Romney: Gold Medal in Dishonesty

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/07/20
Dr. Brian Moench


"...Even mainstream journalists have written about Mitt taking political lying and disdain for the facts to a new art form on campaign issues ranging from his tenure at Bain to blatantly dishonest ads about his opponents, first in the Republican primaries, and now about President Obama. Michael Cohen of the Guardian typified many of these observations with the statement, "Romney is doing something very different and far more pernicious. Quite simply, the United States has never been witness to a presidential candidate, in modern American history, who lies as frequently, as flagrantly and as brazenly as Mitt Romney." Jonathan Chait, columnist for New York Magazine says Romney is, "Just making stuff up now."

Even worse, Romney repeats the same lies over and over, even after they've been debunked. He appears completely unconcerned about being caught. That's a new level of mendacity. MSNBC's Steve Benen observed,"Romney gets away with it because he and his team realize contemporary political journalism isn't equipped to deal with a candidate who lies this much, about so many topics, so often." It reminds me of Linda Obst’s book, “Hello, He Lied.”...

...The most disturbing part of the story of Mitt, as a high school senior, assaulting a gay classmate and butchering his hair, is not the story itself--many responsible adults did regrettable things as teenagers--but the almost guaranteed lie last month that he couldn't remember ever having done it. His cohorts in crime remembered it vividly and later became deeply disturbed about taking part in it.
Mitt, many people’s lives were ruined in building your pot of gold. Not everyone is willing to do that. My criticism of your wealth has nothing to do with envy, but everything to do with the dysfunctional moral compass you use to guide your life’s work. Despite your high profile position in the Mormon Church, it is a compass that seems grossly at odds with the teachings of Jesus Christ. And your ambition has allowed you to rationalize that dishonesty as well."