Associated Press
The total of Romney falsehoods keeps going up.
First Lady Michelle Obama delivered a beautiful speech at the Democratic National Convention this week, which was very well received. There were a few phrases in particular, though, that seemed to strike a chord.
Referencing her and President Obama's families, she said, almost in passing, "We learned about honesty and integrity -- that the truth matters, that you don't take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules, and success doesn't count unless you earn it fair and square."
Those three words -- "the truth matters" -- drew a hearty response. In context, the First Lady wasn't going after anyone in particular, and she didn't accuse anyone, even indirectly, of dishonesty. But I suspect people applauded not just because it's worthwhile maxim, but because this year, it seems clear there are some who believe the truth doesn't matter.
Consider, for example, the 33rd installment of my weekly series, chronicling Mitt's mendacity. This week's list is considerably shorter than usual because Mitt Romney spent several days out of the public eye, preparing for next month's debates. It does not include the media availability he did this morning (I haven't seen the transcript yet).
1. Mitt Romney told Fox News this week, "You know, no one in the [Democratic] convention so far has had the temerity to say that people are better off in America, because they realize it's not the case."
Actually, it is the case, and nearly every speaker at the Democratic convention has said so.
2. In the same interview, Romney said he rejects "the decision of the president to slash our military by a trillion dollars over this decade."
3. Romney went on to say "there's no question" President Obama took "work out of welfare" and "waived the work requirement in welfare."
I continue to believe this is as blatant a lie as any modern presidential candidate has told. It simply has no connection to our plane of reality, but Romney keeps repeating it.
4. Asked about the president's rescue of the American auto industry, Romney told Fox, "Well, my view from the beginning was that the auto companies needed to go through a managed bankruptcy. And ultimately, that's what the president did."
Romney can take credit for Obama's policy, or he can condemn Obama's policy, but to do both is obviously dishonest (and more than a little ridiculous).
5. In his weekly podcast, Romney boasted, "I have a plan to create 12 million new jobs."
Putting aside the pesky detail that Romney doesn't actually have a specific jobs plan, the fact remains that if we do nothing, we're on track to create 12 million new American jobs over the next four years anyway.
6. In the same podcast, Romney vowed he'll be able to "cut the deficit and put America on track to a balanced budget."
Actually, 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.
7. Romney added, "[W]e must rein in the skyrocketing cost of healthcare by repealing and replacing Obamacare."
That's plainly false, and the Romney campaign has never even tried to defend it.
8. Romney went on to say, "[L] me make this very clear -- unlike President Obama, I will not raise taxes on the middle class of America."
That's actually two falsehoods 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.
9. Romney once again claimed, "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.
10. Romney added, "President Obama has thrown allies like Israel under the bus."
Officials in Israel say the opposite is true.
11. Romney also said of the president, "He abandoned our friends in Poland by walking away from our missile defense commitments."
Officials in Eastern Europe say this claim isn't true.
12. Romney added, "Does the America we want borrow a trillion dollars from China? No."
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. No one has borrowed a trillion dollars from China; no one intends to borrow a trillion dollars from China; no one has recommended borrowing a trillion dollars from China.
13. In a speech in Cincinnati, Romney said Obama falsely promised "he was going to create more jobs."
14. In the same speech, Romney said Obama intends to "raise taxes on our best small businesses."
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.
15. In a speech in Jacksonville, Romney claimed, "We're at a 30-year low in startups of new businesses."
16. In a speech in Lakeland, Florida, Romney said of the president, "He doubled the deficit."
Maybe Romney doesn't know what "double" means. The deficit on Obama's first day was $1.3 trillion. Last year, it was also $1.3 trillion. This year, it's projected to be $1.1 trillion. When he says the president "more than doubled" the deficit, as he has many times, Romney's lying.
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, XXXII
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Romney said that the auto bailout would mean the very death of the auto industry. Saying that he suggested this route is beyond ridiculous.
Not that ridiculous - he has said he likes to fire people!
Vulture/Voucher 2012
Proving Two Rights DO Make a Wrong!
;-)
If a liar's pants really did catch on fire, Romney would be a disaster area: http://www.policymic.com/articles/13967/romney-ryan-lies-iraq-war-should-remind-us-why-we-must-reject-republicans-in-election-2012
I think we should do a lie detector test on Romney
oh i believe he will have 12 million new jobs for his rich friends butlers, maids Chauffeur, cooks, hookers ,bartenders,cigar makers, money launderers , cleaning ladies ,barbers, any job that serves them they will need they may even get rid of the child labor laws so they can have shoe shine boys.
