Fact Checking the mendacity of ‘Mittens’

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Time once again for Steve Benen's weekly fact check of the shameless shapeshifter and pathological liar, Willard "Mittens" Romney. Chronicling Mitt's Mendacity, Vol. XXVI:

Just last night, Rachel reported on Mitt Romney's new campaign offensive — based entirely on a President Obama quote that's been taken out of context — and stepped back to consider the larger context, which leads to a subject near and dear to me.

"There's also an interesting conversation to be had," Rachel noted, "about how much you can get away with and still be considered a viable candidate for president." This conversation can be built on straightforward question: "Are we so inured to the idea of everybody calling each other a liar, that when somebody actually really does blatantly lie it doesn't matter anymore? Ultimately, that is not a question about these guys fighting it. That is a question about us."

Before you answer that question, perhaps consider the 26th installment of my weekly series, chronicling Mitt's mendacity.

1. The Romney campaign argued this week that Fisker Automotive "got over half a billion dollars in loan guarantees from the Department of Energy, which did not result in jobs being created in America, but actually jobs being created overseas in Finland."

This has been debunked over, and over, and over, and over again. It was a lie when it came up a year ago, and now it's been downgraded to a rather pathetic lie.

2. At a campaign event in Bowling Green, Ohio, Romney said Obama intends to "raise taxes on small business."

No, actually, he doesn't. In fact, it's a detail that generally goes overlooked, but the president has actually cut taxes on small businesses several times.

3. At the same event, Romney added, "This president said he'd cut the deficit in half. He's doubled it."

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.

4. Romney also argued, "The president and his administration said they are going to usurp your religious freedom by demanding that you provide products to your employees, if you're the Catholic Church, that violates your own conscience."

Neither the Catholic Church nor any other house of worship are required to "provide products" — in this case, contraception — to their employees. Churches are exempt from preventive-care requirements. Romney knows this, but continues to lie anyway.

5. He went on to say, "There's only one person I know who has cut Medicare by $500 billion, and that's President Obama."

Romney says this a lot. He's not telling the truth.

Continue reading Chronicling Mitt's Mendacity, Vol. XXVI.

Finally, Romney told Fox News this week, "A campaign based on falsehood and dishonesty does not have long legs." We'll learn soon enough whether that's true.

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