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Last night’s debate for the remaining presidential candidates offered Mitt Romney a chance to try to turn his campaign around. He hasn’t had much luck lately, and confidence in his candidacy has been badly shaken, especially after Romney turned a double-digit lead in South Carolina into a double-digit defeat.
But one of the former governor’s more disconcerting qualities is his reliance on falsehoods to get back in the game.
I won’t fact-check every claim from the debate, but there were some doozies that should, if honesty in politics had more meaning, cause Romney and his team some headaches. He claimed Dodd-Frank was hurting community banks, but that’s not true. He said he never advocated for a national health care mandate, and that’s false, too. He repeated his misleading claim about the size of the U.S. Navy; he claimed not to have received an inheritance; and he claims his private-equity firm never did any work with the government. All of these claims are deceptive, if not demonstrably wrong.
The most irksome, though, was this claim:
“We have $15 trillion of debt. We’re headed to a, to a Greece- type collapse, and he adds another trillion on top for Obamacare and for his stimulus plan that didn’t create private-sector jobs. This president has failed.”
This is an important part of Romney’s indictment against the president, so it’s worth unpacking it a bit. Let’s take this one claim at a time.
* It’s true we have $15 trillion in debt, but the biggest chunk comes from Bush-era tax breaks. Romney wanted to make them permanent.
* Anyone who seriously believes U.S. fiscal challenges are in any way similar to Greece is a fool.
* The Affordable Care Act doesn’t add to the debt, it cuts the debt by hundreds of billions of dollars.
* The stimulus created millions of private-sector jobs. Indeed, take a look at private-sector job growth since the start of the recession:
Since March 2010, the U.S. economy has added 3.1 million private-sector jobs. Even playing by Republican rules, that’s 3.1 million more than zero.
And as for whether President Obama has “failed,” Mitt Romney has argued repeatedly this month that under Obama, the economy has “gotten better.” That sounds to me like the opposite of failure.
I’m not optimistic this will ever happen, but Romney’s penchant for dishonesty in high-profile settings deserves to be a story unto itself.
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c u n d gulag on January 24, 2012 8:06 AM:
Mitt wants to fix the country Bain-style.
Come in, fire and lay-off everyone, let the country go all the way downhill, and sell the asset's to the highest bidder.
Of course, he can't say that out loud, so he's lying.
Since Jon Huntsman speaks Mandarin, maybe Mitt should propose an all-Mormon ticket, and run him as his VP.
I think knowledge of China and Chinese will be very important soon.
SadOldVet on January 24, 2012 8:11 AM:
It would be good to see the graph again showing whose and what policies are the driving factors in the debt!
Mac on January 24, 2012 8:12 AM:
Yeah, Romney actually does seem like a pathological liar. It's pretty remarkable. Politicians stretch the truth all the time, but Romney is in a league of his own when it comes to rattling off self-serving fictions.
Hedda Peraz on January 24, 2012 8:15 AM:
You want the truth, Benen?
You can't handle the truth!
I'm running for president, for Pete's sake!
Ladyhawke on January 24, 2012 8:16 AM:
NEWT AND MITT EPITOMIZE TODAY'S REPUBLICAN PARTY
It's politics as a blood sport with the goal of protecting the wealthy and special interests at all costs. The disgraced former Speaker of the House and the wealthy flip flopping liar governor are perfect representatives for the GOP. We should not be surprised that at the end of the day the choice for Republican voters is an influence peddler and a vulture capitalist.
flyonthewall on January 24, 2012 8:16 AM:
"He repeated his misleading claim about the size of the U.S. Navy"
There are currently 7 more active US Navy ships then there were in 2007. The lowest level was under, wait for it, Bush2.
http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/org9-4.htm
SadOldVet on January 24, 2012 8:16 AM:
Steve does have a link to the posting with the graph of where the debt has come from in the It's true we have $15 Trillion in debt... paragraph.
It should be front and center for a lot of discussions!
cc on January 24, 2012 8:23 AM:
Good NYTimes debate fact check article. Includes this new (to me) info on Newt:
His dealings with Novo Nordisk, a drug maker, show how his work could easily be viewed as lobbying. Novo, a Danish company, paid Mr. Gingrich to help expand the market for its diabetes treatments in the United States. A spokesman for the company said Mr. Gingrich did no lobbying, and provided only “guidance and strategic advice.”
But in its annual report to shareholders, Novo Nordisk offered a different take. It listed Mr. Gingrich’s work for the company under the category of public policy activities, noting, “Such activities are often referred to as lobbying.”
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/23/tampa-fla-debate-fact-check/#more-197495
Danp on January 24, 2012 8:36 AM:
Turning the dishonesty to 11
Oh, I hope Rob Reiner does a mocumentary about the Republican primaries. The title here already invokes the image of Romney turning up the amp. "Spinal Tap" would make a nice title had he not used it on that film.
howie on January 24, 2012 8:43 AM:
Is there some rulebook for debate questioners stating that they
aren't allowed to ask about these "inconsistancies" in a debate.
I realize the journalist would be "newted" by an aggressive campaigner, but I suspect that Mitt would simply dissolve on stage.
bob h on January 24, 2012 9:01 AM:
The corollary to this is that nothing Romney says has any hint of intelligence, sophistication, nuance, depth. He seems like a very shallow man who cares only about his money, his family, and his church.
T2 on January 24, 2012 9:04 AM:
I feel we've beaten the "GOP Liars" meme to death, but yeah, they really do lie a lot, and with relish. But why not, the Media seldom calls them on it to their face and when they do, the GOP simply lies about it again and that's that.
Kathryn on January 24, 2012 9:27 AM:
Having to depend on fact checkers exclusively after the event for falsehoods spouted by the candidates is a good way for lies to become candidate talking points. Several of Romney's lies are repeats, previously fact checked and debunked, aren't today's "journalists" informed enough to respond at the debate when the lie is repeated for the fourth or fifth time? Romney is not a particularly creative liar, he repeats some and makes up more.
Has any reporter called on Santorum to explain why he allowed a supporter of his to call the president a known Muslim who was not entitled to be president of the United States? This unhinged woman wanted to know why nothing was being done to remove this interloper from office. The gutless devout Catholic responded with assurances that he was doing his utmost to remove Pres Obama from office.
Texas Aggie on January 24, 2012 10:33 AM:
I would like to ask several Mormons what their church's position is on lying, prevarication, half truths, and deceit. I wonder if opposition to lying is one of the basic fundamentals of Mormonism or just sort of a bylaw. In the former case, I don't see how the church can support Mitt (although $2.6 million a year may have something to do with it), but in the latter case, I can see why he's getting a pass.
jjm on January 24, 2012 11:39 AM:
@bob h: YOU SAID IT!
He probably lies to distract everyone from how vapid and worthless he is.
SadOldVet on January 24, 2012 12:07 PM:
re Texas Aggie...
The Mormon position on lying, prevarication, half truths, and deceit is that it is forbidden when dealing with other Mormons and ok when dealing with non-Mormons.
Daniel on January 25, 2012 6:47 AM:
My personal favorite - "My first name is Mitt."