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Romnocchio (image: mariopiperni / flickr)
One of the many things I find perplexing about Mitt Romney is not that he distorts the truth, which most candidates do, but that he says things which can easily be proven false. The most recent example is Romney strongly implying the guns used in the Aurora tragedy were obtain illegally so he can dodge the question about gun regulation. From New York Times:
Mr. Romney said in the interview that the suspect in the Colorado rampage,James E. Holmes, whom the police have accused of killing 12 and injuring 58, was illegally in possession of weapons. “Well, this person shouldn’t have had any kind of weapons and bombs and other devices, and it was illegal for him to have many of those things already,” Mr. Romney said. “But he had them.”
Officials have said the three guns used in the mass shooting were bought legally. A spokesman for Mr. Romney, Ryan Williams, said he was referring specifically to what the police identified as homemade incendiary devices in the suspect’s apartment, which are illegal in Colorado, not to firearms.
This explanation from the Romney campaign is weaselly and feels like it was invented after the fact, once Romney was called out. The homemade devices were not used in the tragedy itself, so it is somewhere between purposely misleading and an outright lie to refer to them in this way, in a question about gun regulation, to argue there is no need for new gun laws.
Either Romney didn’t know that the guns were purchased legally, so Romney thinks it is acceptable to just make up stuff to justify his stance; or Romney did know the guns were legal but actively chose to use clever phrasing to try to deceive the audience into thinking they were illegal to make his position seem more reasonable. Neither makes Romney sound trustworthy or honest, which is probably why his likability numbers are dreadful.
23 Comments
How do we know the guy who appeared in court is the one who did the shooting. The shooter was wearing a mask. Was he the same one who rolled the tear gas canister into the theater or was that a second person.
Just asking.
Jon, while I wish you would not do stories on the polls as I have pointed out they are often propaganda pieces to support an agenda, at the very least I asked that you check the sampling and if you were using polls that one month said x and next y to check sampling from both. Yesterday you put up the NBC poll which NBC has now admitted was heavily rigged for a Dem bias. So, again I ask if you must post the BS polls at least dig below the msm headline and see what they are based on. thanks
LOL. How come none of the witnesses mentioned he had red hair, sort of hard to miss
Mendacious Mitt~~
His word ain’t worth spit!!
May his dishonesty be his undoing…still think he won’t make it to Tampa!!
NBC admitted to bias in the sampling? For my own curiosity, was that on air or in print? Thanks in advance.
In an interview aired last night on NBC, Romney told Brian Williams this:
[empahsis supplied]
What a hubby he is!
Romney lie? Nah we established last night he is Quantum Mittens. One part of him is here but the other is out there somewhere. So he can never be said to be lying or not lying.
Well, Mitt’s allegation about the Aurora shooter’s illegal guns sounds truthy, anyway. I think that’s about the best adherence to the truth we can expect; this guy seems incapable of hewing to any rational truth in his public statements. Lying comes easier to him.
Good point, though I would quibble & say it looks orange to me. :-)
I haven’t paid much attention bc I find all this biz about using it as a political football to attack other side over gun control to be an incredible waste of breath, not to mention in bad taste.
In cruising around alternative websites, I find they are asking some interesting Qs that are not on the screen on U.S. media or lefty blogs.
morning joke
Yes Bright Orange!. politicians never want to let a good opportunity go to waste, they couldn’t care less about the victims.
According to reports, he was wearing a ballistic helmet and a gas mask. Given that — and given that it was dark and he used a smoke bomb or tear-gas canister and people were, you know, trying not to get shot — it’s not exactly surprising that his hair color might not have stood out.
But forget all that, I’m sure there’s some sinister conspiratorial reason that can explain it better.
How long should we suspend the discussion about gun control after each mass murder involving guns? Because gods knows I wouldn’t want to be tasteless, and I’m wondering how much of a window of opportunity there will be between when it’s tasteful to talk after this YAII (Yet Another Isolated Incident) and when the next one happens and we need to tastefully shut up again.
