergate scandal. If they and their nation chain of newspapers and TV media would call out Romney on his lies, it might wake up some establishment Republicans. A major conservative newspaper would have far more effect than just local papers, TV and the New York Times.
If you want to see that, take a look at the neighborhood advertiser formerly known as the Los Angeles Times (which was put in that status through its ownership by the Chicago scum at the Tribune). The paper is doing a very good job of pointing out these lies, both in their articles and editorially. (surprise surprise - I wouldn't have expected it, not with the Jewish Nazi who owns it and puts all kinds of wingers on the opinion page)
What are you thinking, man!!
Taking such risks could well see one forever cast from the circles of GOPism for disregarding the Lemming Code of Conservatism. Such risk could get one forever denied access to pre-PR'd quotes from Important Republican People, worse, never again getting an invitation to toss pillowed questions to those who represent the dirty masses in official capacity.
Drink before you think, Sir! Such expectation of rationality has no place in today's journalism.
The Tribune was previously owned by Robert McCormick who was no liberal and it was reflected in every editorial. The paper supported Republicans in every election until Obama and when they endorsed him, it was major news. So was the editorial taking on Nixon and the paper also ran the complete Watergate tapes in a special section. The paper is still conservative oriented, but if they take on Romney in an editorial, it will shake the Republican establishment including Karl Rove. Romney cannot afford to lose a major media outlet outside of Fox. If the Trib takes Romney on, then other conservative media will feel free to do likewise.
Perhaps he's looking for the "long form" version of the HHS hard letter.
That sentence seems very pornographic to my constantly-free-associating mind. Well done.
I just want to hear Rachael say those four little words: "Al Frankton is going to be on the show tonight" (combined with 1 more little word and five medium words...).
I would be interested to see Romney's reaction if a journalist asked him to respond to the image of his signature on a Republican Governors Association "hard letter" supporting just the kind of waiver he's now trying to smear Pres. Obama over:
http://t.co/fD9h22CK
First, we'd get the deer-in-headlights look. Then, "Heh, um... heh, heh - I don't recall signing that." -- But, Governor, isn't that your signature? "Well, I don't remember signing anything like that, I'll have to look into it and get back to you." But this is clearly your signature? ".... Yes, but - like I said, I'll have to look into it and get back to you."
The dissembling almost writes itself.
If only we had journalists .
The stenographer Corps is not interested . If they ask tough questions they won't get invited to the BBQ or be allowed on that nice jet.
"Romney has lied nearly every day for two weeks, including more than once yesterday, saying the opposite of the truth."
Two weeks? Romney has lied nearly every day for the better part of a year. No surprise, since he's a pathological liar. Romney and the Republicans long ago decided that unimportant things like the truth were not going to be an impediment to winning.
He's lied so many times, about so many things. There have been innumerable flip flops, position contortions, denials of things said as recently as the day before, and mischaracterizations of Obama's record. At this point, I doubt that he even knows what the truth is. Not that he cares about it.
The better part of a year? Try from the day he said his first word at age 11 months or so.
I am not surprised that Romney or his surrogates denounce anyone that disagrees with them as having a liberal bias. Whenever I get into a discussion with a conservative about policy and start bringing in evidence here or a chart there with data from irrefutable sources, that is always, always, always the last line of the conservative argument, "they have a liberal bias". This especially ironic when I quote AEI, The National Review, the Wall Street Journal, or bloggers like David Frum.
Steve, I'm surprised you didn't take the Des Moines Register to task for their lame interview:
The Register never directly confronts him with the lie -- they just vaguely refer to the factcheckers, and don't confront him with the HHS letter and make him explain that. They just gave him a pass to peddle his nonsense. This kind of journalism is why the public is so misinformed.