For much of August, Mitt Romney proudly embraced as obvious a lie as has ever been heard in presidential politics. The Republican insisted -- in speeches, interviews, and ads -- that President Obama had "gutted the work requirement" in welfare law. He was blatantly lying, but didn't care.
Over the last month or so, Romney moved on to different lies, most notably about the auto industry, but in the campaign's closing days, the racially-charged welfare lie has made a comeback.
This unannounced attack ad, running in several key states, makes a series of claims, most of them false, but in making its indictment against the president, the ad argues at the outset that Obama "gutted the work requirement for welfare."
This isn't just another lie; it's presidential politics at its most disgusting.
What's more, Romney isn't relying on misleading technicalities, or hiding in some ambiguous gray area between fact and fiction. This is just a demonstrable, racially-inflammatory lie -- and the candidate knows it.
In case anyone's forgotten, Obama didn't gut the work requirements. As Romney knows, several governors, some of them Republican, asked the Obama administration for some flexibility on the existing welfare law, and the White House said that'd be fine, so long as the work requirement isn't weakened. It's consistent with the policy endorsed by many Republican governors, including Romney himself, just six years ago.
The law remains very much intact. Every independent fact-checker in the country has rejected the lie, as have Bill Clinton and the Republican architect of the 1996 welfare reform law. Romney/Ryan allies can't explain the lie, and Romney/Ryan staffers can't defend the lie.
And yet, Romney keeps repeating it.
We're well past the point at which this is an argument about policy. The question is now whether Mitt Romney has the integrity to hold national office -- or really whether he has any integrity at all.
With this ad, Romney is once again carefully extending his middle finger in reality's face. He doesn't care about getting caught -- his campaign has already said, "[W]e're not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact checkers" -- he just cares about what he can get away with as part of his quest for power.
This is the national political scandal of 2012, whether the political world wants to admit it or not.
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i always appreciate Rachel Maddow's well thought out essays on the state of politics..The issue of poverty ..welfare recipients & those individuals professionally & personally who struggle every day with the systemic issues that come with this should take a really good look at this article. It has become more and more obvious that Mr.Romney is so far removed from the truth that he would take to the airwaves to perpetuate lie after lie. He will never be a president that can be trusted to have all of Americans' backs. President Barrack Obama is a man who has had to endure so much...for so long from an agenda that serves to undermine truth, integrity & the pursuit of happiness! Mr.Romney is heading into territory that is ...frankly...treasonous! The President has demonstrated courage under fire every time. If people need any reminding about where Mr.Romney's heart really is....just replay the video where he says what he really thinks ...when he thinks those that don't matter aren't listening.....
Are there no Republican surrogates (with may be a pass on Chris Christie) with any integrity left? To allow such blatant lies to be spewed unchallenged, condemns them all as being complicit in the propagation of these lies. Is it because, unlike the CEO's of GM and Chrysler, who are most likely Republicans, would be implicated and therefore stand to ultimately lose financially, these surrogates do not believe they will pay a price?
This has been the very obvious strategy of the robme campaign from day one. LIE LIE LIE and keep LYING , knowing the media and press would hesitate to call it a LIE. NOW that it is blatantly obvious , it is IMPERATIVE that the LIES be called LIES and exposed. Chrysler should have taken a front page ad in USA Today and other national newspapers to call out the LIE. All the " mistatements" over the last 6 months have been intentionally distorting of the truth. Call them out on the lies. Please copy and paste to your own facebook accounts the facts and corrections. Help stop this rogue regime. The LIES coupled with voter suppression was a plan to steal this election.
Mitt Romney collecting and donating goods collected in a non-political campaign event in Ohio and other states, but not in New York. New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia were impacted by hurricane Sandy but the worst hit was New Jersey and New York. A non-political event held by Romney-Ryan in states not as severely impacted says a lot about his non-political motives. And Romney still would not answer if FEMA would be eliminated if he got elected. His mormon religion must be foremost in his daily thought process.
Romney has since changed his mind and asked that relief supplies and donation be sent to New York via the Red Cross.
I'm at a loss as to how anyone can call themselves TEA-Republicans after the close association Romney has with Paul Ryan, Todd Akin, Roger Rivard, Rick Berg and Richard Mourdock, who have been cast as women degraders in the worst light.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cat5SyMBSpk
Romney and his associates have also been accused of disenfranchising voters:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9TjVsQa57c
Then there are the outside groups who have subverted the system:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/big-sky-big-money/
It's painfully clear that, politically speaking, Mitt Romney is a liar and a panderer, nothing more. He wants to be president because he wants to be president. His cockamamie tax ideas, budgetary, military and social agendas are ridiculous and will be disastrous for the country.
When President Barack Obama began to rack up a long list of accomplishments beginning with taking us away from the precipice of financial ruin at the start of his term, rescuing the hostages from the pirates at sea, then ridding us of Osama Bin Laden and practically decimating his terrorist network, not to mention getting through the most hostile oppositional party resistance to rescue Americans from being held hostage to the insurance companies by passing his historical legislation on health reform, I knew there would not be a Republican Candidate that could take the White House back, and there still isn't one. What has surprised me is the news media that, after taking us to an ill-conceived war, continues to abide by the lies told by Republicans without concern for the ramifications of those lies leading to an ill-prepared and wrongfully elected Republican Presidential candidate like MItt Romney.
Romney is so desperate and fueled by mendacity, don't be surprised if his next move is to bring back Rev Wright and Bill Ayers
Are the "outraged Americans" in these Romneyvision(TM) ads hired actors? I find it fascinating that so many of "I don't care about the 47%" Mitt's alleged cheerleaders are shown as African-American, Latina, Asian, women and young voters... the very groups who overwhelmingly supported Mr. Obama for a second term. I also found the "bump in the road" ad deeply disturbing for its shameless hijacking of Occupy motifs.