Romney's Latest Lies

[_Kevin Graham]

The Amnesia Candidate

Just how stupid does Mitt Romney think we are? If you’ve been following his campaign from the beginning, that’s a question you have probably asked many times.

But the question was raised with particular force last week, when Mr. Romney tried to make a closed drywall factory in Ohio a symbol of the Obama administration’s economic failure. It was a symbol, all right — but not in the way he intended.

First of all, many reporters quickly noted a point that Mr. Romney somehow failed to mention: George W. Bush, not Barack Obama, was president when the factory in question was closed. Does the Romney campaign expect Americans to blame President Obama for his predecessor’s policy failure?

Yes, it does. Mr. Romney constantly talks about job losses under Mr. Obama. Yet all of the net job loss took place in the first few months of 2009, that is, before any of the new administration’s policies had time to take effect. So the Ohio speech was a perfect illustration of the way the Romney campaign is banking on amnesia, on the hope that voters don’t remember that Mr. Obama inherited an economy that was already in free fall.

How does the campaign deal with people who point out the awkward reality that all of the “Obama” job losses took place before any Obama policies had taken effect? The fallback argument — which was rolled out when reporters asked about the factory closure — is that even though Mr. Obama inherited a deeply troubled economy, he should have fixed it by now. That factory is still closed, said a Romney adviser, because of the failure of Obama policies “to really get this economy going again.”

Actually, that factory would probably still be closed even if the economy had done better — drywall is mainly used in new houses, and while the economy may be coming back, the Bush-era housing bubble isn’t.

But Mr. Romney’s poor choice of a factory for his photo-op aside, I guess accusing Mr. Obama of not doing enough to promote recovery is a better argument than blaming him for the effects of Bush policies. However, it’s not much better, since Mr. Romney is essentially advocating a return to those very same Bush policies. And he’s hoping that you don’t remember how badly those policies worked.

For the Bush era didn’t just end in catastrophe; it started off badly, too. Yes, Mr. Obama’s jobs record has been disappointing — but it has been unambiguously better than Mr. Bush’s over the comparable period of his administration.

This is especially true if you focus on private-sector jobs. Overall employment in the Obama years has been held back by mass layoffs of schoolteachers and other state and local government employees. But private-sector employment has recovered almost all the ground lost in the administration’s early months. That compares favorably with the Bush era: as of March 2004, private employment was still 2.4 million below its level when Mr. Bush took office.

Oh, and where have those mass layoffs of schoolteachers been taking place? Largely in states controlled by the G.O.P.: 70 percent of public job losses have been either in Texas or in states where Republicans recently took control.

Which brings me to another aspect of the amnesia campaign: Mr. Romney wants you to attribute all of the shortfalls in economic policy since 2009 (and some that happened in 2008) to the man in the White House, and forget both the role of Republican-controlled state governments and the fact that Mr. Obama has faced scorched-earth political opposition since his first day in office. Basically, the G.O.P. has blocked the administration’s efforts to the maximum extent possible, then turned around and blamed the administration for not doing enough.

So am I saying that Mr. Obama did everything he could, and that everything would have been fine if he hadn’t faced political opposition? By no means. Even given the political constraints, the administration did less than it could and should have in 2009, especially on housing. Furthermore, Mr. Obama was an active participant in Washington’s destructive “pivot” away from jobs to a focus on deficit reduction.

And the administration has suffered repeatedly from complacency — taking a few months of good news as an excuse to rest on its laurels rather than hammering home the need for more action. It did that in 2010, it did it in 2011, and to a certain extent it has been doing the same thing this year too. So there is a valid critique one can make of the administration’s handling of the economy.

But that’s not the critique Mr. Romney is making. Instead, he’s basically attacking Mr. Obama for not acting as if George Bush had been given a third term. Are the American people — and perhaps more to the point, the news media — forgetful enough for that attack to work? I guess we’ll find out.

[_Drifting]

Romneys a Mormon and a Republican - the truth is superfluous to what both groups want you to believe.

[_krose]

A few of the lies I've heard from him in the last few days, including today:

- Obama promised to keep unemployment below 8%.

- Obama has been apologizing to the world for America and its success.

- His father grew up poor.

- Massachusetts health care is very different from the Affordable Care Act.


I would love to see some interviewer ask for detailed information when politicians make absurd claims. For example, when Mittens makes the stupid statement that 92% of the jobs lost since Obama took office are women, ask him what the specific policies were that caused these job losses.

[_Drifting]

A few of the lies I've heard from him in the last few days, including today:

- Obama promised to keep unemployment below 8%.

- Obama has been apologizing to the world for America and its success.

- His father grew up poor.

- Massachusetts health care is very different from the Affordable Care Act.


I would love to see some interviewer ask for detailed information when politicians make absurd claims. For example, when Mittens makes the stupid statement that 92% of the jobs lost since Obama took office are women, ask him what the specific policies were that caused these job losses.

Can you imagine his credibility on a worldwide stage if he got in as President? America would be a bit of a laughing stock after Romey gets the Michael Moore treatment...

[_Joyful]

A few of the lies I've heard from him in the last few days, including today:

- Obama promised to keep unemployment below 8%.

- Obama has been apologizing to the world for America and its success.

- His father grew up poor.

- Massachusetts health care is very different from the Affordable Care Act.


I would love to see some interviewer ask for detailed information when politicians make absurd claims. For example, when Mittens makes the stupid statement that 92% of the jobs lost since Obama took office are women, ask him what the specific policies were that caused these job losses.

Can you imagine his credibility on a worldwide stage if he got in as President? America would be a bit of a laughing stock after Romey gets the Michael Moore treatment...

You can't even spell Romney correctly. Who cares what you think!

[_aussieguy55]

There is a video on Gawker, I think obtained by the mole showing Hannity and Romney chatting about horses, telepropters (thinks they are helpful, also not Fox (Faux) attack on Obam for doing the same.

Another incidence is Doocey misquoting Obama.
"On Thursday, Doocy presented Obama's remark about not being born with a silver spoon in his mouth as a an attack on Romney. The Fox News host asked Romney to respond to Obama allegedly saying: "Unlike some people, I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth." In reality, the president had said, "Somebody gave me an education. I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth." "

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/2 ... ?ref=media
How do they get away with it?

[_krose]

You can't even spell Romney correctly. Who cares what you think!

Now there's some trenchant commentary.

[_moksha]

You can't even spell Romney correctly. Who cares what you think!

Now there's some trenchant commentary.

Krose fails to realize that if he spelled Romney correctly, he would be entitled to say anything else that came off the top of his head, when briefing Mitt on sound bites for media events.

[_Bond James Bond]

There is a video on Gawker, I think obtained by the mole showing Hannity and Romney chatting about horses, telepropters (thinks they are helpful, also not Fox (Faux) attack on Obam for doing the same.

Another incidence is Doocey misquoting Obama.
"On Thursday, Doocy presented Obama's remark about not being born with a silver spoon in his mouth as a an attack on Romney. The Fox News host asked Romney to respond to Obama allegedly saying: "Unlike some people, I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth." In reality, the president had said, "Somebody gave me an education. I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth." "

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/2 ... ?ref=media
How do they get away with it?

Great video. The best part was when he talked about his and Anne's horses. He even pronounced "dressage" in the French way. He's obviously more "of the people" than Obama.

[_Drifting]

You can't even spell Romney correctly. Who cares what you think!

Thanc ewe four pointing out meye spelling misstake.