Liars Don't Lead, They Mislead

Liars Don't Lead, They Mislead
"Romney pollster Neil Newhouse stated, "Fact checkers come to this with their own sets of thoughts and beliefs, and we're not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact checkers." In a representative democracy, facts do matter, and checking the facts is how we hold our representatives accountable. Romney and Ryan have based their campaign on smoke and mirrors, sleight of hand, political prestidigitation, lies and deceit.

Liars don't lead; they mislead."

Mitt Romney's Libya mistake

7 Mitt Romney Statements As Idiotic as His Libya Response | Alternet

7 Mitt Romney Statements As Idiotic as His Libya Response | Alternet
"In a presidential campaign stretching for months, if not years, it is easy to forget Romney's earlier unfiltered pronouncements or just to dismiss them as gaffes. But the overall pattern is unmistakable: Romney lives in a world where his values are not the same as ordinary people and where he hides behind conservative principles regardless of their impact or harm.

What follows is a quick collection of videos clips, some assembled by other websites, which underscore that Romney’s intemperate and bellicose comments in response to the Libya crisis are hardly unique, but are consistent with views that are not appropriate for the world’s most powerful political leader."

6 Right-Wing Zealots (or Groups of Zealots) That Would Blow Up the World for Political Gain | Alternet

6 Right-Wing Zealots (or Groups of Zealots) That Would Blow Up the World for Political Gain | Alternet
"As for Romney, his antics on Tuesday and Wednesday may well be the end of his campaign. With even many of his Republican supporters  running away from him  as if he were on fire, the media establishment judged that the candidate had inserted his foot directly into his mouth in a very serious way. It was a desperate attempt to shift the dynamics of the race – a Hail-Mary pass by a candidate looking at a 7-point deficit in Gallup's tracking poll – and it didn't work."

PERRspectives: Romney Fails the Commander-in-Chief Test. Again.

PERRspectives: Romney Fails the Commander-in-Chief Test. Again.
"If there were any lingering doubts about Mitt Romney's unfitness to serve as Commander-in-Chief, his shameful response to the killings of four Americans at a U.S. consulate in Libya should have put them to rest. Romney didn't know the facts. He didn't know the timeline of events. He didn't know who was responsible for the embassy breaches in Cairo and Benghazi. Yet even beforeAmericans had learned of and could mourn their deaths, Governor Romney used their murdered countrymen to slander the President of the United States. When the proverbial 3 A.M. phone call came, Romney let it go to voice mail, where his pre-recorded message called the President "disgraceful" and charged that Obama "sympathize[d] with those who waged the attacks."

Of course, it shouldn't have taken this appalling episode for Mitt Romney to disqualify himself in the eyes of so many. He long ago proved he lacks the judgment, temperament and steadfastness needed to guide the United States during times of crisis.

Consider, in no particular order, the following examples:"

Open thread for night owls: The Romney smirk

Open thread for night owls: The Romney smirk
"So yes, Mr. Romney is a political panderer, an avid devotee of attack politics, and a fantastical liar. These are all known qualities. It was the smirk, though, that turned things. The smirk before, during and after discussing an attack in which American diplomats were killed, a rancid little twitch of a smirk that flickered in and out as he talked about murders, or rather not about murders, but how they would affect him, personally, and his own ambitions. The smirk seemed to make the inner thoughts of the man quite clear: Today was going to be a good day for Mitt Romney. The murder of diplomats was not quite enough to prevent him from condemning the statements of their fellow diplomats before and during the attacks upon them; an attack on an American compound overseas was not in and of itself seen as reason to at least delay verbal abuse of those diplomats for even a scant day, if there was opportunity to be had in not doing so."

EXCLUSIVE: Bush Homeland Security Secretary Disagrees With Romney’s Remarks On Libya

EXCLUSIVE: Bush Homeland Security Secretary Disagrees With Romney’s Remarks On Libya: WASHINGTON, DC — In an interview with ThinkProgress today, former Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge criticized the charge, made by Mitt Romney, that President Obama “sympathizes” with those who attacked and killed four Americans in Libya. Romney said in a press release last night that “It’s disgraceful that the Obama administration’s first response was not [...]/p

Republicans Shake Their Heads At Romney’s Libya Attack On Obama: He ‘Stepped In It’

Republicans Shake Their Heads At Romney’s Libya Attack On Obama: He ‘Stepped In It’: The Washington Post editorial board, which is usually a reliable ally for Republicans on foreign policy, today offered sharp criticism of Mitt Romney’s claim that Obama sympathized with the attacks on Americans in Egypt and Libya yesterday, which left four American foreign service officers dead and others wounded. The Post said Romney’s attack “is a [...]/p

Romney's Debacle: Smirking Attacks Make Unfitness Clear

Romney's Debacle: Smirking Attacks Make Unfitness Clear
"So he went before the press this morning and basically doubled down -- smirking, as he had the night before, all the way through. If those performances didn't convince anyone that this is not the man you want handling a difficult national crisis, nothing will."