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A couple of months ago, I launched a Friday afternoon feature, highlighting the most offensive Mitt Romney falsehoods of the week, and it moved to Maddow Blog a month ago. Let's keep this going with another installment.
1. Going after President Obama, Romney told voters this week, "Did you hear this? He believes he ranks among the top four presidents in American history. Can you believe that? I'd find a different spot for him."
Obama never said this.
2. Romney told Michigan voters about his presence at Detroit's Golden Jubilee, celebrating the American automobile's 50th anniversary. Romney said he "probably 4 or something like that" when his dad "had a job being the grandmaster."
Romney wasn't born at the time of the event.
3. Referring to the president, Romney argued, "He also promised he'd cut taxes for middle-income Americans. Hasn't done that, either."
Actually, Obama has cut middle-class taxes several times over the last three years. If this is supposed to be one of Romney's key areas of interest, how could he not have noticed this?
4. After winning the Michigan primary, Romney boasted, "[T]here are a lot of people who were saying that if you are running for office you really can't speak honestly to the American people. Well, we did."
Given how often Romney lies, at an almost pathological level, this is one of those fun meta-falsehoods.
5. Romney also argued, "This president, by the way, he likes to remind us that he inherited an economy that was in crisis. But he doesn't like to remind us that he also inherited a Democrat [sic] Congress. He had majorities in both the House and the Senate. He was free to pursue any policy he pleased."
Mitt Romney, after nearly two decades in electoral politics, has apparently never heard of the filibuster.
6. Romney claimed this week about Obama, "He lost our triple AAA credit rating."
No, actually, he didn't.
7. Romney also argued in Michigan, "This president wants to raise your taxes. I'm going to cut them."
Well, not exactly. Obama only intends to raise taxes on those making more than $250,000 a year, so when Romney says the president wants to raise "your" taxes, unless he's talking to an audience filled exclusively with the 2% of all income earners -- at a Romney event, I suppose that's possible -- he's lying. As for his vow to "cut" your taxes, the very poor would see their taxes go up under Romney's tax plan.
8. Romney claimed about the president, "Do you realize after saying that Medicare and Social Security were in trouble, he has yet to offer a single serious proposal for saving Medicare and Social Security?"
Ironically, Romney has also attacked Obama for doing too much to scale back entitlements. He can't -- or at least shouldn't -- have it both ways.
9. Romney boasted this week, "I have a plan to save both [Medicare and Social Security], and unlike [Obama], I have the courage to put my plan on the table."
No, actually, he doesn't -- at least not yet. Romney has presented no details about his "plan" for Medicare and Social Security.
10. Romney also claimed this week, "My plans will ... will not add to our deficit. They will abolish it."
No serious person could possibly look at Romney's plan and believe this.
11. Romney argued yesterday, in reference to oil production, "This is a president who`s not been helping the situation. And then he takes his EPA and uses them to try and stifle the development of oil and gas in this country."
That might make more sense if U.S. oil production under Obama weren't up so significantly.
12. Romney argued this morning, "You know how many trade agreements this president has negotiated? Zero."
Panama, Colombia, and South Korea know better.
Newt Gingrich argued this week that Mitt Romney "has a near Pavlovian reflex of lapsing into falsehoods in order to rearrange reality to his liking." That's harsh, but hardly unfounded.
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