Yesterday, this DailyKos post reported that while Mitt Romney claimed on May 16 to have raised $10.25 million in a single day (a claim he persuaded Politico, Washington Post, and others to report as fact), new FEC data revealed that he had only raised less than 1/4 that amount on that day.
The story (also cross-posted at a blog I contribute to) got picked up by several outlets, including CNN and the Boston Globe, and the DNC took a swipe at Romney over it, later in the day.
But while the Romney campaign might feel chagrined for getting caught lying , it's really gotta be embarrassing for the "reporters" who fell for the Romney lie, who rather than wait to see the campaign finance reports, simply reported as "fact" what the Romney camp falsely spoon-fed them.
And right on cue, one of them is striking back, with pushback that digs an even deeper hole for himself.
Having written a story on May 16, called "Mitt Romney call-a-thon haul: $10 million" that stated, "Mitt Romney hauled in $10.25 million through a call-a-thon today, sending a message to potential rivals," here's how Politico's Jonathan Martin responded (via Twitter) to the news that Romney had in fact raised only $2.4 million that day:
jmartpolitico
The "romney lied bc they didn't show $10M on their call day" is silly. We wrote at time that included pledges and was good 4 future events
Would it really have been that hard to say, "Oops, I was duped. I no longer will simply write campaigns' claims without verifying them first," and move on?
Instead, Martin digs in with a response that is even more troubling. Let's address this defense one claim at a time:
1. "We wrote at time that included pledges"
This is actually false. If you have read this far, please click on this link to see whether Martin's story says anything suggesting that the money was not actually raised that day, but rather represents "pledges" or "commitments" that might come at some unknown time in the future. For all I know, it may be alluded to or suggested in some other story he may have written (though I can't find one), but even still, for that key piece of information to be missing from any story, let alone the first one with the blaring headline, is an absolute sin of omission.
2. "[The $10 million haul] included pledges and was good 4 future events."
This is even worse. Why would you ever report as fact that a campaign raised a certain amount of money, only on the basis that they say it will come sometime in the future? He did not report: "Romney Says He Has Future Commitments to Raise $10 Million By End of Quarter." He said that Romney already raised it, all in that one day!
By doing so, he is basically saying that anything a campaign says it will do, can be reported as already having happened. Would he report "Santorum Wins Iowa" if the Santorum campaign says they believe they have commitments from 250,000 voters (or whatever number is deemed enough to win it)?
Or more comparably, would he report "Cain Raises $10 Million" if Herman Cain tells him that his family assures him it will donate $10 million to him. Because that's all pledges are -- promises, assurances. They're not actual checks or contributions. They're claims. Martin should not have reported that the campaign raised the $10 million in one day until they actually got the money from it. It's plain and simple, and for him to refuse to acknowledge it, is more troubling than the initial mistake.
Two final points on this:
1) As it happens, Romney didn't even raise a total of $10 million from May 16 onward, until June 25 (you can count the amount of money raised per day here). That's not raising $10 million in one day. It's raising $10 million in forty days.
2) Some might wonder why I or anyone should care about this. It's just one stupid, little lie about fundraising. True, but consider that Romney's campaign was struggling in mid-May (hard though it may seem now, Pawlenty and Cain seemed like real threats back then). His status as frontrunner was in question, with many critics attacking his health-care record, his speech defending his Massachusetts legislation being panned, and other prominent conservatives assailing his candidacy for other alleged apostasies. By feeding this lie to reporters, and getting them to write it, Romney was able to completely turn around the storyline from one of "Romney struggling" to one of "Romney the formidable frontrunner." Indeed, the Washington Post literally wrote: "In case there was any doubt about who the frontrunner for the GOP nomination actually is, Romney cleared it up when he raised more than $10 million in a single day earlier this month."
To simply sit back and accept that a candidate for President can achieve political gain through lying, is to allow that person (and others) to believe they can do the same thing once they occupy the office they are seeking.
We and our media should do better.