Bill Clinton was impeached for lying for relatively minor issues. Mitt Romney, on the other hand should he be elected, won't stand a chance and will be impeached for his obvious uncontrollable compulsion to lie to the American people and removed from office.
I'm afraid you're wrong. Clinton was impeached for telling a stupid lie under oath. Mitt, knowing himself, won't take any oath after (ugh) and IF, he takes the oath of office. (Ugh again)
We're up to Vol. 33 already. If Mitt said a tenth of these things under oath, he'd be satisfying a tattooed cellmate and buying buckets of Preparation H from the prison commissary.
Clinton was NOT impeached. They tried. Ken Starr just like Nixon did to Ted Kennedy with Watergate what Starr tried to do with Clintion. To take down a good man no matter the cost.
im·peach
verb (used with object)
1.
to accuse (a public official) before an appropriate tribunal of
misconduct in office.
Diane !! Time to do your homework young lady!!
one more via james fallows
As part of his indictment of the Administration's economic failures, Romney said that in past eras,
"...none doubted that here in America they could build a better life, that in America their children would be more blessed than they.
But today, four years from the excitement of the last election, for the first time, the majority of Americans now doubt that our children will have a better future. "
As it turns out, the part that's highlighted is wrong.
Or so says the person who played a big part in designing the "future better than the past?" question for political pollsters nearly 30 years ago, our own Samuel "Dr." Popkin of UCSD.
In a note he prepared today, and that Doyle McManus has mentioned for the LA Times, Popkin says that the truth is just the opposite of what Romney claimed:"The only time since 1984 when there was widespread optimism about the future in the polls was in the last year of William Jefferson Clinton, and never under Presidents, Reagan, or either Bush."
full details:http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/08/ask-dr-popkin-the-romney-whopper-watch/261863/
Steve... write that book. This stuff needs to be shared with the general public instead of just the people who read this site. It needs to be heard.
I'm afraid we're fooling ourselves, ResevoirAngel. Polls tell us that there are a lot of people who will hold their nose and vote for MittRyan, not caring that he's a documented liar. The undecideds in the swing states are, I'm afraid, looking only at the economy as it now is, and asking themselves the simplistic question about 4 years ago.
ah. so the plan can't be "scored" but he is sure it will create bunches of new jobs, jobs that evidently will come about no matter what.
And of course more false witnessing, claiming people didnt' say what they did this time.
Mitt the Lying Twit strikes again.
Waiiit a second - I think I just figured out what Willard's jobs plan is: do nothing (or at least do nothing for that part of America that needs "jobs")!
Vulture/Voucher 2012
Proving Two Rights DO Make a Wrong!
;-)
Like "self-deportation" is a viable solution for our need for immigration reform: If he just does nothing, all the problems will go away.
That's why Romney and Ryan are just twitching and lying and GOP congress would not pass 2011 job bill proposed by Obama>>would have created 1.1 million new jobs. There is something seriously wrong with the GOP!!!!!!!!!!
And the FOX viewers who parrot the lies on blogs-apparently something did not sound "odd" about Obama this and Obama did that wrong. ?? I watched FOX for 8 yrs of Bush W,,the day Obama took office, FOX fell off the deep end. It was OBVIOUS they had it in for him. Just like GOP leaders said>>"we'll make him a one term president."
Those of you who relish in name calling to the Democrats-"OBAMA is cleaning up the GOP MESS," and did it with you and FOX bashing him left and right. Do you know no shame?
If Christian, what set of commandments are you anti Obama people following?
Name calling, lying, pridefullness, coveting, and not appreciative of a good public servant's sacrifice and hard work??
If hate and lies BEGUN 30 days in to Obama's first term do not sound bad to your ears while watching FOX, YOU HAVE A PROBLEM AND IT AIN'T OBAMA!
FOX didn't lie about Bush, which is why you may be hoodwinked. Try watching a few news channels, read an independent paper.
Hate only brews where you let it.
And just what do you think our young voters think of this public display of lies?
Oh, I know, the young people-the one last thing in this country the GOP has not destroyed-they are working on that now!
Those 20 yr olds that believed the GOP and were shown during the DNC, if they watched, that the GOP had been lying. Wow. What a crying shame to demoralize these young people.
I was going to watch Romney's speech last week, but I tuned in at 10 and got freaked out by some old actor talking to the furniture.
So I just now read the transcript. Romney didn't say anything new--same old platitudes sprinkled with the same lies. Nothing of substance. Nothing that could be "scored." He clearly wants to be the referendum alternative-- "anyone but Obama."
That won't be enough. Lying about Obama's record won't be enough. Mitt needs something of substance to offer, and he can't. He can't because he's trying to offer every interest group something different.