I have never seen a politician who lies, and lies, and lies, like Romney. I agree with Jon, it’s honestly puzzling. Do his handl3ers not realize how badly he comes off??? Rarely a day goes by that he isn’t easily proven to be a patholoigical liar by any number of media sources. and sometimes, on something that really doesn’t matter. something he doesn’t HAVE to lie about.
I Just hope enough people are paying attention to him and not firmly entrenched on the idea of getting that black man ot of their white house at any cost.
Ya’ got til tomorrow at noon.
The tasteless part is using the victims as pawns in a political verbal war.
Gas mask?
How about until we address the root causes of violence in our society.
Yet, he is responsible for so few reported innocent deaths. While Obama, on the other hand, can tally up the kill count pretty quickly. The irony never ceases to amuse or depress me.
BTW, the aftermath of these shootings never result in any movement on gun control. I’m on the email list of the Brady group–how long ago did that occur and what progress has he made. Also member of congress from Long Island was on democracynow a couple of days ago, whose husband was shot on the commuter train.
Both of those are serious efforts, as opposed to rhetorical political cheap shots, and still no progress.
Also according to reports he was in the movie got a call went out the exit door somehow left it open and then got back in with his gear on. So my question is this was the same guy you would think quite a few people would have noticed him with bright orange hair, especially if you were going to see the batman movie. If they are not one and the same then how did the guy get into the theater.
The lies of private citizens who aspire to be elected officials are troubling & I know FDL has run many posts about the lying plutocrat Romney – but what about the lies of sitting presidents?
The lie that rich bankers ‘broke no laws’
The lie that the super cool mtg task force to get the bad guys was created to help homeowners as opposed to provide cover for criminals and offer ‘no admission of wrong doing’ agreements with fines to be paid out of US Treasury tax payer dollar handouts to these same criminals
The lie that the US doesn’t torture and host black site detention camps around the world
The lie that the massive warrantless wiretapping and data mining of American citizens is to protect us from terrorism, when in fact it has instead abused to advance the failed and racist ‘drug war’
The lie that there is concern for collective bargaining and unionism in the executive branch
The lie that finishing the social security trust fund through tax abatement will create economic growth
The lie that businesses will use their trillions of hoarded wealth to ‘create jobs’
The lie that unemployment rate is ‘hovering at 8 percent’ when the government’s own figures (U6) say that unemployment has hovered around 15 percent for 3 years
The lie that BP can and should be responsible for cleaning up after the gulf spill
The lie that the president can execute Americans who have never been charged or tried in a court (see US Constitution amendments 5>7)
The lie that the affordable care act was designed to help sick Americans – when in fact it was drafted by insurance companies to force Americans under penalty of law to buy a useless product from the industry that gave us the racist practice known as ‘redlining’
Need more lies? Then just pay attention
Why do people waste their time denigrating one liar while disregarding and apologizing for the other liar one the other side?
The easiest question to ask yourself is “who do these liars lie for- is it regular Americans, orthe neo-fascist police and military forces and their suppliers who take away our rights at home and engage in imperialist crusades internationally, or the greedy and unAmerican parasites in the FIRE industries who buy government positions for political hacks and stooges to further their immoral agenda to impoverish Americans and saddle our children with unpayable debt?
I know that our correspondent has drawn a distinction between what he identifies as untruthful statements and ‘distortions’ of truth – but I for one have a great deal of trouble classifying lies into categories for the purpose of exemplifying that one liar is worse than another – news flash : they are both liars, and flacking for one liar over the other is pure political hackery (note: I live in Illinois so I know)
Come on folks- as George Clinton says; ‘Think – it ain’t illegal yet’
Call me a conspiracist, but I can’t help but feel, every time I read a piece here on FDL knocking Mitt, that somehow it i also a piece in support of Obama.
Obama seems to be a little off the radar here lately. Where are the calling bullshit on his campaign lies?