To what degree is Romney lying?

Mitt Romney lies.

That is an indisputable fact. The question is, will his campaign lies hurt his election to the presidency? 


Perhaps. 


American voters expect a certain amount of stretching the truth from political candidates  - within limits. Romney seems to violate those limits daily. His first campaign ad of the race vs. Obama contained a blatant lie.


Romney's ad claimed the President said the following: "If we keep talking about the economy, we're going to lose."


What the president actually said was this, 

"The McCain campaign actually said, and I quote, if we keep talking about the economy, we're going to lose".  

This led to a field day among comedians, who deliberately took Romney out of context, in the same fashion in which Romney had misquoted Obama. The results are pretty funny.

"You have to have positions on issues that last longer than this [brandishes an Etch-a-Sketch]"

- Newt Gingrich, 2012 GOP Presidential Candidate

But seriously, do we really want a President who seems to lie so easily? And what's more stupefying, is that he clearly lies on issues that are trivial, and on items that are clearly verifiably false.

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My own view is that Romney has a character flaw. He is a "pleaser" - a man with fungible core principles that he can wield and mold at any time, to any audience, to say what they want to hear. One must do this kind of lying if a) your real beliefs are deeply unpopular, or b) if the audiences expectations are so different than your own beliefs. Either way, a President of the most powerful country in the world cannot be such a bald-faced liar. This character flaw is deep-rooted, and is why Romney constantly suffers the barbs from the ideological left and right that he is a "flip-flopper". He is. Flip-floppng is an unavoidable symptom of trying to please everyone, all the time - a physical impossibility.

"Mitt Romney is a well-oiled weather vane"

- John Huntsman, 2012 GOP Candidate 

But the real debate; the one that should consume all who wonder about - and are somewhat fearful of - a Mitt Romney presidency, is to what degree Romney is now lying and what will he actually do if elected? Will he revert to the moderate that some argue he is? Or will he actually do all the radical right-wing cutting and slashing of the Federal government that he is now campaigning on with fervor?


Does he really believe we should "cut, cap, and balance" the federal budget? His most fervent supporters certainly believe he is committed to cutting, even if, as he says in his own words, that doing so will throw the US into a "recession or depression, so I won't do that, of course".


This question of how Romney will act if elected is the key issue troubling swing voters who might consider voting for Romney. We should hope this issue consumes 10's of thousands of swing voters, as Romney has a moderate record as governor of Massachusetts (a moderate state), yet presents a completely different image on the campaign. This poses a huge dichotomy for voters who must decided who he is with regard to his campaign promises - which are far, far from moderate. 


Why is this important?

If Romney does what he clearly says he will do in his presidential campaign, and what those Tea Party types who are now his supporters will insist he does if elected, have dire economic consequences for the US. 

Guthrie: "Speaker Gingrich, are you calling Mitt Romney a liar?" 

Gingrich: "Yes"

- Newt Gingrich response to question posed by reporter, Savannah Guthrie

A plurality of economists left and right believe that Romney's proposed policies will batter the US economy - and likely trigger a worldwide recession or worse. Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz said the election of Mitt Romney as president in November would “significantly” raise the odds of a recession because it would herald a shift to a much tighter budget. Even Romney himself knows his campaign promises will cause a US recession.

If Romney follows through on this campaign promises, he will make the Obama years look like economic nirvana.


So what is the bottom line?


My personal view is that even considering voting for Romney, with his radical public positions, is not worth the risk. I plan to vote for Obama. There simply is too much risk that either:

• Romney really does believe we should slash the size of government, even in a recovering economy, or
• Romney does not believe it, but his hand will be forced by the Tea Party

Ponder the following scenario: 


Romney wins the presidency, and his momentum and coattails drag enough Republican winners for the GOP to keep control of the House, and to unseat enough Democrats to take the Senate - a not unlikely occurrence should Romney gather the head of steam needed to unseat Obama. The newly confident Tea Party-led house passes the Ryan budget, the newly sworn GOP Senate passes it as well, and now Romney must stand all alone and veto it, as signing it will clearly cause a recession. 


Further, based on the constant flip-flopping Romney does, holding at least 2 positions on almost all policy issues, ask yourself this question:

Does Romney have the moral conviction, the strength of character to stand alone, against the most virulent partisan Tea Party types the GOP has ever seen and veto right-wing policies that will almost certainly throw the US into recession?

I think not. He will sign it.


It's one of the main problems with an argument for Romney. As we have detailed above, he as a proven liar, a flip-flopper, and perhaps worst of all, is clearly someone with demonstrably squishy core beliefs. 


When push comes to shove, as President he will not have the moral courage, or core convictions to stand the tremendous heat he will be facing from the far right of his own party. He'll sign it - if only to get his parties support in a re-election bid.


I feel it's too risky for someone with such public "squish"iness on matters of core beliefs to even consider Romney. The case is closed for me, and I hope many others will follow these same conclusions.


A Romney presidency at this time in our history of such fervent and reckless GOP orthodoxy - the orthodoxy of the Tea Party - will be disastrous and is not worth the risk of a Romney vote in my view.


Here's a very smart duo of commentators discussing this issue.

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