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Jon Chait noted the other day that Mitt Romney "has built his entire campaign on, well, lies." Jon made the observation in passing, but it struck me as significant, especially as the Republican National Convention unfolded -- Romney isn't the first national politician to try to deceive the public, but he's arguably the first to build his entire campaign around the deceptions.
Kevin Drum was thinking along the same lines responding to Romney's lie on welfare policy, which the candidate has vowed to continue repeating, even after it's been proven false.
In the past, you felt that maybe campaigns were at least a little bit embarrassed about this kind of thing. They'd blame it on someone else. They'd try to produce some lame defense. They'd haul out some fake white paper to give themselves cover. They'd do something. The Romney campaign just doesn't seem to care. If it works, they use it. It's like the campaign is being run by cyborgs.
Thomas Mann, a longtime political scholar at the center-left Brookings Institution and a respected Beltway voice, added, "The Romney campaign has, as is strikingly evident at the Tampa convention, broken new ground in its brazen and cynical disregard for the truth."
Love Romney or hate him, it's an experiment of sorts -- we're seeing the first real-world test of a post-truth campaign. Team Romney lies, without shame, because it's certain the line between fact and fiction has been blurred out of existence, and if lies will give Romney vast power, the ends justify the means.
But for those who still like to think reality has some meaning, I hope they'll take some time to consider the 32nd installment of my weekly series, chronicling Mitt's mendacity. (For the record, this week, I'm only including falsehoods from Romney himself. Including every lie told at the convention would have caused a mendacity overdose.)
1. In Romney's acceptance speech last night, he said, "Four years ago, I know that many Americans felt a fresh excitement about the possibilities of a new president. That president was not the choice of our party but Americans always come together after elections."
Actually, congressional Republicans decided early on that they would refuse to come together and work with President Obama, no matter what he offered in terms of policies. This began before Inauguration Day, when GOP leaders decided they simply would not cooperate or compromise with Democrats.
2. Romney added that Obama "took office without the basic qualification that most Americans have and one that was essential to his task. He had almost no experience working in a business."
First, the president has experience working in business. Second, lots of successful presidents didn't come from the private sector (and lots of lousy presidents were businessmen). And third, it's obvious that Romney doesn't believe his own rhetoric, because if he did, he wouldn't have picked Paul Ryan as his running mate -- Ryan has far less private-sector experience than Obama.
3. Romney went on to say, "[T]he centerpiece of the President's entire re-election campaign is attacking success."
For one thing, Romney has never been able to point to a single instance in which Obama has attacked success. For another, we're having a hell of a lot more success now than we were four years ago.
4. Romney added, "[T]his president cannot tell us that you are better off today than when he took office."
Of course he can. I'm not sure who Romney is referring to you with "you," but for Americans, economic growth, job creation, the stock market, the auto industry, the deficit, and the manufacturing sector are all better off now than in January 2009.
5. Romney complained, "[G]asoline prices have doubled."
To call this comically misleading would be an understatement.
6. Romney went on to claim, "Today more Americans wake up in poverty than ever before."
That's insane. The percentage of Americans in poverty is high, but it's been much higher many times.
7. Referencing Obama, Romney said, "His policies have not helped create jobs."
It's not a matter of opinion, it's a matter of fact: Obama has helped create more jobs -- over 4.4 million of them in the private sector. Independent economists agree that the Recovery Act was crucial to improving U.S. job creation.
8. Again in reference to the president, Romney argued, "His plan to raise taxes on small business won't add jobs, it will eliminate them."
Obama has repeatedly cut taxes on small businesses -- by some counts, 18 times -- and if given a second term, his tax plan would have no effect on 97% of small businesses.
9. Romney added, "His trillion dollar cuts to our military will eliminate hundreds of thousands of jobs, and also put our security at greater risk;"
Romney's not only lying, he's also condemning defense cuts crafted by his own party and endorsed by his own running mate.
10. Romney went on to argue, "His $716 billion cut to Medicare to finance Obamacare will both hurt today's seniors, and depress innovation -- and jobs -- in medicine."
Sigh.
11. Romney said "unlike the president," he has a jobs plan.
Romney doesn't have to like the American Jobs Act, but he shouldn't get away with brazenly lying about its existence.
