We talked earlier about the return of Mitt Romney's welfare lie in a new swing-state ad, which came on the heels of Romney's auto industry lie in an Ohio ad. And it got me thinking about how long it's been since I saw an honest campaign commercial from the Republican nominee.
I went through the Romney campaign's website and YouTube channel, and found that Team Romney has unveiled six English-language television ads since the third and final debate with President Obama last week, an average of nearly one per day.
1. The day after the debate, Romney unveiled this spot, accusing the president of having gone on an "apology tour." The ad was based on a lie.
2. Romney then unveiled a minute-long spot, boasting about his plan to create "12 million new jobs." The promise has been exposed as completely fraudulent.
3. The next Romney ad accused Obama of shrinking the military to the point that our Navy is now the smallest since 1917. The claim has been exposed as ridiculous.
4. This week, Romney unveiled an ad suggesting Chrysler is moving Jeep jobs to China. It's an absurd lie.
5. Romney then launched a Pennsylvania-only ad, boasting about how much he loves coal. Romney is also on record saying he believes coal plants kill people.
6. Romney's latest spot says Obama "gutted the work requirement for welfare." That's a lie.
I'm not cherry picking the offensive ads built around falsehoods; I'm merely listing all of the ads Romney has unveiled since the third debate.
This isn't normal. It's also not healthy for our democracy. Mitt Romney -- who keeps telling reporters about how great his "momentum" is -- has reached some kind of Peak Lying moment in which he spews falsehoods at an almost uncontrollable pace.
I keep thinking of this satirical piece from The Onion.
For weeks many Beltway insiders had written off the Romney campaign as dead, saying the candidate had dug himself into too deep a hole with too little time to recover. However, with a month to go before ballots are cast, Romney has pulled even with President Obama, and the former Massachusetts governor credits his rejuvenated campaign to one, singular tactic: lying a lot.
"I'm lying a lot more, and my lies are far more egregious than they've ever been," a smiling Romney told reporters while sitting in the back of his campaign bus, adding that when faced with a choice to either lie or tell the truth, he will more than likely lie. "It's a strategy that works because when I lie, I'm essentially telling people what they want to hear, and people really like hearing things they want to hear. Even if they sort of know that nothing I'm saying is true."
On the morning of Wednesday, November 7, Romney expects people to start calling him "President Elect," forgetting all about the lies he had to tell to advance his desire for power.
But the question I'd love ask Romney is this: shouldn't the truth be enough? If Obama's presidency were such a disaster, and his policies were such a failure, shouldn't Romney be able to win fairly easy by being at least a little honest?
Update: Dana Milbank wrote today, "The fast-and-loose with Jeep points to a troubling Romney instinct: When the stakes are high, as they are for him in must-win Ohio, the truth is often the first casualty."
