On Tuesday, Mitt Romney decided to give Rick Santorum some curious advice. The former governor said that “misrepresenting the truth is not a good way” to boost one’s campaign, and candidates looking to gain ground should “use truth as one of the pillars of your strategy.”
After tackling the challenge of cataloguing Romney’s audacious falsehoods, and watching this guy lie repeatedly (and at times even unnecessarily), hearing the candidate decry “misrepresenting the truth” was so jarring, I almost took it personally.
Perhaps the former governor has forgotten just how often he’s failed to use the truth as one of the pillars of his strategy. To help remind him, here’s the 10th installment of my weekly series, chronicling Mitt’s mendacity.
1. Romney told voters in Mississippi this week, “Don’t forget by the way that this President, how many months ago was it, 37 months ago, told us that if he could borrow $787 billion, almost $1 trillion, he would keep unemployment below 8 percent.”
Putting aside the fact that $787 billion is not “almost $1 trillion,” the “below 8 percent” canard just isn’t true.
2. Romney also told Mississippi Republicans about the president, “He was going to cut the budget deficit in half. He’s doubled it.”
This is one of Romney’s favorite lines, but it’s simply absurd on its face — he’s either lying or he’s bad at arithmetic. When Obama took office, the deficit was about $1.3 trillion. Last year, it was $1.29 trillion. This year, it’s on track to be about $1.1 trillion. Does Romney not know what “double” means? (Even if we believe Romney is confusing the words “deficit” and “debt,” it’s still wrong. The only modern presidents to double the debt on their watch were Reagan and George W. Bush. Obama inherited a $10 trillion debt, and it’s nowhere near $20 trillion.)
3. Going after Rick Santorum this week, Romney said, “This is the guy that voted to fund Planned Parenthood.”
This is wildly dishonest. Not only did Romney fund Planned Parenthood as governor, but during his Senate campaign, Romney attended a Planned Parenthood fundraiser (his wife even dropped off a $150 check).
4. Romney argued in a press statement this week that Obama plans to “end Medicare as we know it.”
This is both dishonest and ironic. Obama’s Affordable Care Act strengthens and protects Medicare, while Romney has endorsed Paul Ryan’s House Republican budget plan, which ends Medicare and replaces it with a voucher scheme.
5. Romney mocked Obama this week by arguing, “This is a president who thinks America is doing better.”
You know who agrees with the president? Mitt Romney.
6. On energy policy, Romney said Obama blamed higher gas prices on Republican presidential candidates who “are talking in a very muscular way about Iran and their nuclear program.”
That’s not what Obama said.
7. As Paul Krugman noted, Romney also argued that gasoline prices are high because President Obama won’t allow unrestricted drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.









