Pages

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

First Thoughts: All eyes on Illinois




Mitt Romney is hoping a decisive win in Illinois will quiet talk that the Republican nominating fight could end in the first contested RNC since 1976. The Daily Rundown's Chuck Todd shares his first reads of the day.
All eyes on Illinois… Tonight’s primary gives Romney an opportunity to change the perception about the GOP race, even if he can’t change the math on getting to 1,144… Caution about tonight’s race: The statewide presidential preference vote doesn’t determine delegates; voters have to select pledged delegates for each candidate… Polls close at 8:00 pm ET… Obama and Romney have opposite fundraising problems… Paul Ryan’s Budget, Part 2… But don’t forget: Ryan voted against Simpson-Bowles.
By NBC's Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Brooke Brower
*** All eyes on Illinois: The earliest Mitt Romney could win the 1,144 delegates needed to capture the GOP nomination, per our count, is May 29, and that’s assuming he wins every single delegate after today. If you assume that he wins a 60%-40% split of the remaining the delegates, Romney won’t get to 1,144 until June 26, when Utah holds its primary. And if Romney and Rick Santorum continue to trade victories as they’ve been doing over the past month -- with Santorum winning his demographic strongholds and Romney winning his -- Romney would fall about 50 delegates short of the magic number, according to our math. So that’s the delegate reality for the former Massachusetts governor: He leads, he isn’t going to lose his lead, yet crossing the finish line won’t be easy or come quickly. Romney can’t change the math, but he can change the perception of the race. And he gets another chance to do so in today’s Illinois primary.

