The Mitt Romney Drinking Game

Mitt Romney at one of his presidential campaign rallies. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Have you noticed it? Republicans routinely and willfully lie. It’s not just ‘mis-speaking’ or inaccurate; it’s wanton, reckless, intentional, and knowingly lying. And people applaud when the lies are spoken. Take Mitt Romney, for example: The multiple mendacity that comes from his mouth is glaring. Sure, some of it is just ill-informed opinion but most of his accusations against President Obama are demonstrably wrong and yet Romney continues to do it even when the media point out that he’s wrong. He just keeps doing it and he even lies about doing it.

Perhaps Governor Romney doesn’t understand today’s modern media. There are plenty of former Republicans and Democrats who have fallen prey to the Twitter feeds. Most have TV shows now. Maybe he actually believes what he’s saying is true. Still, when pointed out that it’s not true it seems like Romney ignores it as if he’s hoping it will go away. It’s more likely that he’s following the old dictum that if you repeat something often enough then it will eventually be reality. Or at least the perception of reality. And really, that’s all you need to win an election: the perception amongst the majority that these things must be true, ergo it’s the reason you’re the better candidate.

We could turn the Mitten’s Mendacity into a drinking game but we’d all be passed out on the lawn on election day. Maybe that’s what Mitt is hoping for.

It’s going to be interesting to see how President Obama counters this line of attack. Obviously, if he just comes out and says ‘Liar, liar, pant’s on fire’, he looks petty. On the other hand if he says nothing to dispute it the public will begin to buy it. And a majority of the public already believes some of the distortions. In a recent Washington Post survey fully 52% of respondents believed that President Obama had not accomplished a great deal in his first term as President. When, in fact, He has accomplished much more than any President since LBJ. And Lyndon Johnson accomplished a great deal to his detriment. He turned the southern states from Democrat to Republican by implementing equal rights. He made strides to end an endless war. He is the first president in recent memory to purposely not seek re-election. Yet LBJ ranks in the top ten presidents.

The thing is that much of what great presidents do is not apparent until after they’re long out of office. FDR, for instance created the much beloved Social Security. Back then: not so much beloved. Truman left office with a staggeringly low approval rating despite many of the banking and other reforms he installed that we benefit from today.

And that’s what presidents do. They do things that benefit the nation, not themselves. That’s why we elect them. It should be no different this time.

No one is really clear how Mitt Romney will benefit the nation since he hasn’t actually outlined anything other than; ‘President Obama’s failed policies!’ There’s a string in Mitt’s back you can pull and he’ll repeat that line (it also cues God Bless America) But if you buy the lies, Romney will be our economic saviour once elected. He has not submitted one idea that will alleviate our economic woes. Actually he is a fan of the rich people’s advocate, Paul Ryan. So much so that Ryan is a serious contender for a running mate. No surprise since Ryan keeps submitting budget proposals that bilk the middle class of their income to fatten the pocketbooks of the well-to-do. All that Romney has said just echoes what he did at Bain Capital: he will streamline (read; eliminate) all waste. That means fire everybody until you can make a profit. It does little to help everybody but it makes sense…if you’re Gordon Gekko.

President Obama doesn’t like to boast. He must think his record will speak for itself. ‘Yeah, I got bin Laden, no biggie’. But the President has done the job we sent him there to do. And then some. Republicans keep telling us that what they have in mind will work but there is absolutely no evidence that it will work. We’ve tried it: not just in our country but in other nations as well. Trickle down does not work.

But Mitt seems to be convinced that it does and he keeps spinning lies about it. It’s time for a national intervention. We, the people, need help recovering from the wrecked economy. We don’t need a corporate raider to do that.

Related articles

• Willard Romney’s Lies of the Week (3chicspolitico.com)
• The Proud Liar Mitt Romney Claimed Today (The Nation)
• The Mendacity is the Message (New York Times)
• Lies, Damn Lies, and Mitt Romney’s Charts (Mother Jones)