You should have watched it. He tried to look like a poor puppy. He actually smacked his mouth 101 times.
It's ironic, that he said let Detroit go bankrupt, when he was from there, no loyalty to his home state at all, it's not like there were banks lineing up to loan money when our government stepped into this dog fight. He honestly summed it up when they said, were not going to be dictated by facts. at least he didn't flip flop on that one.
Is there an equivalent blog post accusing the president of lies, and backing up the accusations with appropriately reliable links? I mean, it is easy to find slavering Tea Party blogs that repeat stuff from conspiracy sites and blatantly right-wing sources, but I don't know of any that can really back up a lot of their claims. At some point, one always runs into some kind of distortion, quote-mining or fabrication.
I'm just wondering. I tend to keep to progressive news outlets and liberal blogs, and so can be easily accused of staying inside a left-wing echo chamber.
I have tried, but alas, there are none that I have yet to be able to find! Nothing based on facts, just crazy, right wing rhetoric. I will keep looking though!
It just amazes me how so many people can believe so much garbage based on rhetoric and lies and be willing to vote against their own interests!
Check out http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/; it lists statements from both candidates and rates them.
For an interesting twist, if you want to see where the really scary people are, try gretawire. They have no facts to support, but 5 minutes on there will offset a year on maddowblog.
The relative brevity of this week's installment drives home one simple point: the volume of Mitt's lies for any given time period is directly proportional to the amount of time he speaks.
How can you tell Mitt is lying? His lips are moving ...
Steve-- I know you are really busy just keeping track of Mitt's lies. But do you have anyone that could catalog his flip-flops? Some of them are part(s) of his lies, but many are "stand alone." Some of them are flip-flop-flips, so I guess there would have to be several different categories.
It would be great to see them in a comprehensive list.
I think Flip-Flops is too cute a term for MItt Romneys Policy Reversals. I mean when you go from I will uphold and support Roe v Wade to I will work to reverse Roe v Wade you have a Policy Betrayal. He moves between the diametric opposites on policy values.
I have seen a video of his flip flops recently. I can't remember now which site I was on. Maybe it can be googled or on UTube? It was a very well done video with film clips from several years. Actually , one of the best ones was in the Kennedy film at the DNC. Shows Teddy facing him down on his lies, oops I mean mendacity. Why can't we call it what it is, LIES !
They might get an increase in jobs because big business is holding off from hiring to get President Obama out of office they don't want him in there
They don't want him to regulate them and they know they can control the Republican. I can't believe people can't see what the Republicans and big business is doing to this country.
They would dither kill this nation just to get Obama out and you the people that will vote for them will be helping them out
Irony is,
Even Republicans will feel the pain of Mitt's suggested policies just like everyone else (unless Mitt figures out how to reward his supporters)
The "Welfare Requirement" attack (lie) is amazing considering that in 2002, Ryan folded a provision into a House-backed version of President Bush’s welfare re-authorization bill that provided HIS home state “a significant break in meeting new federal work rules,” lowering the welfare work requirement from 70% to just 45%.
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/08/11/678531/paul-ryan-lowered-wisconsins-welfare-work-requirement-threshold-in-2002/
Hello, Pot. I see you've met Kettle. Let's discuss color.
I think that Romney clearly has reading and comprehension problems that cause him to misunderstand everything and provide his own version of events.
He also relies on a base that obviously has the same exact reading/comprehension problems that enable them to believe all his lies and the various and sundry other untruths that are perpetuated about our elected President.
Those are the only possible explanations I can see for the mass insanity that suggests Romney would make a better president for our country.
15% of GOP voters in Ohio and Nth Carolina think Mitt Romney polished off osama bin laden. Just reported this a.m. About 50% didn't know who did it.
Also, 20% of GOP voters do not believe Hawaii is a state. On all news channel a few months ago.
Two votes for improving our education system. And limiting FOX viewing.
When a foreign leader speaks in a language other than English, subtitles crawl across the screen with the translation. Also most political speeches are close capitioned for the hearing impaired. When Romney speaks I can't make any sense of what he says, and I need a real time text explanation or translation because he is TRUTH impaired.
Today in an interview with Bret Baier on Fox, Romney said this about the auto bailout: "Um, I don't think many people understand that the President took the car companies into bankruptcy. They went into bankruptcy exactly as I proposed so the difference between us is that I would have done it earlier than the President did and saved the American taxpayers about 20 billion dollars. That's a message that will come out in the debates and perhaps ads (laughs).
We need a split screen with Steve's translation appearing on every Romney media appearance.
