Mitt Romney’s boldest claims — that his new jobs plan will create 12 million jobs — falls apart.

Quizzed about the claim by Washington Post’s fact-checker Glenn Kessler, the Romney campaign cited three separate studies that, taken together, include numbers that add up to 12 million jobs created. But as Kessler found, the studies employ different time frames, and two of them have no bearing on Romney’s policies.

And, it turns out, not all of the authors believe their research helps justify Romney’s conclusion either.

“I think the WP [Washington Post] story says it all,” said Ed Morse, a managing director at Citigroup Global Markets, in an email. “I have no comment to add.”

Romney claims that Morse’s Citigroup study proves he’ll create 3 million jobs. But the paper actually concludes that the economy will add 2.7 million to 3.6 million energy jobs over the next eight years if existing policies, including fuel efficiency standards that Romney opposes, are continued.

The Romney campaign cites a second study by Rice University professor John Diamond, predicting that the Republican candidate’s tax reform plan will spark massive growth and create 7 million jobs over 10 years. He stands by his conclusion, which is far more optimistic than most economists’, and takes no issue with Romney citing them — even if Romney’s playing games with the time horizon.

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