Blog for Democracy

Truth (Lies) and Consequences

Wednesday’s debate was not President Obama’s high point in this campaign.  Admittedly, it was his 20th wedding anniversary and his first debate in four years.  He was rusty, to be sure, but I don’t think (and I’m not alone in thinking) the reason for that was any of the reasons listed above (or, as Al Gore thought, “the altitude”).

It’s hard to stand on a stage and debate an opponent who you had never heard of before.

Yes, Mitt Romney is pretty well known.  Yes, he’s the Republican nominee.  But the Mitt Romney we saw on stage Wednesday night, and the one that apparently is now campaigning, is a different Mitt Romney.  A lying Mitt Romney.  A Mitt Romney that is running the hell away from everything he’s ever said.    New Romney has a different opinion on healthcare, one in which, apparently, his plan would cover pre-existing conditions (it would not).  He has a brand new tax plan, one completely different than the one he’s been campaigning on for the past 18 months, but to his credit, both tax plans are lacking in any sort of specificity (but replete with partisan buzzwords).

Romney didn’t stick to just lying about policy.  He lied about some investments in green technology.  Hell, he lied 27 times in 38 minutes.  Don’t take my word for it.  Our own Phil Gingrey admitted that Mitt Romney is just changing positions in a ploy to win votes.

So call it burying the lede here, but let’s look at some facts.  Today, a new jobs report came out and unemployment is at 7.8%.  For all of you wondering, that’s below 8% unemployment.  But for Republicans, good news just can’t be good news.  Republicans are now saying that the numbers are all a fraud, that they’re “too good to be true.”  But the numbers aren’t lying.  Over 100,000 jobs added, and unemployment is below 8% for the first time in years.  That’s good news, no matter how you spin it.

Democratic policies work.  Todays numbers prove it.  But Republicans are just going to lie to you about it.  They’re going to tell you whatever they need to in order to make you doubt Democratic policies.  Hell, they’ll lie about their own policies.  The next debate will be different, mark my words.  But we won’t even need to wait until the next debate.

“Winning” and “losing” a debate isn’t about the hour and a half that the two candidates are up on stage, speaking to a bunch of cameras. The outcome is far more evident in the days following.  Romney’s camp will continue to tell you he looked “good” and that President Obama looked “bad.”  But when you delve into the content– the words– of each of the candidates, the contrast could not be any starker.  President Obama talked to the American people about the past four years.  He told the truth about his policies, and gave definitive examples of what his second term would look like.  Mitt Romney just stood up there and lied through his teeth.  It’s easy to look good when all you do is lie, lie, lie.

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5 responses to “Truth (Lies) and Consequences”

  1. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    For that first cite above it should have been Paul Glastris of the Washington Monthly. And for those not paying much attention at the time, here’s the tale of the tape of That 2000 debate from CSpan:
    http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/159295-1

    Then as now, a massive, ongoing and complete Press failure to actually have even the Desire to get to the truth of the candidates proposals. Or indeed anywhere near it or The Math needed to actually attempt it. A week later? Mostly Nada.
    JMP

  2. jon Avatar
    jon

    http://www.youtube.com/samgreatuncle

  3. jon Avatar
    jon

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_pgfWK3sxw

  4. oil change Murrieta Avatar
    oil change Murrieta

    There are various signs you need to look for in order to determine if you need to have your wheels aligned. If your steering wheel pulls to the side, locks or becomes stiff, it’s time for alignment. Other signs include uneven tires, heavy vibrations and screeching of the tires while driving.

  5. JMPrince Avatar
    JMPrince

    Well put Steve. But what’s even more galling is that we’ve seen this all before, it’s all a repeat of the 2000 race & Rovian strategy.

    Ed Kilgore reminds us:
    http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2012_10/why_last_nights_debate_was_a_r040311.php

    “As you may recall, in that debate Gore pointed out time and time again that Bush was misstating his proposed budget—that his tax cuts would go disproportionately to the wealthy and that those tax cuts would dwarf what he was claiming he would spend on education, health care, and defense. In response, Bush shamelessly disassembled and said it was Gore who was peddling “fuzzy math.” There was no way for the audience to judge who was right, and they got no help from the moderator, who was—surprise surprise—Jim Lehrer, the same person who moderated last night.

    Of course subsequent events proved that Gore was right on the facts. But he was widely judged the loser of that debate.”

    SSDD! Same old stuff & did the media learn Anything from it? Nope, they dance with the big money that buys all the ads. So this is really a test of the media here. Can they actually dare to Describe Reality, or is Everything they do suborned to Dogma?

    And here Ed Kilgore reminds us again that Romney’s no moderate, and he did not really ‘moderate’ his views. He lied.

    http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2012_10/no_romney_did_not_move_to_the040319.phphttp://

    Again EK: “If that sounded familiar to older folks, it’s because that was precisely the pitch George W. Bush made in 2000 to assuage worried Democrats and independents that the sponsorship of his candidacy by the entire conservative movement in full battle array should not alarm them. It turned out the Bush’s idea of “bipartisan compromise” was mostly to “do it my way,” but at least he was operating in a Republican Party where “compromise” was not synonymous with “treason.” Aside from all that, Mitt refused on Wednesday night to move an inch from his categorical opposition to any tax increase, or any defense spending reduction, as part of a solution to the deficit problem, and when you take those two items off the table, there’s no much left to “compromise” about, other than the exact distribution of pain to the lower- and middle-classes, is there?”

    We’ve seen this movie before. So have most of our ancient press corps, most of which in Washington are well fed pundits by now. Again we’ll ask knowing the answer, can they actually even attempt to describe reality, knowing they can’t & won’t do the Math, Ever? Gore faced the same issues, and had a hard time overcoming the MSM bias. That institutional idiocy is very hard to overcome, and they’re naturally resistant to any change in the narrative that involves any real work on their part. If it’s not a simplistic childhood like fable that can be easily sold as such? They’re just becalmed at sea with no engine or sails. That’s why they’re the Lame Steam media. They’ll forever run after shiny objects, and report on conspiracies from marginal nut cases or outright corrupt criminals (like Jack Welsh or Jerome Corsi etc).

    But all of it’s a well crafted deeply cynical strategy by the GOP that actually works well for & with the MSM we’ve got, as we’ve seen in recent days. JMP

    JMP

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