Don Emmert / AFP - Getty Images
Presidential candidate Mitt Romney waves to supporters at Bradley University in Peoria, Ill.
*** How Romney can change the perception: Every time Romney has had an opportunity to put the race away -- by winning in South Carolina, by winning convincingly in Ohio, by winning just one Deep South state Tennessee, Alabama or Mississippi -- he’s failed to do so. But by decisively winning tonight in Illinois (and we’re talking about a double-digit-plus victory and breaking 50%), Romney can deliver a perception blow to Santorum, extinguishing the former Pennsylvania senator’s “insurgent fire,” as the New York Times puts it. And sweeping the April 3 contests -- with the crown jewel being Wisconsin -- would serve as an exclamation point. That probably would finally get the Haley Barbours, the Mitch Danielseseseses (say it with us), and the Paul Ryans (more on him below) off the sidelines. But if Romney only ekes out a single-digit victory tonight after outspending Santorum 7-1, and if he loses Wisconsin, then this demographic split would be for real. And that means this GOP race would go into June or beyond.
*** How Illinois awards its delegates: Per NBC’s John Bailey, Illinois allocates its delegates (54 which are up for grabs tonight) in an unorthodox way. While there is a statewide preference vote for president, the actual delegates are individually elected in each congressional district. So when a voter goes to fill out a ballot, there’s a section where they will vote for a presidential candidate and then there’s a second section for delegates with the delegates’ pledged candidate printed next to their name -- for example: JOHN SMITH (ROMNEY). Each district is given between two and four delegates, and that’s weighted based on how strongly Republican a district has voted in the past. Do note: Santorum failed to file delegate slates in four Illinois districts -- the 4th, 5th, 7th, and 13th districts -- so he’ll miss out on a combined 10 delegates. By the way, Romney’s delegates are listed first on every Congressional District ballot. Why? They were the only ones to file their full slate of delegates in the first hour of filing. The rest of the delegate candidates are listed in order that they were filed with the state. Translation: Santorum’s slates (where available) are last.
*** What else you need to know: Polls close in Illinois at 8:00 pm ET… In addition to tonight’s 54 delegates, the state will elect 12 more delegates at its June convention… Early voting has been going on in Illinois for nearly a month… Last cycle, Illinois held its primary on Super Tuesday, so the race was still competitive at the time: Nearly 900,000 Republicans turned out (899,422 to be exact), and John McCain won the state with 47.5% of the vote, Romney finished second with 29%, and Mike Huckabee was third with 16.5% (McCain nearly SWEPT the delegates, by the way)... And in this year’s advertising race in Illinois, Team Romney (the campaign plus the Super PAC) outspent Team Santorum nearly 7-to-1, $3.6 million to $527,000.
*** Opposite fundraising problems: Speaking of fundraising, Romney and Obama have opposite fundraising problems: Obama, as the Washington Post wrote yesterday, isn’t raking in as many high-dollar checks as he did in ’08, while Romney is lacking small grassroots donors. But if you had to choose between a stronghold of large donors or small grassroots donors, you’d probably choose the latter. Why? You can keep going back to small donors, while you can’t if someone has already cut you $2,500 checks for the primary and general. In fact, according to an analysis by the Campaign Finance Institute, two-thirds of Romney’s fundraising through Dec. 31, 2011 had come from donors giving $2,500. By comparison, just 16% of Obama’s fundraising comes from $2,500 checks. So it’s striking to see that the Romney campaign isn’t spending a single cent on advertising in the upcoming Louisiana (3/24) and Wisconsin (4/3), though the pro-Romney Super PAC has spent a combined $2 million in those two states. Is the Romney campaign -- which had $7.3 million in the bank as of Feb. 29 -- running out of cash? We’ll have an answer a month from now, when we’ll get March FEC numbers. (February FEC numbers are due today.)
*** A look at the upcoming ad spending:
Louisiana: Restore Our Future $612,000, Red White and Blue Fund $244,000, Winning Freedom $50,000, Santorum $32,000, Winning Our Future $2,900
Wisconsin: Restore Our Future $1.3 million, Santorum campaign $39,000
*** On the trail, per NBC’s Adam Perez: Romney fundraises in the Prairie State and attends his election night party in Schaumburg…Paul appears on The Tonight Show…Gingrich hosts a meet-and-greet in Shreveport, LA…Meanwhile, Santorum hosts his election night party in Gettysburg, PA
*** Paul Ryan’s Budget, Part 2: Besides today’s Illinois primary, the other big story in politics today is the rollout of the House GOP budget. In in aWall Street Journal op-ed, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan previews this rollout. “Our budget's Medicare reforms make no changes for those in or near retirement. For those who will retire a decade from now, our plan provides guaranteed coverage options financed by a premium-support payment. And this year, our budget adds even more choices for seniors, including a traditional fee-for-service Medicare option.” NBC’s Frank Thorp reports that the budget also contains tax reform -- having just two income brackets (10% and 25%) and reducing the corporate rate to 25%.
*** Don’t forget: Ryan voted against Simpson-Bowles: In his Wall Street Journal op-ed, Ryan touts this tax reform by saying it was supported by Simpson-Bowles. “Tax reforms based on lowering tax rates and closing loopholes go back to the Reagan administration, when Democrats served as the congressional co-sponsors of the landmark 1986 tax reform law. More recently, the chairmen of President Obama's bipartisan fiscal commission put forward a plan for lower rates and a broader base.” But here’s what undercuts that assertion by Ryan, as well has holding the high ground in the budget debate: He VOTED AGAINST Simpson-Bowles. Here’s something that was supported by Tom Coburn (R) and Dick Durbin (D), but Ryan voted against it. Yes, Ryan has since team up with Sen. Ron Wyden (D) on the altered Medicare proposal. But when he had the opportunity with Simpson-Bowles, Ryan put ideology ahead of bipartisan cooperation -- the exact thing he accuses the president and many Democrats of doing.
*** Biden being Biden: At a fundraiser last night in New Jersey, NBC’s Carrie Dann notes, Vice President Biden engaged in some hyperbole that might get some mileage from those interpreting Biden’s comment as a slight to the masterminds of D-Day or other notable military feats in the past few hundred years. Here’s what Biden said about the Osama bin Laden raid:  "You can go back 500 years. You cannot find a more audacious plan. Never knowing for certain. We never had more than a 48% probability that he was there."
Countdown to Louisiana primary: 4 days
Countdown to DC, Maryland, Wisconsin primaries: 14 days
Countdown to Election Day: 231 days
Posted by at No comments:

