Mitt Romney's Struggle With Truth Continues

Mitt Romney's inexplicable compulsion to fudge facts continued in Thursday's debate, threatening to undermine his credibility over the long term. Romney's blurring came, as in previous debates, when he was challenged on his past.

On Thursday, his two most noticeable fibs involved whether he'd seen an ad -- a reprise of an earlier debate dodge -- and the nature of one of his investments.

The ad in question attacked Newt Gingrich for saying that Spanish is "the language of the ghetto." Romney, however, turned to Gingrich and said he didn't know whether the ad was true or not and wanted Gingrich to clarify.

"Let me ask the speaker a question. Did you say what the ad says or not? I don't know," Romney said.

CNN staff dug up the ad and Blitzer read the script to the candidates. Blitzer noted that Romney finished the ad by saying he approved the message.

At an earlier debate, Romney had deflected responsibility for super PAC attack ads, saying, "And with regards to their ads, I haven't seen them." Seconds later, he spoke as if he'd seen the ad. "The ad I saw said you were forced out of the speakership," Romney said.

The second truth question involved Romney's investment in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which Romney said was in a "blind trust" managed without his knowledge by a trustee.

"What my trustee did is he loaned money to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. And they got paid interest," Romney said. "But what the speaker did was get paid to promote Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac."

But, as the Boston Globe reported, the Fannie and Freddie investments were not in the blind trust: "Unlike most of Romney’s financial holdings, which are held in a blind trust that is overseen by a trustee and not known to Romney, this particular investment was among those that would have been known to Romney."

Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom acknowledged that not all of the Fannie and Freddie investments were managed by a blind trustee. "But," he wrote in an email, "in both cases the investments are not selected by Gov. Romney and he has no control over them."

Fehrnstrom added: "The campaign has produced 85 videos, TV ads and radio spots." Romney "doesn't recall every one."

Comments

[vinipot]

05:30 AM on 04/10/2012

test express login

[Bears11]

09:33 AM on 01/30/2012

Obama is someone that has so much character! His friends are so top notch! He is ruining our country and people and the media want to defend him. He just lies every time he speaks and people just believe him. Where is the hope and change? He is the biggest con man this country has ever seen! Please, we don't need four more years of his nonsense

[Eleanor Ruby Moon]

02:07 AM on 02/08/2012

Bears - I hope you wear a whole lot of hats, boatloads of them, because you need a reason to justify your head.

[slipknotsktr87]

01:08 PM on 02/16/2012

That guy your slandering about has nothing to do with the article. Stay on the subject. It can't be too hard cause its not like your sitting in the classroom.

[TheOneIndependent]

08:29 AM on 01/30/2012

So does FOX or for that many any republican running. Talk to many republicans, they know these guys are clowns but they have been soooo brainwashed by FOX that they would support any republican. If Charlie Manson was running they would vote for him too..

[NuclearWar]

04:30 AM on 01/30/2012

Wow..facinating...now can I go back to sleep..yawn.

[linksteroh]

01:57 PM on 01/29/2012

Romney comes across to the public as disingenuous, and the extreme of the Republican Party has pushed these candidates so far to the RIGHT, that the American Public finds them all repulsive. The GOP audience also has proven to be a big detriment to their party with their hate filled screams for the RED MEAT. I love the fact these guys are debating and tearing each other apart for all the people to see what fools and how they are really unelectable in the General Election.

[phal4875]

01:25 PM on 01/29/2012

It is almost as though Romney does not really know who he is or what he has said and done in the past. He feels free to say whatever seems most beneficial at that moment. The truth is irrelevant because he is so deeply into lying that people just assume that he must not be telling the truth.

[Eleanor Ruby Moon]

01:53 AM on 02/08/2012

phal: You know, you're so right. That's it presactly!!

[slipknotsktr87]

01:11 PM on 02/16/2012

Is presactly even a word? Hmm...maybe Jeff foxworthy made it up.

[NHGranite]

10:15 AM on 01/29/2012

He is so frikkin rich, he doesn't have to pay attention to how his money is made, he pays people to do that. Explains why he's so out of touch with Americans. He should get someone like my husband who is on top of all of our investments and can explain them to me when we need to "sign here".

[linksteroh]

02:00 PM on 01/29/2012

Honey, thats great your husband is on top of your investments and can explain them to you and sign here as you have described. I would suggest that you educate yourself because one day your husband may not be there to explain this to you.
I wish women weren't so subservient to their spouses.

[NHGranite]

07:32 PM on 01/29/2012

Did I say I didn't understand? Aucontraire, I just don't do them

[13simba]

06:57 PM on 01/29/2012

Be careful what you sign.....never let a anyone take total control of your finances.

[WeAlwaysKnewIt]

11:47 PM on 01/28/2012

At some point this election will generate enough money to fix the economy for the media. The fix is in to take the "Great Right Hopes" and President Barack Obama for all they got to win this election. It's about the money first and the message maybe second or third in the line of journalistic priorities.

