After reading about the context behind Mitt's binders full of women, the question struck me, has there ever been a campaign more full of shit than Mitt Romney's? What's amazing aren't so much the anecdotal lies or misstated facts, like trying to say that Obama didn't call the plot 'an act of terror', I think I'm numb to those, though they do paint the picture of a man without a shred of integrity. What's amazing is that the very core of his campaign, the main supporting arguments he makes over and over are absolute bullshit. We all know that politicians spin, fudge the facts, take things out of context, flip flop, and make promises they don't intend to keep, but I don't know that we've ever seen a candidate for president whose central arguments were all either completely false or wildly misleading.
It's really staggering when you think about it.
These have been Mitt's central attacks on Obama's record:
Gas prices have doubled since Obama took office.
Obama doubled the deficit.
Obama went on an apology tour.
Obama removed the work requirement from welfare.
Obama robbed $716 billion from Medicare.
All are either completely false or perhaps technically true but still wildly dishonest (gas prices). To be fair, Mitt also usually mentions a few statistics on unemployment, poverty, and income that are true, but of course completely ignores the situation that Obama inherited. Not content to stick to actual facts about the pace of the recovery, he invariably throws in the above attacks, despite all having been repeatedly debunked. His campaign wasn't kidding when they said the would not let the fact checkers dictate their message.
Further when asked about his plan Mitt will mention:
The studies that say his plan will create 12 million jobs
The 6 studies that show his tax plan adds up
Both completely dishonest statements.
These statements that I listed aren't cherry picked from hundreds of events from over a year of campaigning, and to be clear there are many many many more lies peppered through each and every appearance he makes, but these are his core arguments that he mentions every single time (and I'm probably forgetting a few).
The funny thing is it's not like there isn't an honest critique that can be made of Obama's record, even acknowledging the mess that he inherited. To make that argument, though, you would have to point out that the Obama administration was too deferential to Wall Street and big monied interests and that he was often stymied by republican opposition, two areas that Mitt can't touch. And so Mitt lies.
And to be fair to Mitt, the strategy is working depressingly well. Mitt's lies, along with other devastating stories such as Sensata, are completely unknown to a large swath of undecided voters. And it helps to have allies on such places as the WSJ editorial board which is just aghast that Obama would characterize Mitt as a liar. Hey, if the shoe fits...