Mitt Romney's continuing problem with the truth

By Richard K. Barry

On the theory that when lies are told we all bear responsibility for pointing out the truth, I want to repeat the substance of a helpful post that Steve Benen put up yesterday. It concerns Monday night's GOP debate and Romney's continuing problem with telling the truth about pretty much anything.

Here's one of Romney's claims about President Obama:

We have $15 trillion of debt. We're headed to a, to a Greece-type collapse, and he adds another trillion on top for Obamacare and for his stimulus plan that didn't create private-sector jobs. This president has failed.

Ask Mitt anything. Just don't expect the truth.

And here's Benen's response:

• It's true we have $15 trillion in debt, but the biggest chunk comes from Bush-era tax breaks. Romney wanted to make them permanent.
• Anyone who seriously believes U.S. fiscal challenges are in any way similar to Greece is a fool.
• The Affordable Care Act doesn't add to the debt, it cuts the debt by hundreds of billions of dollars.
• The stimulus created millions of private-sector jobs. Since March 2010, the U.S. economy has added 3.1 million private-sector jobs. Even playing by Republican rules, that's 3.1 million more than zero.

The final point that Benen makes is that "Romney's penchant for dishonesty in high-profile settings deserves to be story unto itself." He's quick to add, however, that he's not expecting that to happen.

It's been clear to me for some time that Mitt Romney is not a very good politician. It should be clear to everyone by now that he lacks fundamental integrity. Not only does he change his own position on any number of things to meet the needs of the moment, he also grossly misrepresents the views of others without compunction.

This guy is creepy. That's the only word for it. 

(Cross-post at Lippmann's Ghost.)