Mitt actually did discuss a managed bankruptcy, and he will make this point during the debates. The real difference between Mitt's plan and Obama's plan was this: Mitt didn't want the government to be involved in the process at all; he wanted the private sector - banks, etc. - to bail out the auto industry. Of course he doesn't know enough about economics to understand that at the time Detroit needed that help, the private sector was not in any position to bail anyone out, much less the auto industry. Obama's successful actions are not what Mitt would have tried to do.
And here's the thing, too - if indeed Romney had had the same approach as the Prez' with regard to the auto industry rescue, then Romney would have been referring to his own idea as "tragic," and "a very sad circumstance for the country" when asked for his opinion on the bailout. So, the Romney camp is asking us to believe that Romney was actually "tsk-tsking" his very own plan.
And Willard needs a split lip, so he can talk out of both sides of his mouth simultaneously, and not have to wait until the next day.
KJ - My understanding is that Bain was one of those private sector entities asked, but unwilling, to aid in the auto industry restructuring.
NOBODY would give the auto companies the CASH MITT! Hasn't anyone told you that yet? Of course they have, you are just in love with your mendaciousness instead.
The Romney camp has no new ideas other than tax breaks for the rich at the expense of the poor and middle class and rolling back any and all regulations. The only avenue open to them is to repeat the same lies in the hope that the American electorate is stupid enough to believe it. Unfortuantely, we have a lot of stupid people in this country but not enough to get Romeny elected, it hope.
The guy is a corporate raider. That's what he does. This guy isn't even a politician. Just because he was a governor for 1 term, doesn't make him presidential material. especially when he left Massachusetts in worse condition than when he found it. And Ryan? people have no idea how bad these two are going to screw this country if given the chance. They'll make GeeDudya look like a moderate. It really is amazing. How the GOp, can screw up so badly, then turn around to blame it on the next guy, and want even more time to continue screwing up. Cause, they are going to stick to the same policies that got us in the mess.
I'm a singer/songwriter who has written a tune about the most prolific political liar in history. Thought it might resonate with some folks on here. This Mendacity column just drives me nuts!! Anyway, give it a look/listen, it's danceable and catchy (I'd like to think):
http://youtu.be/RXnZ8UNQou4
Elliot, nice work. You have a great voice!
Thanks, JesseJones! That's very kind of you.
Hey, Jesse is right. You do have a great voice. Nice song, too.
Thank you Gmyfanwy!
More liberal-themed songs/videos at:
http://www.youtube.com/user/themadlefty/videos
Elliot Astur...
President Barack Obama wants to give you a hug.
Do you accept?
I accept. And I promise not to lift him up like that pizza guy, even though that was really cool!
GO is boycotting his pizza joint now. Oh the GOP is sparkling in it's mendacity.
We know Rotting Romeny does two things will:
1) He kills corporations, raids their coffers and pension plans for the profit of his investors and himself while outsourcing American jobs to places like China, and
2) He doesn't know math, which leads me to believe that someone else was crunching the numbers at Bain.
Maybe his thought on China own 100% of America's debt is an indication of where his administration will borrow money from if elected.
I'm beginning to wonder if that's even his name
No matter how many times he says it is, "Mitt" is NOT his "first name" (he lies about that, too). Check out the 1:24 mark in this YouTube video from the "Legitimate"-Rape-Public-CON "debate" of 11/22/2011 where Willard specifically claims that "Mitt" is his first name:
Hello, He Lied!
It's beyond ridiculous.
Vulture/Voucher 2012
Proving Two Rights DO Make a Wrong!
;-)
I honestly can't understand how anyone in their right mind can vote for Romney.
Ding Ding!
All this was inspired by the principle--which is quite true within itself--that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying.
—Adolf Hitler , Mein Kampf, vol. I, ch. X
Makes you wonder if that's where Mitt is getting his ideas.
Watchingforredflags - thank you for sharing that. It could not fit any better than it does.
JesseJones - I doubt Mitt could read and really comprehend that passage; he could very easily, however, have it spoon-fed to him by Karl Rove or someone like that.
The lying is bad enough. But what's really frightening is that people just buy it without checking up or caring. If he wins it will destroy this country. I remember being really scared that Bush was going to get elected, and then he did. And what he did was bad enough. Under Romney things would be a lot worse.
People in divers places have more integrity than the REPPUPPETCANS!!!!
Has Colin Powell endorsed Obama yet? If not, what is he waiting for?
To not thank the troops for the service to this country or to acknowledge that we are still at war is appalling. Maybe we can start using the Bush lines/lies that if Willard is elected, we will be hit with another terrorist attack on our soil.