Mom: Trayvon Martin was killed because of 'the color of his skin'

Family says 911 calls prove Florida teen killed in gated community did not provoke shooter


















By Scott Stump
TODAY.com contributor
updated 3/19/2012 9:28:06 AM ET
   
The family of a Florida teen fatally shot by a neighborhood watch volunteer last month is speaking out, saying that the shooting was unprovoked —and racially motivated.
   
Trayvon Martin, 17, was killed by George Zimmerman in a Sanford, Fla., gated community on the evening of Feb. 26 as he returned from a trip to a local 7-Eleven. Martin and his father were visiting family friends there. Zimmerman claimed he shot Martin in self defense, and has not been charged with a crime.

Video: Mom: Teen targeted due to of ‘color of his skin’ (on this page)

But Martin's family is pointing to 911 calls released by police on Friday that they say depict a terrified teenager who was being chased by Zimmerman. Martin was found face down, unarmed, with a bag of Skittles and an iced tea.

“(Zimmerman) was reacting to the color of his skin,’’ Martin’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, told Matt Lauer on Monday. “He committed no crime. My son wasn’t doing anything but walking on the sidewalk, and I just don’t understand why this situation got out of control.’’

Video: 911 calls eyed in killing of Florida teen (on this page)

“Trayvon had a bag of Skittles,’’ Fulton’s attorney, Ben Crump, told Lauer. “(Zimmerman) had a nine millimeter gun. He was almost 80 pounds more weight than Trayvon Martin. This is a situation where when you…listen to those 911 tapes and the three witnesses, everyone in America is asking, when are they going to arrest Zimmerman for killing this kid in cold blood?’’

Fulton believes her son did nothing to engage Zimmerman before the deadly encounter. The family is pushing for an investigation, and Zimmerman’s arrest. The case is now in the hands of the State Attorney’s Office, which has the power to file charges or present evidence to a grand jury.



TODAY
Trayvon Martin's mom, Sybrina Fulton, along with the family's attorney Ben Crump told TODAY Monday that they believe the teen was killed because of "the color of his skin."

“I just can say I’m pretty sure my son tried to get away,’’ Fulton said. “He didn’t know who this guy was. He saw him as a stranger, so he was trying to just get away from the situation. He had never had a run-in with the law. He was mild-mannered. He was a nice kid.’’

Video: Family seeks justice for slain teen

In one call, the 911 dispatcher can be heard instructing Zimmerman not to pursue Martin.

“This guy looks like he’s up to no good or on drugs or something,’’ Zimmerman tells the dispatcher. “He’s a black male. Something’s wrong with him. He’s coming to check me out.”

“Are you following him?’’ the dispatcher replies. “OK, we don’t need you to do that.’’

Several neighbors also made frantic calls, describing the struggle. “They’re wrestling right in the back of my porch,’’ one neighbor said. “The guy’s yelling “Help” and I’m not going outside.’’

“There’s someone screaming!’’ another neighbor said. “I just heard gunshots!”

A voice can be heard screaming in the background of one of the calls. Zimmerman has said the voice is his, but Martin’s family believes it is the cries of their terrified son.
  
“There’s a black guy down,’’ a neighbor said in one chilling call. “It looks like he’s been shot and he’s dead.’’

“That was my baby, and he was pleading for his life,’’ Fulton told Amy Robach tearfully on TODAY Saturday. “I just don’t understand how that’s self defense. You can clearly him yelling for help.’’

Florida has a “stand your ground’’ law that makes a self-defense claim easier than it is in some other states, but Martin's family’s attorney doesn’t believe it applies in this instance.

