Documenting the explosion of lies from the mouth of Mitt Romney would be a full time job – for instance, MaddowBlog’s Steve Benen easily comes up with dozens a week. Even Politifact — which strives to suggest that Republican politicians sometimes tell the the truth—has found Mitt’s “Pants on Fire” at least 13 separate times, or one more than Michele Bachmann, whose definition of veracity is “I read it in the Gmail.”
Mitt Romney learned a crucial lesson from his father George, a man who blew his chance to be President with a single “gaffe.” The lesson?
Never let them catch you telling the truth.
In 1967, George Romney said the military had “brainwashed” him about Vietnam. It was a brave turn-of-phrase, illustrating growing distrust of the military leadership during the Vietnam War. Such candor did not sit well with the GOP base—despite the tendency of the Republican leaders to seek deferments and National Guard posts for their sons – which summarily dumped him.
This Shakespearian drama cost America the good Romney, leaving us instead with Mitt, who will say nothing that might displease the GOP base. And because there’s so little to say that pleases the GOP base without forfeiting the November election, Mitt must concoct lies about this President that appeal to his party’s paranoia.
It’s used car salesman politics. It might work once but won’t win repeat customers.
What complicates Mitt’s pursuit of the White House is his occasional impulse to blurt out the truth. Sometimes he just wants to prove how smart he is.
That’s why he came out for the anti-recessionary stimulus in 2009. That’s why he supported a national mandate like Obamacare — until he didn’t. That’s why he now claims credit for a rescue of the auto industry that tried to destroy. (And that’s why he said that he likes to fire people.)
Last Wednesday, Mitt utter something so startling that he was completely ignored by the right wing media, which must have sensed that this outburst could colllapse his candidacy and the Republican Party platform. If the tri-corner hat-wearing Medicare recipients in the Tea Party indeed heard his heretical remarks, their failure to rise up in fury just proves how completely hollow their movement is.
In a single sentence, Mitt admitted that everything the GOP has been saying about the economy since 2009 is a lie. Asked why he wouldn’t cut spending immediately, the presumptive nominee said: “Well, because if you take a trillion dollars, for instance, out of the first year of the federal budget, that would shrink GDP over five percent.”
LOL.
In those few words, Romney asserted that government spending directly grows the economy. Everyone has known this simple fact for decades, of course. But Speaker John Boehner and House Budget Chair Paul Ryan have spent years telling us that government spending shrinks the economy – the Big Lie that helped them win a Congressional majority in 2010.
Businessman Mitt knows this Big Lie is dumber than a box of Palins, as does every Republican who insists that any cut in defense spending will damage growth.
Rejecting this lie could end the ongoing depression for the working class today — as the GOP leaders know. If unemployed teachers, veterans, and firefighters were put to work tomorrow, job creation would skyrocket. That’s what happened during the Reagan recovery and the so-called Bush recovery. But the GOP is committed to sabotaging this economy — and Mitt Romney just accidentally acknowledged it.
Mitt Romney, this is your very best LOL since you said Rick Santorum isn’t conservative enough to be your running mate. But we know you’ll top it before November.
Suggest your LOL of the week to @LOLGOP.
