Presidential Debate: Romney Lied 31 Times

Mitt Romney lied 31 times at Tuesday night’s presidential debate against President Obama. For those fans of politics, Romney beat his first debate record, where he lied 27 times. In contrast, Paul Ryan lied during his debate against Vice President Biden a “mere” 24 times.

(For a real look at how Paul Ryan’s lies are so disgusting, read: What Paul Ryan’s Faked Soup Kitchen Photo Op Says About Romney Campaign)

None of this should come as a surprise. Once it was clear Romney would become the GOP presidential nominee, his first act was to release an ad attacking president Obama with a lie.

Remember this, where Romney, in typical Breitbart/O’Keefe selective video editing fashion, cut a video that made it look like President Obama as saying, “If we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose”? Except, Obama was quoting John McCain in their 2008 presidential contest, and the full sentence was, “Senator McCain said, ‘If we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose’.” Big difference, to everyone, except Mitt Romney.

Fast forward to last night.

Mitt Romney told 31 lies during the debate last night in Hempstead, Long Island.

Igor Volsky, in his usual efficient manner, was able to capture and debunk all 31 lies. Volsky, who writes at Think Progress, where he’s also the Deputy Editor, calls Romney’s lies “myths” — although he does say Romney “has run a post-truth campaign from day one.” We’re not as generous here.

Volsky catalogued 31 lies. Here are the top seven — the most egregious and/or most important. Skip over to Think Progress for the full list.

1) “I want to make sure we keep our Pell grant program growing. We’re also going to have our loan program, so that people are able to afford school.” Paul Ryan’s budget could cut Pell Grants for nearly 1 million college students and even Romney’s white paper on education, “A Chance for Every Child,” suggests that he “would reverse the growth in Pell Grant funding.” It says: “A Romney Administration will refocus Pell Grant dollars on the students that need them most and place the program on a responsible long-term path that avoids future funding cliffs and last-minute funding patches.”

2) “I put out a five-point plan that gets America 12 million new jobs in four years and rising take-home pay.” The Washington Post’s in-house fact checker tore Romney’s claim that he will create 12 million jobs to shreds. The Post wrote that the “‘new math’” in Romney’s plan “doesn’t add up.” In awarding the claim four Pinocchios — the most untrue possible rating, the Post expressed incredulity at the fact Romney would personally stand behind such a flawed, baseless claim.

16) “I’d just note that I don’t believe that bureaucrats in Washington should tell someone whether they can use contraceptives or not. And I don’t believe employers should tell someone whether they could have contraceptive care of not. Every woman in America should have access to contraceptives.” But back in March, Romney expressed strong support for the so-called Blunt amendment, which that would allow employers to deny contraception coverage to women. Romney also wants to defund Planned Parenthood, where 76 percent of the patients seek low-cost birth control options. Defunding the organization would make it much harder for those women to obtain contraceptives.

17) “So when you say that I wanted to take the auto industry bankrupt, you actually did. And — and I think it’s important to know that that was a process that was necessary to get those companies back on their feet, so they could start hiring more people. That was precisely what I recommend and ultimately what happened.” This is false. As Buisnessweek explains: Romney “opposed any use of taxpayer dollars to bail out the automakers, advice that President George W. Bush and Obama ignored. GM and Chrysler went through managed bankruptcies after Bush, at the end of his presidency, and later Obama provided federal funds.” “Without federal funds, GM and Chyrsler would not have survived. As former Bush aide Tony Fratto explained, “It wasn’t just that there wasn’t credit available; a lot of private equity had cash, they just weren’t giving it away.”

20) “The kids of those that came here illegally, those kids, I think, should have a pathway to become a permanent resident of the United States and military service, for instance, is one way they would have that kind of pathway to become a permanent resident.” But Romney has promised to end President Obama’s deferred action directive, which saves some young undocumented immigrants from deportation, though he would not take away visas from people who had already received them. He has also promised to veto the DREAM Act.

25) “The president’s policies throughout the Middle East began with an apology tour and — and — and pursue a strategy of leading from behind, and this strategy is unraveling before our very eyes.” Obama never embarked on an “apology tour.”

26) “We, of course, don’t want to have automatic weapons, and that’s already illegal in this country to have automatic weapons.” Automatic weapons are legal in this country.

 

Related:

What Paul Ryan’s Faked Soup Kitchen Photo Op Says About Romney Campaign

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