Family: 911 calls show shooting of black teen was not in self-defense

“I think Zimmerman has no legal recourse,’’ Crump said. “He was not at his home. He was on the sidewalk, a common area. Trayvon Martin was 70 feet away from the back door — he was almost home. Zimmerman got out of his car, did not listen to the police, and chased this kid. You can’t chase somebody and then claim self defense.’’

Zimmerman’s father has said that his son, who is Hispanic, has never discriminated against anyone. He wrote in a letter to the Orlando Sentinel that his son has been unfairly depicted as a racist by the media.

“I just don’t think his dad knows all the facts in the situation that happened,’’ Fulton said. “If something happened to his son, he would want to know more information and not just jump to conclusions.’’

More than anything, Fulton wishes for a different outcome.

“I would just want to ask him, was there a different way he could’ve handled the situation?’’ she said.
Posted by at No comments:

And MoveOn.org released a powerful new ad today

, which will air on national cable, targeting Republicans over the "GOP War on Women."

Posted by at No comments:

If it's Sunday, It is Meet the Press Sunday March 18, 2012

 

This Sunday:

McCain on Afghanistan massacre: 'Tragedies ensue in war'

  Arizona Sen. John McCain discusses the prevention of further tragedies abroad, the ins and outs of the U.S. mission in Afghanistan and the turmoil in the Middle East.
Meet the Press
Romney 'improving' as candidate
  Arizona Sen. John McCain talks about campaign finance, a potential brokered convention and other issues in the 2012 GOP race.

McCain breaks Dole's MTP record

  With his 64th appearance on Meet the Press, John McCain reflects as he surpasses Bob Dole’s record for most appearances on the program.

Meet the Press

George Clooney and John Prendergast

  Actor and Director George Clooney and Co-Founder of the Enough Project John Prendergast discuss politics and the crisis in Sudan.  
Meet the Press
The war’s toll on U.S. troops
  A Meet the Press roundtable discusses the strain the war in Afghanistan is placing on U.S. troops in the region.
Post Show Thoughts: Examining America's longest war
  David Gregory analyzes this morning's Meet the Press including an interview with MTP record-holder John McCain and a special roundtable discussion about the war in Afghanistan.


Posted by at No comments:

- House GOP plans to renege on budget deal

By Steve Benen
 - 
Thu Mar 15, 2012 8:00 AM EDT

Getty Images
Last summer, as part of the debt-ceiling crisis, Democrats and Republicans agreed to spending levels for the upcoming year, suggesting the budget process would go relatively smoothly in 2012. After all, with the figures already locked in, the most contentious part of the process was already addressed. As far as everyone was concerned, a deal's a deal.
And then GOP officials started whispering that they didn't much like the deal anymore.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters earlier this week, "This wasn't a handshake, it was a law we passed.... I guess [House Republicans] love government shutdowns, or at least the threat of them."
That threat is becoming increasingly real. Reuters reports that House GOP leaders are "ready to break a hard-fought budget deal," in large part because rank-and-file Republicans are insisting upon it. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) are now reportedly seeking a compromise on the compromise, asking Dems to accept an additional $19 billion in cuts, on top of the cuts Democrats already agreed to swallow.
How would congressional Republicans justify reneging on a deal they struck just seven months ago? To hear them tell it, there's room for a semantics debate -- both sides agreed to a $1.047 trillion cap on discretionary spending for fiscal 2013. GOP officials are now arguing that the cap is simply a ceiling, and that there's nothing wrong with pushing a budget that's lower than the agreed-upon maximum.
While I'll gladly give Republicans credit for creativity, the argument is dishonest to a jaw-dropping degree. Greg Sargent set the record straight by reminding us what GOP leaders were saying before they changed their minds.
...Dems and the White House will argue that even Mitch McConnell himself recently acknowledged that what was actually agreed upon were “discretionary spending levels.” Eric Cantor also has described the deal as one that set a “level of spending.”
Get ready for a rerun of a very bad movie. We're hurtling towards another government shutdown fight, in which the House GOP leadership will be dealing with a Tea Party wing that prioritizes shrinking government above all else -- this time, in the lead up to the elections.
That's exactly right. The next question is how serious this situation really is.
The divisions are getting increasingly messy. Democrats want Republicans to honor the bipartisan deal; House Republicans want an additional $116 billion in cuts; the GOP leadership wants rank-and-file members to settle for $19 billion in cuts.
But the Boehner/Cantor request won't work for anyone -- their cuts aren't deep enough for right-wing members, and their willingness to renege on their own compromise guarantees Democratic rejection.
The crisis, at this point, is still on the horizon, and cooler heads may yet prevail. Indeed, given Congress' record-low approval rating, and the severe unpopularity of the Republican Party, it's hard to imagine even the most unhinged GOP members risking their majority in an election year, forcing a government shutdown.
Then again, it was also hard to imagine literally every Republican in Congress last summer agreeing to destroy the economy on purpose unless Democrats accepted significant spending cuts -- but that's exactly what the GOP did during the debt-ceiling fiasco.
I'd bet against a shutdown, but the circumstances at this point are unpredictable. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said last week, "Republicans are playing with fire here." As of this week, they've already lit the match
Posted by at No comments:

Maddow special report: Mexico's highly enriched uranium

                                             
                       WEB ONLY

 
                                       Must see show tonight


Rachel Maddow reports exclusively the breaking news that all of Mexico's highly enriched uranium has been removed to the United States, and talks with Sarah Dickerson, National Nuclear Security Administration threat reduction director, and Anthony Wayne, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, about the distribution of nuclear


Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy



Nearly Nuclear free south of the Border


                  Nuclear cargo too dangerous to fly

 

                  Mexicos Nuclear Reactor Up Close 

 
         Special Equipment for an extremely Special Job 




         The unsung service of the Department of Energy
                        in Iraq, Libya and now Mexico



               Writing on the wall for loose weapons - 
                          usable nuclear material


Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Lots of complex planning Presidential support leads to progress in securing global nuclear dangers


WEB ONLY



The lesson with nukes of: really really careful

WEB ONLY



Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
NNSA administrator Tom A'gostina on nuclear security
Posted by at No comments:

McCain urges GOP to give up on contraception fight

By Steve Benen
 - 
Mon Mar 19, 2012 8:00 AM EDT
On "Meet the Press" yesterday, host David Gregory asked Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), "Do you think that there is something of a war on women among Republicans?" Instead of saying, "No, of course not," the senator seemed to implicitly concede the reality of the situation, responding, "I think we have to fix that."




McCain added that Republicans "need to get off" the contraception issue altogether, adding, "I think we ought to respect the right of women to make choices in their lives."
This is a reversal for McCain, who voted for the anti-contraception Blunt Amendment a few weeks ago, and never expressed concerns about the effort until yesterday. What's more, the sweeping nature of his response -- "respect the right of women to make choices in their lives" -- suggests the Republican effort to make this fight about religious liberty is effectively over. The GOP message simply failed.
But there was something else McCain said on the issue that's worth acknowledging. Gregory brought up a proposal pending in the senator's home state of Arizona, which as Rachel explained on Friday, "would permit employers to ask their employees for proof of medical prescription if the employee seeks contraceptives for non-reproductive purposes. So, Arizona Republicans are going to make you tell your boss if you are having sex but you're taking precautions not to get pregnant."
Asked about the measure, McCain said he's "confident" it will not become law, adding that the proposal "certainly doesn't reflect, in my view, the majority view of the people of Arizona."
Here's a little tidbit McCain may not know: the bill has already passed the Arizona state House, thanks to the strong support of his own party. Perhaps without realizing it, the senator told a national television audience that Republicans in Arizona are pushing an agenda that's at odds with what Arizona's mainstream wants.
In other words, Democrats in the Grand Canyon State have a new and unexpected ally in pushing back against the GOP's culture-war proposals: John McCain.