[WeAlwaysKnewIt]

11:36 PM on 01/28/2012

For the love of money
People will lie, rob, they will cheat

Money money money money, MONEY
Money money money money, MONEY

Few things change ABOUT MONEY.

[theshadowdo]

09:16 PM on 01/28/2012

This is the problem with having too many handlers - you simply don't know what's going on and then you look stupid all the time as does Romney.

[DeeFromTheD]

05:58 PM on 01/28/2012

It's not a struggle for voMitt, it comes naturally with all the lies and greed.

[Gerald Triggs]

03:45 PM on 01/28/2012

He does not now the truth he has lived in a fantasy world and made 20 something million dollars on the money he has stashed away. If he had to get a job he is qualified for he would be getting mininum wages of $ 8.00 and hour working full time he would gross $ 16,640.00 dollars, with his hundreds of millions of dollars stashed away so he only pay 13.4 % in taxes which most of it was made by his company screwing companys and putting people out of work. but with that money he makes the $ 16,640.00 in eight hours and would have to pay about $5000.00 in tax's !!! THATS THE TRUTH MITT !!!!!!! I live in Taxachusetts and he did nothing for the working class here, except a screwed up State Insurance that if you are unemployed which my daughter was from losing a job due to the economy you have to pay around $1,600.00 for the insurance and if you dont you get penalized for not paying !!! GREAT JOB MITT !!!!! I REALLY HOPE YOU PEOPLE ARE SMART ENOUGH TO NOT VOTE FOR HIM AND GINGRICH IS EVEN WORSE !!!

[CalBryant2012]

03:50 AM on 01/29/2012

"The LOVE OF MONEY is the root of all evil."I think anyone that has money in that capacity should be barred from any sort of position that has a responsibility to the people.The reason being that thay have a greater "LOVE" for their wealth than they do for people.Now they could argue that they are enormous contributors to charity but take away the 100% tax deductible and I think the outcome would be obvious.The only way we as a nation will ever get back on track is to take money out of the mix.Alienate these people and say"THAT'S ENOUGH!"Problem is I see these guys being a sort of movie star after a speech signing autographs,and being paid enormous amounts of money to speek.I would be curious to know just how much money that the HOSTS of these publicity speeches recieve.IT JUST IS NEVER GONNA END UNTIL MONEY IS COMPLETLY TAKEN OUT OF THE MIX!!!!!!!!!

[NHGranite]

10:22 AM on 01/29/2012

How did Franklin Roosevelt do it? He had megabucks, but understood the average American, and at least had sympathy for the poor and homeless. He served 3 full terms and died going in to the 4th. He scared the Republicans so much, they changed the rules. However, I think the president should server ONE 6 year term, no campaigning on the job.

[Neuron Flash]

04:26 PM on 01/29/2012

How did FDR do it? He was most certainly a man born of privilege. Biographers point to an early influence on young FDR in the personage Endicott Peabody, the headmaster of the Episcopal boarding school he attended. Endicott Peabody maintained that the duty of Christians was to help the less fortunate.

This is something I don't hear coming from the supposedly Christian evangelicals of the GOP.

[dagumpster]

02:40 PM on 01/28/2012

I think Ryan Grim is going out of his way to make Romney look like a liar. All politicians are liars and disingenuous. It seems here in this article. Grim is making a mountain out of a mole hill. I am not a fan of any of the Republican candidates. All of them seem to self destruct in one form or another almost daily and for media pundits to go digging deep for more with a fine tooth comb is not an asset to the political environment. I have read this article 3 times and I kept thinking what is the big deal? The media pundits and the media moderators are exacerbating our political climate. In some instances, the commentators questions are much too long that if I was on stage. I would demand a shorter question. Moderators and pundits are only stroking their own egos.

[WeAlwaysKnewIt]

11:38 PM on 01/28/2012

Money money money money, MONEY
Money money money money, MONEY

PUNDITS need it.

[littleblackcat]

07:42 PM on 01/29/2012

No one needs to "go out of their way" to make romney LOOK like a liar.

The man IS a liar, a very, very rich man who thinks he's entitled to be president and has the money to buy the votes!

romney has hidden money in offshore accounts, in Swiss bank accounts to avoid paying taxes, has hired minions to find every loophole in the book to help him avoid paying taxes to the very nation that allowed both he and his father to get very rich, has never worked (really WORKED!) a day in his life, has no idea what it means to live within a budget or to go without something vey much needed because one cannot afford it, and in general is so UN-suited to represent this nation that it would be funny if it were not so frightening.

romney tells his own lies, no one needs to help him.

[erica stewart]

01:51 PM on 01/28/2012

When you are not famliar with the truth you can't speak it. He only has a fork tongue. Most of them do.

[LVNVprog]

12:33 PM on 01/28/2012

Romney - Unable to Tell the truth in his blind ambition to run for President. I hope he'll be crushed and have plenty of time to go to church and repent for his lies. Or is this acceptable behaivor in the Mormon Church if you donate 3 Million dollars?