The Only Big Idea Coming Out of the Romney-Ryan Camp Is the Big Lie

[n2doc]

by Michael Tomasky Aug 21, 2012 4:45 AM EDT


When Mitt Romney named Paul Ryan as his running mate, we were told we were going to get the Big Debate on the Big Questions we’ve all been waiting for. Well, so far, it isn’t quite working out that way. The distinguishing fact of the Romney-Ryan campaign thus far is the extent to which it is built on outright lies in a desperate attempt to avoid honest debate at all costs. The Romney-Ryan strategy is the farthest thing in the world from a Big Debate. Instead, they muddy the waters as much as possible and lie as much as possible, and hope the press doesn’t call them on it and hope voters buy it.

The most blatant lie about Obama concerns the welfare rule change, which the Romney campaign is still pushing in a new ad. The Romney ad campaign says exactly the opposite of what the new rule stipulates. PolitiFact called the first Romney ad “Pants on Fire,” and Glenn Kessler gave it four Pinocchios. But now here they come with a second ad saying that Obama “ended the work requirement.” Plainly and provably not true.

This is not normal. Normal is to stretch the truth. The Obama campaign stretches the truth in trying to connect Romney more directly than it should to Bain-related layoffs that happened after 2002. That’s your basic reach, and the campaign has been called on it. But it’s not a total lie. There is some little grain of truth there, that “Mitt Romney’s company” oversaw such-and-such layoffs, as there usually is in attack ads, even the most vicious ones. The Willie Horton ads were, after all, true. Racist, but true. But the Romney welfare ads have no grain of truth at all.

Okay. Just making stuff up about the other guy is bad enough. But it is in terms of past and future positions that what Romney-Ryan are doing really plows new and dishonorable earth.

more

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/08/21/the-only-big-idea-coming-out-of-the-romney-ryan-camp-is-the-big-lie.html

[Angry Dragon]

1. Just trust The Glove and his sidekick Eddie Munster

it would easier if they did not lie so much and gave us the information we ask for


I give them 100% on the Fraud and Liar index

[uponit7771]

2. They'll be claiming Obama has 4 arms and can't be president next week

[yellowcanine]

3. And this is why the Akin thing matters even if he drops out.

Because it would be a Ryan-Akin abortion plank and Romney would be stuck with it.

[Prophet 451]

4. Of course they lie, they have to

In the grip of the most extreme part of it's base (the Teabaggers), the GOP is now essentially a fascist party. Remove the explicit racism from Mussolini's policies and you have the GOP platform. But the majority of Americans are not fascists and the GOP knows this. So they lie, they lie their collective asses off.

I also think it's something of an experiment. No-one has ever run an entirely fictional campaign against an entirely fictional president before. I think they're testing whether the conservative media echo machine is big enough and powerful enough to win them the presidency based on lies. Let's be honest, conservatives don't like Mitt. They think he's too much of a moderate and he's about as likeable as an android can be. They're running Mitt purely because, after eight years of constant campaigning, they figure it's his turn and they don't have anyone better. So why not gamble on the strength of the conservative media bubble with the candidate they don't really like or want anyway?