Postscript: This was, by the way, McCain's 64th appearance on "Meet the Press." He's been a guest more than anyone else in the show's 65 year history.
Posted by at No comments:

Chronicling Mitt's Mendacity, Vol. X

By Steve Benen
 - 
Fri Mar 16, 2012 4:02 PM EDT

Getty Images
On Tuesday, Mitt Romney decided to give Rick Santorum some curious advice. The former governor said that "misrepresenting the truth is not a good way" to boost one's campaign, and candidates looking to gain ground should "use truth as one of the pillars of your strategy."

After tackling the challenge of cataloguing Romney's audacious falsehoods, and watching this guy lie repeatedly (and at times even unnecessarily), hearing the candidate decry "misrepresenting the truth" was so jarring, I almost took it personally.

Perhaps the former governor has forgotten just how often he's failed to use the truth as one of the pillars of his strategy. To help remind him, here's the 10th installment of my weekly series, chronicling Mitt's mendacity.

1. Romney told voters in Mississippi this week, "Don't forget by the way that this President, how many months ago was it, 37 months ago, told us that if he could borrow $787 billion, almost $1 trillion, he would keep unemployment below 8 percent."
Putting aside the fact that $787 billion is not "almost $1 trillion," the "below 8 percent" canard just isn't true.

2. Romney also told Mississippi Republicans about the president, "He was going to cut the budget deficit in half. He's doubled it."
This is one of Romney's favorite lines, but it's simply absurd on its face -- he's either lying or he's bad at arithmetic. When Obama took office, the deficit was about $1.3 trillion. Last year, it was $1.29 trillion. This year, it's on track to be about $1.1 trillion. Does Romney not know what "double" means? (Even if we believe Romney is confusing the words "deficit" and "debt," it's still wrong. The only modern presidents to double the debt on their watch were Reagan and George W. Bush. Obama inherited a $10 trillion debt, and it's nowhere near $20 trillion.)

3. Going after Rick Santorum this week, Romney said, "This is the guy that voted to fund Planned Parenthood."
This is wildly dishonest. Not only did Romney fund Planned Parenthood as governor, but during his Senate campaign, Romney attended a Planned Parenthood fundraiser (his wife even dropped off a $150 check).

4. Romney argued in a press statement this week that Obama plans to "end Medicare as we know it."
This is both dishonest and ironic. Obama's Affordable Care Act strengthens and protects Medicare, while Romney has endorsed Paul Ryan's House Republican budget plan, which ends Medicare and replaces it with a voucher scheme.

5. Romney mocked Obama this week by arguing, "This is a president who thinks America is doing better."
You know who agrees with the president? Mitt Romney.

6. On energy policy, Romney said Obama blamed higher gas prices on Republican presidential candidates who "are talking in a very muscular way about Iran and their nuclear program."
That's not what Obama said.

7. As Paul Krugman noted, Romney also argued that gasoline prices are high because President Obama won't allow unrestricted drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
What Romney's saying just isn't true.

8. Romney told Fox News' Megyn Kelly, "Time and again, I pointed out I'm not in favor of a health care plan that includes a national mandate."
Time and again, Romney has said he's in favor of a health care plan that includes a national mandate.

9. In the same interview, Romney told Kelly, "I believe we should get rid of Obamacare. It's a disaster. It's going to cost a $1 trillion-plus."
No, it won't. The Affordable Care Act actually cuts the deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars.

10. Romney told Fox News this morning about the president, "It's hard to create a job if you never had one."
The economy has created 3.4 million jobs in the last three years. As for Obama "never" having held a job, he's actually held several -- one of which happens to be serving as president of the United States during a time of several crises.

