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News, Switzerland
Mitt Romney's Core
Presidential Competency: 'Shameless Lying'
"Even his moralizing opponent Newt Gingrich calls Mitt Romney a liar. And rightly so. ... Lying - and we know this in Switzerland - is one of those core competencies of any politician. In that respect, there's hardly anyone out there more suited to the presidency than Romney."
By Patrick Etschmayer
Translated By Ulf Behncke
January 16, 2012
Switzerland - News - Original Article (German)
John Huntsman has just
announced his withdrawal from the Republican presidential race.
Thus, the only candidate who had anything approaching a spark of decency and a
worldview that somewhat corresponded with the real world has thrown in the
towel. What remains are religious and political fundamentalists, a megalomaniacal
moralizer and a notorious liar.
And since Huntsman seems to
think it's time to throw his weight behind someone who has mastered the basic
skills of the politics business, he has decided to support notorious liar Mitt
Romney. This must have been like choosing between the plague, cholera, ebola
and some flesh-eating bacterial infection.
As a result, Huntsman now
supports a candidate once characterized by top economist Paul Krugman as a candidate
who lies so freely and unscrupulously, that even his moralizing opponent Newt
Gingrich (cholera) calls Mitt Romney a liar. And rightly so.
To begin with, there is the
assertion that as head of investment firm Bain Capital, Romney created 100,000
jobs. Even the conservative Washington Post states clearly that this is
an insupportable number, as Romney neglected to include jobs that were lost at
22 percent of the companies that filed for bankruptcy or otherwise closed their
doors by the end of the eighth year after Bain first invested. This led
competitor Rick Perry (ebola) to call Romney's former company a "vulture."
Just how selectively he
applies his twisted logic is demonstrated by his claim that no new jobs were
created under Obama. That is true in a way - but only if one offsets the 3
million private sector jobs lost which Obama inherited from Bush (remember
those?). At the beginning of Obama's term, 3 million jobs were lost, and since then,
3.2 million have been created. So ... either he's lying to himself or about
Obama. In real terms, most of the net job losses have been the 600,000 in the
public sector, which were eliminated under the budget-terror of Romney's Republican
colleagues on Capital Hill.
Romney goes on to claim that
Obama is creating a socialist "redistribution society," in which
everyone earns the same income, regardless of how much or how well he or she
performs. These are "facts" based on bullshit-rhetoric that have no
factual basis and that come straight out of the playbook of the Tea Party, with
which Romney is trying to curry favor to get through the primaries - and is absolutely
false.
Just like the claim that under
Obama, the military budget had been cut, when in reality the opposite is true: While
military spending was $594 billion in 2008, it was $666 billion (of the $739
billion the military had wanted) in 2011.
Posted
by WORLDMEETS.US
Romney also claims, along
with other conservatives, that Obama "apologized to the world" for
U.S. policy (something that would be quite appropriate from time to time ...).
But even that is pure fiction and is based on taking quotes out of context - a
favorite tool of every shameless liar.
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Liberation, France: Democracy Crippled: Economics Replaces Separation of Powers
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Der Standard, Austria: Britain Acts as America's 'Trojan Horse' in Europe
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Semana, Colombia: Indignation Spreads, but Lack of Clarity Dogs 'Occupy'
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Wochenzeitung, Switzerland: Swiss Occupy Movement
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Kayhan, Iran: Wall Street Uprisings Herald Victory of Islam and Iran!
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La Jornada, Mexico: Jobs' Career Showed How Capitalism was Meant to Work
Die Welt, Germany:
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Il Sole 24 Ore, Italy:
How Finance Sector Greed
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FTD, Germany:
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Estadao, Brazil:
To Shorten Crisis, U.S., E.U. Should Look to Latin America
Frankfurter Rundschau:
Obama's Middle Road is Fatal
La Jornada, Mexico:
The 'Grand Debt' of U.S. Families
Jornal Do Brasil, Brazil:
American Default and the End of 'Zero Risk'
The Telegraph, U.K.:
World Needs America
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El Pais, Spain:
Playing Chicken is the
World's Newest Sport
Mainichi Shimbun, Japan:
U.S. Must Prevent Another
'Made in U.S.' Disaster
Yomiori Shimbun, Japan:
U.S. Lawmakers Should
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Yezhednevniy Zhurnal, Russia:
The U.S. and Soviets: Pyramid Builders to Raiders
Frankfurter Rundschau, Germany:
'Radical' Republicans Threaten U.S. with Ruin
Tiscali Notizie, Italy:
The Fiscal Decline of the 'Apocalypse'
News, Switzerland:
Notion: 'Pay Politicians Based on Performance'
Salzburger Nachrichten, Austria:
Debt Ceiling Attack By Republicans 'Backfires'
Gazeta, Russia:
America's Astonishing 'Battle for the Ceiling'
People's Daily, China:
U.S. Game of Chicken Threatens Creditors and Economy
Die Zeit, Germany:
U.S. Risks 'Plunging World' Into New Financial Crisis
O Globo, Brazil:
Global Economy Hangs
on 'Mood' of U.S. Voters
The Telegraph, U.K.:
Down on the Fourth of July:
The United States of Gloom
Financial Times Deutschland, Germany:
For Americans, a
Dour Independence Day
Financial Times Deutschland, Germany:
Who Cares about the U.S. Economy?
Folha, Brazil:
U.S. Conservatives Threaten to Plunge U.S. into 'Lost Decade'
But of all Romney's lies, one
ranks highest of all - not least because of its banality: his name. When CNN
anchor Wolf Blitzer opened welcomed candidates to one of the GOP debates with,
"I'm Wolf Blitzer and yes, that's my real name," Romney responded
with, "I'm Mitt Romney, and yes, Wolf, that's also my first name." Which
is incorrect - Romney's legal first name is "Willard." He just can't
help himself ... perhaps his nose would grow if he told the truth?
If Romney's handling of the
truth continues to be this loose and flaky, we had better be prepared for
anything. On the other hand, lying - and we know this in Switzerland - is one
of those core competencies of any politician. In that respect, there's hardly
anyone out there more suited to the presidency than Romney.
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