12. Romney added that his jobs plan would "create 12 million new jobs."
As it turns out, if we do nothing, we're on track to create 12 million new American jobs over the next four years anyway.
13. Romney argued, "[L]et me make this very clear -- unlike President Obama, I will not raise taxes on the middle class."
That's actually two lies in one. First, Obama approved one of the largest middle-class tax cuts in American history. (Note to Romney: cutting taxes and raising taxes are not the same thing.) Second, there's ample evidence that Romney will raise taxes on the middle class.
14. Romney said President Obama began his presidency "with an apology tour."
When the book is written on the biggest lies of the Romney campaign, this will be chapter one.
15. Romney went on to say, "President Obama has thrown allies like Israel under the bus."
Officials in Israel say the opposite is true.
16. Romney added, "He abandoned our friends in Poland by walking away from our missile defense commitments."
Officials in Eastern Europe say this claim isn't true.
17. Romney asked, "Does the America we want borrow a trillion dollars from China?"
This continues to be misleading. The implication here is that U.S. debt is financed by the Chinese, but this isn't true -- China only holds about 8% of the nation's debt.
18. In an interview with Fox News, asked about "putting back" that $716 billion in savings, Romney said, "Restoring that money to Medicare does not make it less solvent, it makes it more solvent."
Romney is either profoundly ignorant about the basics of how Medicare works, or he's blatantly lying.
19. Romney complained "the president accuses me of being a felon."
The president never said that. A campaign aide said it may be a felony that Romney's SEC filings are inconsistent with Romney's public claims about his Bain work.
20. Romney also whined, "They have a PAC which says that I'm responsible for someone's death and he won't distance himself from that."
First, the PAC is a separate entity from the president's campaign. Second, Obama did distance himself from the allegation. In fact, he specifically told a briefing room full of reporters, "I don't think that Governor Romney is somehow responsible for the death of the woman that was portrayed in that ad. But keep in mind this is an ad that I didn't approve, I did not produce, and as far as I can tell, has barely run."
21. Romney went on to say, "I think Planned Parenthood, given the fact that it's a major provider of abortions, shouldn't be receiving federal funding."
That's wildly misleading. The law already prevents Planned Parenthood from using public funds to terminate pregnancies.
22. In his latest weekly audio message, Romney said the president "won't even try" to create jobs "anymore."
In reality, Obama has pleaded with Congress to act, and continues to call for action on Capitol Hill. Republicans refuse.
23. At a campaign event in Powell, Ohio, Romney said Obama made "difficult" economic conditions "worse."
24. Referencing his one term as governor, Romney boasted, "I was able to get unemployment down to 4.7 percent."
Actually, the unemployment rate in Massachusetts dropped because so many people dropped out of the state's workforce. In reality, Massachusetts' job creation record during Romney's term was "one of the worst in the country," ranking 47th out of 50 states.
25. In the same speech, Romney said the U.S. has "the highest taxes in the world on corporations."
American corporations do not pay the highest tax rates in the world.
26. Romney also said, "[W]e're at a 30-year low in this country for new business startups."
27. Romney added, "[T]he president's vision ... takes us down a road to Europe."
The irony is, Europe is trying to grow through austerity, just as Romney intends to do here. He's lying in a self-refuting sort of way.
28. At a campaign event in Commerce, Michigan, Romney once again said Obama argued "if you have a business you didn't build it, someone else did that."
That's not even close to being true.
29. At the same event, Romney promised, "I'm going to work very hard to finally get America to a balanced budget by cutting the deficit and getting it to zero."
No, actually he's not. Romney says his plan "can't be scored," but independent budget analysts have found his agenda would make the deficit bigger, not smaller, and add trillions to the national debt.
30. In the same breath, Romney said Paul Ryan's budget has "shown the courage to actually" balance the budget.
Paul Ryan's budget doesn't balance the budget. It's a fraudulent document, featuring numbers that don't add up.
Previous editions of Chronicling Mitt's Mendacity: Vol. I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII,XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, XVII, XVIII, XIX, XX, XXI, XXII, XXIII, XXIV, XXV, XXVI, XXVII, XXVIII, XXIX, XXX, XXXI
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Wow. You got last night's lies into today's Chronicle. Nice work.
Not ONE mention of Afghanistan by Romney or any commentator??
Not ONE MENTION of our troops serving!!!
