A ‘Greatest Hits’ of Romney Untruths

If I seem to be harping against the lies of Mitt Romney today, I'm sorry, but there is just so much to comment upon on this front.  In my roughly 20 years as a political activist, I do not think I've ever seen as dishonest a campaign or candidate as Mitt Romney (and his PAC buddies like Karl Rove).  The truth simply doesn't matter and there seems to be a cynicism that views Americans as being too stupid to figure out that they are being told bald faced lies.  A piece in the Washington Post looks at some of the biggest lies being told by the Romney campaign.  Here are some article excerpts:

“If Barack Obama is reelected, what will the next four years be like? One, the debt will grow from 16 trillion to 20 trillion dollars. Two, 20 million Americans could lose their employer-based health care. Three, taxes on the middle class will go up by $4,000. Four, energy prices will continue to go up. And five, $716 billion in Medicare cuts that hurt current seniors.”

— Voiceover in new Mitt Romney campaign ad titled “The Obama Plan”

[A] new ad released by the Romney campaign [see the voiceover above] is almost a “greatest hits” version of claims that have been thoroughly debunked by fact checkers, including this column. Let’s spin the record once again! 

“The debt will grow from 16 trillion to 20 trillion dollars”

Here, the Romney campaign is using “gross debt,” which includes U.S. Treasury bonds held by Social Security and Medicare. Generally, what matters for the federal budget is the publicly held debt, particularly the percentage of debt compared to the overall economy (gross domestic product.) The House GOP budget plan authored by Romney’s running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, for instance focuses on its impact on publicly-held debt, no gross debt.

“Twenty million Americans could lose their employer-based health care.”

This is the worst case scenario in a recent Congressional Budget Office report, and thus using this “20 million” figure is fairly misleading.  The most positive scenario in the CBO analysis has 3 million people being added to employer coverage. “On balance, the number of people obtaining coverage through their employer would be about 3 million lower in 2019 under the legislation than under prior law,” the CBO concludes.  It’s worth noting that the baseline scenario — 3 million fewer people — represents just 2 percent of the people who now get insurance through their employers.

Of course, Mitt Romney, as governor, ushered in health-care legislation that served as a model for Obama’s health plan

“Taxes on the middle class will go up by $4,000.”

The first time the Romney campaign made this claim, it earned three Pinocchios. But it just gets worse each time this bogus claim gets reasserted. Obama has no plan to raise taxes on the middle class . . . this claim is drawn from a dry report from the American Enterprise Institute, titled “A Simple Measure of the Distributional Burden of Debt Accumulation.” The study tries to calculate the burden of servicing the national debt by various income groups, examining what would happen under current law, current policies and Obama’s budget.

“Energy prices will continue to go up”

What’s the source on this? The Romney campaign based this claim about “energy” on just one fact: Gasoline prices have more than doubled from $1.85 per gallon to $3.82 per gallon during Obama’s presidency.  But this is a misleading comparison because cost of gas had plunged to an artificially low level at the start of Obama’s presidency because of the Great Recession.  What was the price of gas the week of Sept. 15, 2008, before the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers triggered the economic crisis? It was $3.84 — virtually the same price as today.

“$716 billion in Medicare cuts that hurt current seniors”

We’re getting tried of writing about this claim, which stems from efforts to restrain Medicare spending in the Obama health care law.  The $716 billion figure comes from the difference over 10 years (2013-2022) between anticipated Medicare spending (what is known as “the baseline”) and the changes that the law makes to reduce spending. Year over year spending on Medicare would continue to go up.

The savings mostly are wrung from health-care providers, not Medicare beneficiaries — who, as a result of the health-care law, ended up with new benefits for preventive care and prescription drugs.

I continue to hope that the American public doesn't prove itself to be as stupid as Mitt Romney and the GOP see them to be.   But if Romney wins, then it will be a sad commentary on the idiocy, racism, extremism and greed of a majority of voters.