This week, MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell explained to viewers, "[T]he political media have a problem. It's a problem the press has always had and has never solved. When should they call a lie a lie? When a candidate like Mitt Romney, who lies much more than most candidates, says something that is utterly false, the press will say, it's 'not accurate.' They might even use the word 'false.' They might use the word 'untrue,' but they will never, ever use the word 'lie.' And that is what lying politicians like Mitt Romney count on every time they try to get away with one of their ridiculous lies.... In the silly rules of politics and political coverage, the word 'lie' just can't seem to find its place."
Romney is testing this thesis in a rather dramatic way.
Posted by at No comments:

Chronicling Mitt's Mendacity VIII


By Steve Benen
 - 
Fri Mar 2, 2012 3:55 PM EST


Getty Images
A couple of months ago, I launched a Friday afternoon feature, highlighting the most offensive Mitt Romney falsehoods of the week, and it moved to Maddow Blog a month ago. Let's keep this going with another installment.

1. Going after President Obama, Romney told voters this week, "Did you hear this? He believes he ranks among the top four presidents in American history. Can you believe that? I'd find a different spot for him."
Obama never said this.

2. Romney told Michigan voters about his presence at Detroit's Golden Jubilee, celebrating the American automobile's 50th anniversary. Romney said he "probably 4 or something like that" when his dad "had a job being the grandmaster."
Romney wasn't born at the time of the event.

3. Referring to the president, Romney argued, "He also promised he'd cut taxes for middle-income Americans. Hasn't done that, either."
Actually, Obama has cut middle-class taxes several times over the last three years. If this is supposed to be one of Romney's key areas of interest, how could he not have noticed this?

4. After winning the Michigan primary, Romney boasted, "[T]here are a lot of people who were saying that if you are running for office you really can't speak honestly to the American people. Well, we did."
Given how often Romney lies, at an almost pathological level, this is one of those fun meta-falsehoods.

5. Romney also argued, "This president, by the way, he likes to remind us that he inherited an economy that was in crisis. But he doesn't like to remind us that he also inherited a Democrat [sic] Congress. He had majorities in both the House and the Senate. He was free to pursue any policy he pleased."
Mitt Romney, after nearly two decades in electoral politics, has apparently never heard of the filibuster.

6. Romney claimed this week about Obama, "He lost our triple AAA credit rating."
No, actually, he didn't.

7. Romney also argued in Michigan, "This president wants to raise your taxes. I'm going to cut them."
Well, not exactly. Obama only intends to raise taxes on those making more than $250,000 a year, so when Romney says the president wants to raise "your" taxes, unless he's talking to an audience filled exclusively with the 2% of all income earners -- at a Romney event, I suppose that's possible -- he's lying. As for his vow to "cut" your taxes, the very poor would see their taxes go up under Romney's tax plan.

8. Romney claimed about the president, "Do you realize after saying that Medicare and Social Security were in trouble, he has yet to offer a single serious proposal for saving Medicare and Social Security?"
Ironically, Romney has also attacked Obama for doing too much to scale back entitlements. He can't -- or at least shouldn't -- have it both ways.

9. Romney boasted this week, "I have a plan to save both [Medicare and Social Security], and unlike [Obama], I have the courage to put my plan on the table."
No, actually, he doesn't -- at least not yet. Romney has presented no details about his "plan" for Medicare and Social Security.

10. Romney also claimed this week, "My plans will ... will not add to our deficit. They will abolish it."
No serious person could possibly look at Romney's plan and believe this.

11. Romney argued yesterday, in reference to oil production, "This is a president who`s not been helping the situation. And then he takes his EPA and uses them to try and stifle the development of oil and gas in this country."
That might make more sense if U.S. oil production under Obama weren't up so significantly

12. Romney argued this morning, "You know how many trade agreements this president has negotiated? Zero."
Panama, Colombia, and South Korea know better.

Newt Gingrich argued this week that Mitt Romney "has a near Pavlovian reflex of lapsing into falsehoods in order to rearrange reality to his liking." That's harsh, but hardly unfounded.
Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)