Mendacious Mitt

Living in Pennsylvania, I have not seen a lot of Obama for President TV spots. My impression, however, is that the kind of spots I would like to see have not been made. I would like to see TV ads with clips of Mitt Romney expressing his many views on the same subject over the years. His views on abortion probably provide the most grist for the political mill, but his view of foreign policy would probably work almost as well.

The video below from Slate is clearly too long for a TV spot, but it suggests the kind of resources available to a willing political operative. It is easy to see why Mitt Romney’s position has been called “multiple choice.”



Politicians shade the truth all the time. That may not be right, but it is reality, particularly when there is a perceived need to communicate a message in 30 seconds. Never have I seen a campaign like the Romney campaign, however, in which not only does the candidate or his supporters flat out lie, but also, when the lies are pointed out, the American people get neither a retraction nor an apology. Instead, the campaign simply doubles down, continuing to run dishonest ads with impunity.

On the matter of its advertising, the Romney campaign has, in fact, been scrupulously truthful: “We’re not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers” [Romney pollster Neil Newhouse]. He certainly got that right!

If a presidential candidate will lie to get elected, do we have any reasonable expectation that he will level with Americans when he is president? Is the nation that venerates Honest Abe ready to elect Mendacious Mitt?