Lies and More Lies

by Errington C. Thompson, MD

I don’t know about you, but I was brought up in a household where my parents used to tell me, “Tell the truth regardless of the consequences.” One would figure that in this day and age, with live tweets, YouTube, and Google recording their every word for posterity, and every source and resource searchable on the Internet, politicians would be more honest, not less.

So I find it strange that Mitt Romney, presumptive Republican nominee for president, former governor of Massachusetts, former CEO of Bain Capital, seems to be somewhat footloose and fancy-free when it comes to the truth.

Before I get into Mitt Romney’s sea of lies, I think it’s important for me to point out that the mainstream media is no longer in the fact-checking business. They have determined that they will never call any politician – let alone the presumptive Republican nominee for president – a liar, no matter how big and obvious the whopper. Instead, to avoid criticism, they have decided to present two opposing points of view – the “conservative” and the “liberal” – rather than assertions balanced by facts. “He says, she says,” and that’s it; if somebody tells a whopper, it is up to the opposing party to point out factual error. And by staying out of the fact-checking business, they are hurting our democracy. This is depressing but true.

Back to the sea of lies… A couple of weeks ago Mitt Romney took a group of reporters out to the headquarters of the now defunct company, Solyndra, and gave them a speech. As you remember, Solyndra was the solar panel company to which the Obama administration lent over $500 million in taxpayer money in 2009. Gov. Romney stated, “An independent inspector general looked at this investment (Solyndra) and concluded that the administration had steered money to friends and family – to campaign contributors.”

Horsefeathers. There are so many falsehoods in this one simple sentence is hard to know where to start. Let’s start at the beginning.

“An independent inspector general” – This sounds like, and was clearly meant to imply, that Congress appointed a special prosecutor.

Fact: no such prosecutor has been appointed. Instead, the inspector general of the Energy Department appears to be the person that Mitt Romney was talking about.

Fact: this inspector general testified in Congress last year that he was looking into whether any energy contracts were steered to friends and family.

Fact: this was six months before Solyndra declared bankruptcy. Therefore, it was doubtful that he was actually talking about Solyndra.

Fact: the inspector general has not produced any reports suggesting that contracts were steered to “friends or family” – nor has any other “inspector general.”

Finally, and most importantly: Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and an avowed enemy of President Obama, has been investigating the Solyndra loans for more than a year. With all his resources and determination, he has found no evidence of wrongdoing. None.

So, how does a politician like Mitt Romney stand up and tell this type of lie?

Romney also recently stated that the national debt is the reason that “half the kids graduating from college can’t find a job that uses their skills.” Maybe this isn’t a lie; maybe it’s just a “truth” made up out of thin air. The national debt can’t stop a company from hiring if it sees a market and wants to expand. But the fact is, major private companies have racked up record profits in the last two years, to the point that they are now sitting on more than $2 trillion in cash. So clearly companies have money and are making money, with no regard whatever for “the national debt.” The national debt is not the problem; the problem is that American corporations aren’t investing, and they aren’t hiring.

Well, that’s not exactly true, they’re not hiring here in the United States. They may be hiring workers in Mexico, Indonesia, and China, and buying businesses overseas – but they’re not hiring here. Which companies? The banks and investment companies and leveraged buyout specialists run by Mitt Romney’s friends and campaign contributors.

Mitt Romney recently said that the Obama administration passed the Affordable Care Act “knowing” that it would increase the deficit and harm the economy. This is a blatant lie. First of all, the Congressional Budget Office said that The Affordable Care Act would decrease the deficit. Therefore, it would help the economy. The Romney camp states that they got their information from a new book called The Escape Artists by Noam Scheiber. The author states that there’s no such information in his book – that, instead, he reported that during ACA planning, the question was raised as to how the act would impact the deficit. The possibilities were analyzed, and the conclusion was that “Obamacare” would LOWER the deficit by reining in healthcare costs. But even after Scheiber had called Romney out for lying about what was in his (Scheiber’s) book, Romney cooly repeated his deliberate lie.

It is critically important for us to know and understand the facts as this Presidential race heats up. I have pointed out a few lies of Mitt Romney. These are not misstatements or gaffes. These are lies.

I don’t know why he does it, since his claims are easily checked. Maybe he thinks that his supporters won’t care or won’t listen to those of us with a little time and access to Google. Maybe he’s confident that his supporters believe that “all politicians lie,” so it doesn’t matter. Or maybe he simply is a man of so little character that he believes that nothing matters more than getting to sit in the big chair in the Oval Office. And in that case, maybe he doesn’t even care what happens when he gets there, as long as he gets to sit in that chair, in that room, and “be” president.

But it seems to me that if we have politicians who lie to us now, they will continue lying to us when they’re in office. What they do in that chair, in that office, does matter. Our country faces major problems, and I want – we need – a President who is going to give it to me straight, regardless of political consequences.