Mitt Romney Brazenly Lies and the Media Lets Him Slide - Arianna Huffington

[Bill USA]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/mitt-romney-ad_b_1117288.html

This is far from the garden-variety truth stretching we're used to in political advertising. This is so breathtakingly cynical it should cause us to question whether a candidate that would put it forth is fit for any public office -- let alone the presidency.

This ad isn't about the economy -- it's about character. Or at least it should be. Instead, for those in the media who bothered to cover it, it led mostly to a discussion about campaign tactics. Usually the media loves to play up these "character moments," and here was a moment that really did reveal a candidate's character. Yet, with some notable exceptions, the media punted.

~~
~~

Instead of a national conversation about what sort of person would approve such an ad, what we mostly got was just another "he said/she said" episode. The Obama camp attacked the ad, and the Romney camp responded. "There was no hidden effort on the part of our campaign," Romney said in Iowa on Wednesday. "It was instead to point out that what's sauce for the goose is now sauce for the gander." And he was actually allowed to get away with that.

The response by Romney's senior New Hampshire advisor Tom Rath was even worse. "He did say the words," Rath told CBS News. "That's his voice."
(more)

[alp227]

1. but Anthony Weiner didn't get a free pass from the media for lying.

nor did Bill Clinton. And there's a reason why the Swift Boaters got away with what trashing John Kerry.

[saras]

2. The media brazenly lies and Mitt Romney goes along for the ride...

[MindMover]

3. I do not understand the veracity of the indignation

concerning lying.....

this type of politics has been happening for as long as I have been voting, or in other words, a long time....

[Bill USA]

6. the ad makes it sound like they are quoting Obama making an assertion about his own campaign.

Obama was quoting a John McCain campaign staffer (in 2008). Romney's ad makes it sound like these are Obama's own words about his own campaign.

I am not aware of anybody in Politics who has committed such a bald-faced lie. This is simple, strait-forward lieing by Romney's group.

Ordinarily, nobody would do this as the lie would be exposed and the perpetrator would be damaged by such exposure. This must mean that Romney knows that Republicans won't punish him for perpetrating such a blatant lie because Republicans have shown in the past that when facts fail them they feel it's quite acceptable to lie. He knows they will give him a pass because it's a long tradition in the GOP that it's quite alright to lie if it furthers the objective of beating a Democatic opponent.

[MindMover]

7. I will ask the obvious question, where were you when

Bush Jr. was in office....there were more lies told during his presidency than any of our presidents tenures combined.....

bald faced lies aplenty, way too many to count.....one of the worst is getting us into 3 wars, 2 overseas and one right here in the heartland...

[Bill USA]

8. and I will ask you to cite an instance where a politician alleged or played a tape of an opponent

making a statement quoting another individual, making it seem as if said opponent was making his own declaration about his own campaign or his own position on an issue.

Please cite an example - or rather you should cite numerous examples - otherwise your doubt's as to the "veracity of the idignation" is without basis - or perhaps I should say, it is based on ignorance.

[MindMover]

9. Well here are at least eight made by McCain in

the last presidential election cycle....I could go on and on but your name calling is a bit much.....

http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/09/16/the-politics-of-lying/

I just know the first one to point fingers has at least 3 pointing back at them....

[Bill USA]

10. you stated that I was "name calling". Please cite where I called anybody a name.

I looked at the article you gave alink to. You said it is not uncommon for politicians to attribute a statement of position to an opponent and quoting him, when said opponent was in fact quoting somebody else - not making his own statement of postion or opinion.

Since you claimed this is so common an occurence that you doubted the "veracity of the indignation" .. to Romney's ad - I would have expected you to cite some examples specifically rather than referring to an article (which refers to another article which actually comments specifically on the McCain campaign statements). I did read these articles and did not find any example of what Romney's campaign is guilty of.

It's not uncommon to find politicians distorting the positions of opponents, but apparently you cannot see that what the Romney ad did was not a distortion but an attempt to say that Obams was actually speaking for his own campaign when he was in fact, quoting McCain. Making it seem that this was a quote of Obama's own opinion of his own campaign is a patently fraudulent act. I am not aware of this being a common practice.

I will be interested if you can cite an example of the same being done in the past - or as I said before since you said this is not at all uncommon, I await your citings of numerous examples of same in the past.


Oh and please identify where I was guilty of "name calling".:-)

[SacoMaine61]

4. Romney is an smarmy and insufferable sniveller /eom

[OnyxCollie]

5. Mitt owns the media.

Well, Bain Capital (Mitt's private equity management firm) owns Clear Channel, and Clear Channel owns a shitload of radio and television stations, so how is this surprising?