The Fact-Checker, by Michael Dobbs

This is but another lie to try and fit what Mitt seems to think people want to hear. The funny part is his explanation of what really happened. That will be a classic in the political realm of denial.

Two Pinnochios?

Aw, c'mon. A lie is a lie. What more do you need for awarding four?

Romney says he marched with King. He then says he didn't march with King.

Do you need a course in logic to understand that one of those statements MUST be a lie?

Good-by.

Factchecker says:

Mitt Romney never marched through Detroit with Martin Luther King, as the Romney campaign now acknowledges. Nor is it true that the GOP candidate "saw" his father, a former governor of Michigan, join King on a civil rights march, as he has been claiming on the presidential campaign trail.

And here is the Factchecker's Pinnochio rating scale

1. Some shading of the facts. Selective telling of the truth. Some omissions and exaggerations, but no outright falsehoods.

2. Significant omissions and/or exaggerations. Some factual error may be involved but not necessarily. A politician can create a false, misleading impression by playing with words and using legalistic language that means little to ordinary people.

3. Significant factual error and/or obvious contradictions.

4. Whoppers

Adjust score as follows:
Subtract 1 Pinnochio if Republican candidate (2 if GOP front-runner)
Add 1 Pinnochio if Democratic candidate (2 if candidate last name is Clinton).

Haven't we had enough of leaders who enhance the truth? Isn't that how we got into Iraq? Republicans, I beg of you, for the good of the country, don't nominate yet another privileged son of power who's true allegiance is to Wall Street and not Main Street. You have so many other less dangerous choices. Draft someone if you must, just don't give us this empty suit.

What a difference a day makes

The MSNBC headline was: "Liar, liar, pants on Fire! Yes, less than 24 hours after being hit with the inference that the Hardball host's been lobbing softballs at Mitt Romney, the Irish temper of Chris Matthews exploded on the flip-floppin' presidential candidates Chief press spokesman about what Chris labeled: Olympic sized resume' embellishment extraordinaire! As Matthews pounded away on lie after lie, Romney's representative had to swallow and then embarrassingly acknowledge that Mitt's father never walked, marched, or even skipped along with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ever. Chris then challenged Mitt's (taken right out of Bill Clinton's playbook) it depends on what your definition of saw is attempt to wiggle out of the press inquiry as to his false claim. What can you say? He either was there or he wasn't - it's not a blue dress issue - no photos, no DNA.

Wait it gets better. Chris uncovered a newspaper story where Mitt Romney said that both he and his father marched together, at the same time, in the same street, same city, in other words, arm-in-arm with Dr. King! To which Mitt's spokesman with a red face said: "The Governor misspoke on that one." The waterboarding continued on with Mitt's spokesman drowning in his chair, having to admit untruth after untruth like never ever getting any endorsement from the NRA as Mitt told Tim Russert this past Sunday on Meet the Press he had - lie.

To his credit though, Romney's press spokesman did point out that these candidates have been hitting the campaign trail pretty hard these days, and they can't be expected to tell the truth all the time about everything. Chris fell off his chair: "Are you kidding me?" Ah, no Chris they're not.

To be fair to the ex-Massachusetts Governor, Mitt Romney, it should be noted that he did have one thing in common with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the innate ability to dream. The difference here though is that Dr. King's dreams were of events he hoped would come true at some future point in time in our country. To the contrary, Mitt Romney's dreams based upon all the lies he's told the world, are about things which were supposed to have happened in the past but never did! Is it a big difference? Only time will tell.

On another point, Chris Matthews highlighted the fact that the reader could find if they searched real hard, tucked way back on page 35 of the New York Times, their correction to their slanderous lie initially instigated by Politico.com, that Rudy Guiliani had misappropriated funds when Mayor to cover security details of his then girl-friend and now wife Judith, which was the topic of many televised debates as well as the featured story selling many newspapers around the world.

An audit revealed every penny was billed to and paid for by the Mayors direct account in full view for anybody to see (unless you're a bleeding Clintonian liberal) and not snuck through the office of the handicapped as was alleged. And, if you remember, the only other presidential candidate who said he would give Mayor Guiliani the benefit of the doubt on this one was, that's right Mike Huckabee. Chris ended with saying he had spoken with the Guiliani camp this morning about the New York Times lie to which the spokesman inquired if Mr. Guiliani could now retrieve the 10 points which had been lost (stolen) as a direct result of the intentionally manufactured false and misleading allegation. Somebody should go to jail.