Those absences have more actual meaning to our country than any else that happened at this convention.
Afghanistan & Iraq are now officially forgotten wars.
Now we have the mental & emotional decks clear to start another one in Iran. Joy.
The sad thing is MOST Americans do not think of the troops either. It is hard to "remember" that there are wars going on when you hardly watch the national news (but WILL watch every episode of Survivor or American Idol) or read a paper. Yes it should have been mentioned at the convention - which again a huge chunk of the population did not watch anyway - but it is not just the Republican leadership and candidates that are not "mentioning" it....it is and has been cleared from the mental and emotional decks of a lot of folks.
Skip, I don't think that's really true. There are yellow ribbons tied to trees all around town, for soldiers who are serving from my area. Also, just the other day, my stepdaughter was working at our local supermarket, and a soldier in fatigues came through her line. He was freshly home from overseas and couldn't get his debit card to work. When he asked my stepdaughter if she could set his order aside (about $50 worth of staples, not just a few items), the couple in line behind him spoke up and said they would pay for his groceries, and they would not take no for an answer. He left, my stepdaughter said, with an ear-splitting grin on his face and tears in his eyes. So while politicians may have forgotten about the Afghan conflict (and the soldiers they shoved into it), American citizens have not. The American public takes care of its own; it's a pity our elected representatives appear to have forgotten what this means.
I love that story. I brought a tear to my eye. My stint in public service started at LA Vets, now called US Vets. Back then it was a pilot program started by a veteran who spent many years on skid row in Los Angeles. They provide housing and employment services to homeless veteran, and I am proud to service with them.
It's obvious how the Republicans mean to create jobs - go to war in 6 countries in addition to keeping it going in Iraq and Afghanistan, hire everyone who isn't a military contractor in a defense plant, screw the environment while we "use every bit of oil, gas, coal, and everything else in our nation's rich natural resources", the poor can join the army for a job while all the mediocre uneducated disaffected males are working to produce nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction["a nation so strong that no one will DARE to challenge"], and with the women all pregnant [Protecting the sanctity of Life], there will be no competition for jobs from women.
Doesn't work for me. Elect a Democratic Congress and President Obama and let President Obama have a chance to put into practice what he has tried over and over to do.
(OH, did you notice that NOBODY's speech used MR. President or President Obama - they called him "the President", but plain "Obama" and "Mr. Obama" while they keep using the proper terminology for Mitt Romney by calling him Governor Romney even though he isn't anymore.)
I pray that the human population of America votes for what we wanted when we elected PRESIDENT Obama.
Our church has a diningroom at the Minnesota state fair. Two marines came in to eat and their bill was paid by two older men sitting nearby as a thank you for their service.
They are merely taking a page from TeeVee advertising.
Do you believe that "New and Improved" really is either?
That any of those $19.95 products- "wait, there's more!"- actually deliver on their hype?
Of course you don't. Yet, millions of dollars are made every day by these hucksters.
"Mitt Romney-guaranteed to lower your taxes, raise your libido, and remove that ugly belly fat! Shipping and handling extra."
Thanks for the chuckle.
In my experience, those $19.95 products, and the claims made about them, are much more truthful than any claims made by a Republican politician and I have been far more satisfied with them than I have with anything any Republican politician has done or said.
Mighty Putty? Great stuff. Performs as advertised. Yoshi Knife? Pretty damn outstanding little piece of cutlery for the price. The peeler that came with it is pretty good, too. That clearcoat scratch hider stuff? I mean, it's not a $500.00 trip to the bodyshop, but it did a surprisingly fine job. That Snuggie binkie with arms thing? Got one for my notoriously cold-natured bother as a gag gift and he apparently now lives in the damn thing from October until April.
And the reason those things work more as advertised than, say, "compassionate conservatism," supply side economics, deregulation, and the Project for a New American Century and the hoards of poor benighted little Iraqis "welcoming us as liberators," is that advertisers can be held accountable for their promises in civil actions under, any of a number of federal statutes, whereas the only thing a conservative ever seems to get for being wrong is a reward of some kind.
Brilliant comment, Steve.
"6. Romney went on to claim, "Today more Americans wake up in poverty than ever before."
The percentage"
Romney's claim is true though deliberately misleading -- "more" refers to the number of poor people not the percentage.
The fumbling and mumbling Romney never really did lead in his life. Romney was the coward hiding in the shadows as he plotted on how he was going to screw and manipulate people. Than Romney had other people do his dirty work. The blind Republicans can squawk all they want trying to say Romney is a nice guy, but his record shows something else. Did Romney go to those companies he destroyed to talk to the people why they were loosing their jobs and pensions? No, he hid like a coward afraid to talk to those people on how he really screwed and manipulated them with lies. That in no way is a leader of any sort. It takes some actual convictions, morals, and ethics to do the right thing, not play a pretend fantasy that you are the world’s best leader in arrogance. Romney worships money, not God just as it was so plainly explained at the Republican Convention of Deceivers and Liars. Romney cannot give up his money, because money has more value to him than God. Jesus said to the rich man give up your wealth and follow me. And what happened, Romney said No, I must have my wealth. Don’t believe these falsehoods they are pushing onto you by the blind Republicans, extremists of hatred, and extreme wealthy they are deceivers and liars.
The sheer narrowness of the vision celebrated last night -- kinder, kuche, kirche for all -- the absolute demand for conformity among those who 'count' (your family, your church, and the business you make money from) without a single nod to any other entity in the entire world as important was shocking to me.
I thought Romney's line about how glorious it was to wake up on Sundays and see that everyone in your neighborhood was up and doing the same thing -- obviously going to church, no? In an exclusively Christian neighborhood, no?
They have not got one single clue about what creates society, about the multiple overlapping and interdependent networks that make up a society. It's all discrete little egos, their cloned families, and their cloned 'neighbors'...nothing else exists for them.
What a sad, narrow and basically diminished life.
"kinder, kuche, kirche "
Cloistered folk, be they Mormons, Evangelicals, or Hassidic Jews, are missing the best part of America- the Melting Pot!
There is something wrong with an American who is proud that he does not have a passport.
Yesterday I read a comment {sorry don't remember where} in which the poster used a new word:
quotoshopped
- referring of course to quotes taken out of context and distorted.
We don't accept the validity of pictures that are "photoshopped" and likewise should not accept quotes that are "quotoshopped".
Nice one. I like.
Good one. That's why the English language hasn't been closed off from new additions. This is unlike what the GOTea wants which is to chop it down to Wingspeak which rules out thinking outside the epistemic closure of Wingnuttery.
Re: #8.2
And that is why we have an English language dictionary - had to look up "epistemic".
Epistemic logic is the logic of knowledge and belief. It provides insight into the properties of individual knowers, has provided a means to model complicated scenarios involving groups of knowers and has improved our understanding of the dynamics of inquiry.
How can this be used to understand Wingnuttery?
Look up "epistemic closure." It's a frightening concept that is what wingnuttery is all about.
maphi,
It means the wingnuts have closed off all sources of facts, reasoning, and worldview that doesn't match an approved list of sources of facts, reasoning, and worldview. It's how we've ended up with the Fox-educated wingnut ignoramuses, i.e., the Useful Idiots to the Republican cause.
Try these:
- http://www.juliansanchez.com/2010/04/07/epistemic-closure-technology-and-the-end-of-distance/
- http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-chait/the-great-epistemic-closure-debate
- http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/28/books/28conserv.html
The highlight of the convention was when it ended.
Amen!!!!!
I agree 100%.
I have always thought that an mtv "pop up video" style of editing of the speeches would be awesome!
I sure hope you're not going to end up doing Vol. XXXVI of this thing six months into a new Romney administration!!
Won't have too!!!
It wouldn't take 6 whole months to need one.
Don't every forget, that Republicans are buddies with corporations that own media companies. (They are people you know.) The big bosses will gladly plaster a Democrat for a lie, but nary a peep when it's a Republican
I think, from now on, no politician should be allowed to talk about getting us into a new war before talking about how they plan on getting us out of our current war.
I have come to see that the Romney campaign wants everyone to believe they are lying. He will never commit to a firm position in public, so he can tell private audiences what ever they want to hear.
The Tea Party thinks the moderate posit
ions are a lie and they can control him in the White House. The moderates (where ever they are) think he is lying to appease the crazy far right, and he will revert to moderation in office. He WANTS people to believe he is telling expedient lies!
