AP Fact checks Romney and others at CPAC- found some untruths (I'm shocked, shocked!)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100220/ap_on_an/us_consequences_of_untruths_analysis

Analysis: Untruths have consequences in politics

WASHINGTON – Conservatives leapt to their feet when Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney declared Democrats the party of "No!" — no to balanced budgets, limits on lawsuits, tax cuts and tough interrogations of terror suspects.

But their applause this week at the Conservative Political Action Conference was for an illusion. Romney's assertions lacked context at best and at worst were flat-out wrong.

While Romney and fellow Republicans were filling the air with red-meat distortions, liberal Democratic activists were torturing facts online as they wrote commentary about the conservative gathering.

Americans are almost numb to it by now, expecting politicians and their allies to fudge facts. President Barack Obama embellishes the number of jobs created by last year's stimulus bill while Republicans claim, incorrectly, that not a single job resulted from the measure.

So what? All politicians play fast and loose with the truth, right?

Such distortion and dishonesty cause Americans to be increasingly skeptical of — even cynical about — their political institutions and leaders. Once people lose faith in the political system, they're less likely to vote, less willing to pay taxes to support government-run programs, less motivated to run for office themselves and — sociologists say — they're even less likely to get involved in their own communities.

These are consequences of cutting corners in the public square.

And so it's worth noting when Romney, the former Massachusetts governor positioning himself for the 2012 presidential race, tells the CPAC crowd that Democrats are opposed to tax cuts.

He conveniently left out the fact that the stimulus bill backed by President Barack Obama and approved by the Democratic-led Congress included $288 billion in tax benefits, including refundable credits of $400 for individuals and $800 for families in 2009 and 2010 covering about 95 percent of taxpayers.

Democrats are against balanced budgets? You might chalk that up to harmless hyperbole except for important facts that Romney overlooked: A Democratic president, Bill Clinton, oversaw surpluses and the nation's debt skyrocketed under President Bush, a conservative Republican.

Romney could have pointed to projections of deepening deficits on Obama's watch — more than $9 trillion from 2010 through 2019. But it's easier to say Democrats are against balanced budgets, even if that's bogus.

more at the link

Rachel Maddow has been covering a lot of it too.

:rofl:


That explains tarring "liberal Democratic activists"(plural) by the musings of one KOS poster(singular).


Fournier is a rightwing hack.

:kick: