Comments on: Mitt’s Misleading Stat

By: Gerry

Gerry — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 21:53:49 +0000

Dr. Bernstein,

There’s a great chart here that makes the point more graphically (because it’s a graph).

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/04/debunking-romneys-claim-that-its-obamas-war-on-women-charts.php

By: Lee

Lee — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 20:22:22 +0000

This Rovian strategy when all is said and done is just childish thinking which unfortunately is still able to cow the media. Sinking to his level and getting it labeled the You’re Rubber I’m Glue PR strategy might appeal to the writers.

By: Fred Donaldson

Fred Donaldson — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 20:06:17 +0000

There is something evil about folks, who KNOWINGLY use statistics and other facts that they know are lies. Anyone in the public eye, who does this, should be derided, and then ignored for all time.

Americans have fallen into a trap of saying “that’s politicis, so it’s okay.”

Statesmen don’t lie – thieves do. Many elected officials on both sides desperately pick financial numbers that totally misrepresent real facts, so they can PRETEND their argument is correct.

They couldn’t get away with this in a classroom, talking to their wife, or confessing to their clergyman. The public be damned stupid for accepting such dishonesty under any circumstance.

The biggest lies are the ones about money, and the biggest liars are the ones who want to hide our national income inequality and their corporate subservience.

We have seen a few lies about weapons, wars and whitewash, but nothing to match so-called trickle-down, dribble-up, where-did-the-money-go, blame grandma and cut her COLA campaign.

By: Will

Will — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 17:33:08 +0000

Nearly 80% of jobs lost during the recession have been government jobs. Shouldn’t conservatives be cheering?

By: Jared Bernstein

Jared Bernstein — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:47:57 +0000

That sounds right to me.

By: David

David — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 14:46:03 +0000

Good point, I’d sure like to see those numbers in one place, that would be quite useful to decimate this fiction that Obama perpetrated or perpetuated this recession.

By: oli3

oli3 — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 12:17:23 +0000

I think it’s just as important to notice the bigger picture here… the overuse of projection by the republican strategists. Rachel Maddow has been pointing it out recently on her show – the well established Rovian tactic of taking whatever your major weakness is and projecting it on to your opponent. You can see this over and over again going back many election cycles. For example, in 2004, when W’s weakness was avoiding overseas military service against an opponent who served heroically in Vietnam – they tried somewhat successfully to twist it to make it advantageous for W.

In this case, the remarkable sequence of recent events (Komen, Birth Control issues, Santorum’s comments, equal pay issues in Wisconsin, etc,) has given rise to the War on Women meme. It was only a matter of time before projection was trotted out again on the right. This time, they appear to have had to REALLY reach to get anything to try to smear the President. It really was quite clumsy, but at least it gives the Fox commentators something to play with. But it should surprise no one. We will continue to see it every time an issue arises puts the republicans at a disadvantage.

By: Christiaan

Christiaan — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 11:23:44 +0000

Interestingly, the reason why jobs for women haven’t recovered as well as for men yet, is in fact for a large part the fault of government. This is what Romney would like to push. However, it is not the fault of Obama, but rather despite Obama. The fault lies mostly with Republican state governments (which saw the largest decrease in government jobs) as well as a Republican house that rejected Obama’s attempt to keep those education jobs. This reality is what Romney really does not want people to know. I think the best defense is the offense, so Obama should make this point clear and come out with these numbers, they show a clear difference between Republican and Democratic policies and their effects.