Mitt even lied about his father's death. It wasn't the missing rose that tipped his mom off - it was his dad's body sprawled across the treadmill
http://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/27/obituaries/george-romney-dies-at-88-a-leading-gop-figure.html
I didn't see a way to delete my previous comment. It was pointed out to me that both his story and the obit could be true. She went looking for him when there was no rose. I will give him the benefit of the doubt and am posting this add on because I'd hate for anyone to repeat this when there could be a reasonable explanation.
What was that line about lying liars that lie....?
A couple extra of the more egregious
Ladies and Gentlemen so ends Benen's Bull@!$%#.
Re: #16
That statement is an example of a statement being quotoshopped!!!!
Your aim is off today, Shooter. Time to hit the practice gym.
Don't you advise your fellow trolls never to curse? Tsk, tsk.
Thanks for providing a translation Shooter! I have always wondered how the Tea Drinkers could translate facts into total BS, and now I know.
Now translate it into Spanish...er...sorry I forgot who you were for a sec...never mind.
Shooter, you are plagiarizing again. You should really give Fox News credit for all that!!!
In order for wingnutters, and especially libertarian wingnutters, to get through the day, they have to have been born with an irony deficiency. Example: Mr. Mitty fact-checking facts. Hahahahahaha... That dickweed would explode if he had a sense of irony.
What a clown.
REPUBLICAN THEME WAS OBAMA WAS A ABSENTEE PRESIDENT OR MIA OR AWOL.Thats what the Empty chair repersented.that srcipt was for the hillbilly repubs that have been led to beleave Obama is not AMERICAN .the republican plan is lies that they have told about obama .o h @!$%# sirens going off T -warnings
Last night was Mitt Romney's chance to glow. His chance to define himself to a much broader electorate. I've thought about why during this most important night for Mitt the RNC, or perhaps Mitt's campaign staff, would bring in Clint Eastwood and risk upstaging Mitt's moment.
I was doing a little shopping today, got my haircut, riding around town in my vehicle and slipped in a different CD and the first song that played made me think of Mitt's moment (disastrous or glorious) last night, and well here's that song: lonely stranger
Oh, well. I liked it!!;-}
I think Romney has decided "that the end justifies the means." Romney is going to say whatever he thinks will give him a boost. Could be interesting if Obama, during a debate, asks Romney to produce facts to support his words.
I can't say where I am politically. I used to think I was pretty Conservative, but than they seem to have changed what that term means beyond recognition.
Far too much Republican rhetoric lately seems to be designed for people that believe "If they say it from a podium it has to be true and another reason we should slavishly follow them."
Rachel,
You and your readers may like this article I wrote in April addressing the "mendacity" of Republicans in general and Romney in particular in context of the play "Cat on A Hot Tin Roof" http://goodmenproject.com/politics-2/elephant-on-a-hot-tin-roof/
It is ROMNEY who said (over and over again), "if you have a business you didn't build it, someone else did that." That is NOT a "direct and verifiable quote from Obama." It is a deliberately altered version of what he said. Obama's actual words make it clear that he was talking about the infrastructure within which businesses operate, a point he and others had been making for months. To change the words and assert that those were Obama's actual words, to deliberately change the meaning is unethical and dishonest.
For those who don't get the point: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5gwvuaIV9o&feature=g-upl
Perhaps the admission that when starting Bain, he didn't trust himself to manage his own church's retirement accounts even when his partners put up their church funds for investments, speaks volumes. If he doesn't trust himself how can he ask others to trust him? Judging by the amount of half-truths and outright lies that come from him and his surrogates, I sure as hell can't trust Mittster.
He plans to not raise taxes on the middle class by eliminating it altogether. Once we are all impoverished then we'll be leeches who "need to pay our fair share".
Rachel,
You and (some) of your readers may enjoy this article I wrote in April comparing Mitt's mendacity to that in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof."
http://goodmenproject.com/politics-2/elephant-on-a-hot-tin-roof/
Last week, Romney said: "No one's ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that we were born and raised." Last night, listening to Romney's comments about his father's birth in Mexico, I thought to myself, both Romney and Obama have father's born outside of the US, why has the birther movement been raised for one and not the other? There is no difference between Obama and Romney's situations in this matter except that Romney doesn't "look" Mexican...whatever that means.