Mitt Romney: A Man of Falsehoods

His own campaign has admitted that Mitt Romney is like an old time Etch A Sketch that keeps being erased and reformatted. And each time this happens, what Romney supposedly believes in changes. Moreover, he tries to act like he either never made his prior statements or claims a conversion of opinion that seems to fluctuate depending on the make up of the crowd being addressed. One is left wondering what, if anything other than his own advancement, does the man believe in? Is there any position he won't change like a chameleon? A column in the Washington Post looks at this phenomenon and calls Romney out for his willingness to lie about just about anything and everything. Here are highlights:

Among the attributes I most envy in a public man (or woman) is the ability to lie. If that ability is coupled with no sense of humor, you have the sort of man who can be a successful football coach, a CEO or, when you come right down to it, a presidential candidate. Such a man is Mitt Romney.

Time and time again, Romney has been called a liar during this campaign. (The various fact-checking organizations have had to work overtime on him alone.) A significant moment, sure to surface in the general election campaign, came during a debate held in New Hampshire in January. David Gregory, the host of “Meet the Press,” turned to Newt Gingrich and said, “You have agreed with the characterization that Governor Romney is a liar. Look at him now. Do you stand by that claim?” Gingrich did not flinch. “Sure, governor,” he started off, and then accused Romney of running ads that were not true and, moreover, pretending he knew nothing about them.

I admire a smooth liar, and Romney is among the best. His technique is to explain — that bit about not knowing what was in the ads — and then counterattack. He maintains the bulletproof demeanor of a man who is barely suffering fools, in this case Gingrich. His message is not so much what he says, but what he is: You cannot touch me. I have the organization and the money. Especially the money. (Even the hair.) You’re a loser.

There are those who maintain that President Obama, too, is a liar. . . . But where Romney is different is that he is not honest about himself. He could, as he did just recently, stand before the National Rifle Association as if he were, in spirit as well as membership, one of them. In body language, in the blinking of the eyes, in the nonexistent pounding pulse, there was not the tiniest suggestion that here was a man who just as confidently once embodied the anti-gun ethic of Massachusetts . . . he tore into Obama for the (nonexistent) threat the president posed to Second Amendment rights — a false accusation from a false champion.

[W]hat his career has given him is the businessman’s concept of self — that what he does is not who he is. This is what enables the slumlord to be a charitable man. This is what enables the corporate raider to endow his university. Business is business. It’s what you do. It is not who you are. Lying isn’t a sin. It’s a business plan.

We definitely do not need such an unapologetic liar in the White House.