Fact Checking the mendacity of ‘Mittens’

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Time once again for Steve Benen's weekly (he skipped last week for the 4th of July) fact check of the shameless shapeshifter and pathological liar, Willard "Mittens" Romney.  Chronicling Mitt's Mendacity, Vol. XXV:

After more than six months of marveling at Mitt Romney's propensity for falsehoods, I have to admit it was unsettling to see his campaign's new attack ad, launched yesterday. The spot accuses President Obama of making "untrue" claims about Romney shipping jobs overseas — Obama's claims are actually quite credible — and concludes that the president is running a "dishonest campaign."

Think about that for a moment. The candidate whose entire campaign has been built on one falsehood after another, the candidate whose dishonesty is routinely characterized as "almost pathological," the candidate whose near-constant lying puts him in a league of his own among modern politicians, is complaining that his rival is taking liberties with the facts.

There's dishonesty in politics, and then there's meta-dishonesty in politics.

Romney's spokesperson this week declared, "America deserves … a president who's willing to tell the truth." That seems more than fair. Perhaps the Romney camp can reevaluate that demand after reading the 25th installment of my weekly series, chronicling Mitt's mendacity.

1. In an interview with Fox Business Network's Neil Cavuto, Romney insisted, "Obamacare is killing jobs."

There is literally no evidence to support this claim in any way.

2. In the same interview, Romney, asked about his tax returns, said, "We have of course released all of the financial statements that are required by law and then released two years of tax returns."

Actually, he's only released his tax returns for one full year. Two years wouldn't be enough, but it'd be an improvement.

3. Romney also told Cavuto, of the existing disclosure, "So tax information is there and other financial disclosure is there."

I wish that were true, but the whole point of the recent controversy is that "other financial disclosure" isn't there. We learned about his shell corporation in Bermuda based on one year's tax returns, but we don't know what other disclosures exist because Romney has kept previous returns hidden from the public.

4. Also on Fox Business, Romney said his tax disclosures include "the same information" John Kerry released during his 2004 campaign.

That's plainly false. During his presidential run eight years ago, Kerry released five years of tax returns, and during his Senate campaigns, made a habit of releasing several years' worth of tax documents as part of a commitment to disclosure.

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

In conclusion, Jay Rosen argued yesterday that Romney and his team appear to be running a "post-truth" campaign, working under the assumption that the media isn't equipped to report the lies. It's a story that's "too big to tell."

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