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trailmonkee

(2,681 posts)
Tue Oct 30, 2012, 06:01 PM Oct 2012

Robert Reich: Romney's Latest Lie, His Former Lies, and Why We Must Not Put Liars in the White House

http://robertreich.org/post/34650220450

Over the weekend, Romney debuted an ad in Ohio showing cars being crushed as a narrator says Obama “sold Chrysler to Italians who are going to build Jeeps in China. Mitt Romney will fight for every American job.”

In fact, Chrysler is retaining and expanding its Jeep production in North America, including in Ohio. Its profits have enabled it to separately consider expanding into China, the world’s largest auto market.

Responding to the ad, Chrysler emphasized in a blog post that it has “no intention of shifting production of its Jeep models out of North America to China.”

“They are inviting a false inference,” says Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania and an expert on political advertising.

This is only the most recent in a stream of lies from Romney. Remember his contention that the President planned to “rob” Medicare of $716 billion when in fact the money would come from reduced payments to providers who were overcharging — thereby extending the life of Medicare? (Ryan’s plan includes the same $716 billion of savings but gets it from turning Medicare into a voucher and shifting rising health-care costs on to seniors.)

Remember Romney’s claim that Obama removed the work requirement from the welfare law, when in fact Obama merely allowed governors to fashion harder or broader work requirements?

Recall Romney’s assertion that he is not planning to give the rich a tax cut of almost $5 trillion, when in fact that’s exactly what his budget plan does? Or that his budget will reduce the long-term budget deficit, when in fact his numbers don’t add up?

And so on. “We’re not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers,” says Neil Newhouse, a Romney pollster. It is not even being dictated by facts.

There are two lessons here. First, lies financed by deep pockets are hard to refute, but they must be refuted. Otherwise, there is no accountability in our democracy. So far, the American media have not adequately refuted Romney’s lies. They seem to believe that dissembling is permissible, or that pointing out this extraordinary lying machine is itself an act of partisanship.

Second, anyone who tells or countenances such lies cannot be trusted to hold the highest office in our land, because he has no compunctions about feeding false information to the public. In recent memory we’ve had a president who told us there were “weapons of mass destruction” in Iraq, when in fact there were none. We dare not risk another George W. Bush.
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Robert Reich: Romney's Latest Lie, His Former Lies, and Why We Must Not Put Liars in the White House (Original Post) trailmonkee Oct 2012 OP
ty! Lucinda Oct 2012 #1
Tell it! Thanks trailmonkee. freshwest Oct 2012 #2
"Inviting a false inference" nichomachus Oct 2012 #3
"... that pointing out this extraordinary lying machine is itself an act of partisanship" renate Oct 2012 #4
Washington- "I cannot tell a lie". Romney- "I cannot tell the truth". My we've come a long way. Gregorian Oct 2012 #5
Thanks Robert Reich for calling out romney on his BIG LIES. Cha Oct 2012 #6
I've inundated my FB friends today...which include many Republicans. Atman Oct 2012 #7
No facts. mikeysnot Oct 2012 #8
"another George W. Bush" -- or worse. moondust Oct 2012 #9

renate

(13,776 posts)
4. "... that pointing out this extraordinary lying machine is itself an act of partisanship"
Tue Oct 30, 2012, 06:13 PM
Oct 2012

Didn't reporters use to fact-check candidates? Did they quit because it was just too much work to fact-check Romney, or because it would piss off the half of their viewership who prefer to remain ignorant?

Atman

(31,464 posts)
7. I've inundated my FB friends today...which include many Republicans.
Tue Oct 30, 2012, 06:23 PM
Oct 2012

I wish I had seen this earlier. I'd ask "How can there be a 'liberal media' if all these false statements go unchallenged? Don't you think a 'liberal media' would be jumping all over this stuff?"

Except, any time I've tried that, they counter with, "DUH! They don't because they know it's all false! That's why only Fox is reporting it!"

It is very, very difficult to deal with such stupid people.

mikeysnot

(4,755 posts)
8. No facts.
Tue Oct 30, 2012, 06:28 PM
Oct 2012

I found that its not that they believe it because they base their opinions of facts presented to them. It is that they want to believe what fox news is telling them. Facts just get in the way of a good mythological belief system.

moondust

(19,895 posts)
9. "another George W. Bush" -- or worse.
Tue Oct 30, 2012, 07:07 PM
Oct 2012

Nobody knows what kind of schemes or scams or military adventures people could get sucked into based on lies and half-truths.

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