“I think that the president’s campaign has focused its advertising in many cases on very inaccurate portrayals of my positions”
- Mitt Romney September 2012
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/...
pretty ballsy accusation from the campaign that said this:
"Fact checkers come to this with their own sets of thoughts and beliefs, and we’re not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact checkers"
- Neil Newhouse, Romney Campaign pollster
Specifically, Mr. Romney pointed to the auto industry bailout, his tax plan and his position on abortion as three areas in which the president had tried to misrepresent his position.
So let's help Mitt out:
On the auto bailout:
"Let Detroit go Bankrupt", Op-Ed written by Mitt Romney
http://www.nytimes.com/...
On taxes:
Mitt Romney has not only refused to release his own taxes before 2010 (just an 'amended return' and a statement from Price Waterhouse Cooper that Romney has paid at least 13% each year). He got to 13% by not taking all his deductions:
"The Romneys’ generous charitable donations in 2011 would have significantly reduced their tax obligation for the year. The Romneys thus limited their deduction of charitable contributions to conform to the Governor's statement in August, based upon the January estimate of income, that he paid at least 13% in income taxes in each of the last 10 years." Brad Malt, PriceWaterhouse
...but that contridicts his statement here:
"I don't pay more than are legally due and frankly if I had paid more than are legally due I don't think I'd be qualified to become president. I'd think people would want me to follow the law and pay only what the tax code requires."
- Mitt Romney, talking to ABC News, July 2012
He's also refused to explain how his tax plan would work. Here's the 60 Minutes interview from Sunday where Romney can't explain how any of his tax plan would work:
http://www.examiner.com/...
On abortion:
In a 1994 debate with Senator Ted Kennedy, Romney said: "One of the great things about our nation ... is that we're each entitled to have strong personal beliefs, and we encourage other people to do the same. But as a nation, we recognize the right of all people to believe as they want and not to impose our beliefs on other people. I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country. I have since the time that my mom took that position when she ran in 1970 as a U.S. Senate candidate. I believe that since Roe v. Wade has been the law for 20 years, that we should sustain and support it, and I sustain and support that law, and the right of a woman to make that choice, and my personal beliefs, like the personal beliefs of other people, should not be brought into a political campaign."
During the 2002 governor's race, Romney's platform stated, "As Governor, Mitt Romney would protect the current pro-choice status quo in Massachusetts. No law would change."
"I am pro-life. I believe that abortion is the wrong choice except in cases of incest, rape, and to save the life of the mother. I wish the people of America agreed, and that the laws of our nation could reflect that view. But while the nation remains so divided over abortion, I believe that the states, through the democratic process, should determine their own abortion laws and not have them dictated by judicial mandate."
The Boston Globe on July 26, 2005
At the May 2007 Republican Presidential debate in South Carolina, Romney stated that "Roe v. Wade has gone to such an extent that we've cheapened the value of human life." He followed by saying "the people should make [the abortion] decision, not the court."
During the 2012 presidential campaign, Romney promised to nominate Supreme Court justices who would help overturn Roe v. Wade.
(Above quotes from
http://en.wikipedia.org/...)
It's impossible to misrepresent Mitt Romney any more than he does himself.
NOTE: (Thanks to Jed's Front Page Diary that sparked this...
http://www.dailykos.com/...
and to Wikipedia and the great Googles for helping me source the rest.
I wanted to post all this to my Facebook account, but wanted it more concise and sourced for my friends who want the quotes. I put the above together from Jed's diary and the internets and then posted it to my FB, and then thought maybe someone else might want it all in one spot here.)