Finally, ending on a rather good note. Hardball's strike-out king has apparently softened on his concerns over the religious intonations of Merry Christmas wishes being interjected on the campaign trail, as the hue and cry over Mike Huckabee's subliminal cross disguised by a passing book shelf was today overshadowed by Senator John McCain's make no doubt about it "Cross" drawn in the sand in his former POW camp in Hanoi by what Mr. Matthews theorized was no doubt a Catholic North Viet Namese soldier. Case closed.

It's common to use the verb "to see" figuratively. Do you see a problem with that?

Anyone in search of the truth is sure not to find it in this column.

'It's common to use the verb "to see" figuratively. Do you see a problem with that?'

Posted by: lq75 | December 22, 2007 03:06 PM

yeah, gwbushboy 'saw' those WMD too

I grew up a few miles from Mitt Romney in Michigan when I was a teen. Mitt Romney lived in a community where the only blacks were servants and handymen. He's so full of it!!!!

Dick Newman: "...slanderous lie....that Rudy Guiliani had misappropriated funds when Mayor to cover security details of his then girl-friend and now wife Judith....audit revealed every penny was billed to and paid for by the Mayors direct account...."

So spending taxpayers' money on your mistress is ok, so long as you do it in broad daylight?

Be clear what you mean by Mayor's direct account. You mean the Mayor's budget, not Giuliani's own money. He increased his security budget at the same time he gave Judy a city car and police driver. The taxpayers were already picking up the security for his wife at the same time.

a previous poster had it absolutely correct.
there is a very tolerant standard applied to republican candidates. there is a very strict standard applied to democratic candidates.
romney lied. even by your own story's conclusions, he lied.
a lie is a lie, not an exaggeration.

if romney had not been caught in other lies, as noted in your own column, the benefit of the doubt might be due.
but how can you give a recidivist the benefit of the doubt?
he is a practiced liar who will obviously say anything, if he thinks it will help him get elected.
if you are supposed to be a factchecker, check facts and rate violations accordingly.
otherwise you are revealing yourself as nothing but an apologist for the GOP.

Now Romney Jr. is marching with the racist Tancredo wrapped in American flag with one hand and a cross in the other hoping neochristians will accept him as one of their own. Unknown to them is that one of their own beloved Protestant Pastors appeared on the side of Satan in Romney's temple wedding rites.

Saw--past tense of "see."

• perceive with the eyes; discern visually : in the distance she could see the blue sea | [ intrans. ] Andrew couldn't see out of his left eye figurative I can't see into the future.

• [with clause ] be or become aware of something from observation or from a written or other visual source : I see from your appraisal report that you have asked for training.

Lie? Deliberate misunderstanding by listeners with a bias? Or illiteracy amongst the pundits and the Fact Checker?

One of the three, and it isn't the first.

If King and a prominent white Mormon had, in fact, marched hand and hand, it'd have made headlines, at least locally. It's not possible that Ms. Basore was the only witness. Besides, Mitt admits it isn't true. If he doesn't deserve four Pinocchios, who does? I'm losing confidence in Mr. Dobbs.

Geez, as you rightly note, "saw" has many meanings, but in Romney's statement, it only makes sense if meant literally. To Suggest Mr. Dobbs is illiterate is, frankly, beneath your level of erudition. You know damn well Romney lied.

Recently somebody "saw" Jesus in their chest x-ray. Somebody else "saw" the Virgin Mary on the wall of an underpass. But it all boils down to what the meaning of "saw" is. It also means to use a tool to cut through something. So let's use a "saw" to cut through this crap. Let's face it Romney is another wordsmith the likes of which bear close resemblance to the president who engaged in an act with a woman and said that he did not have sex with that woman, because it depends on what you mean by sex. Looks like Romney gets booted off the island.

Didn't we get the Bush Presidency and thus the Iraq War because of an endless and obsessive focus on Gore's "exaggerations"?

GW,
You got me laughing out loud!!! It is amazing how republicans can go on for nearly 15 years carping about Bill Clinton's word smithing (I'm being very generous here!) but give Mitt consecutive passes in one week!

As smart as Mitt present himself he tells some pretty stupid LIES. I guess he thinks he is the only one that does research or check things out. How else does one explain an outrageous lies that is easily verified.

Maybe you should put a little Romney face next to King to show that Romney symbolically thinks he was there?

We encourage users to analyze, comment on and even challenge washingtonpost.com's articles, blogs, reviews and multimedia features.

User reviews and comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions.