Romney caught in lie about MLK

[ruggerson]

For those not up to date on this one:

In his "faith" speech, Mitt Romney uttered the words: "I saw my father march with Martin Luther King."

http://origin.sltrib.com/news/ci_7771063

On MTP, two weeks ago, he repeated this to Tim Russert: "My dad marched with Martin Luther King."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CwJj1BfS2A

Now this would be an interesting piece of Mitt Romney family history, only thing is, it's a complete and total lie. His dad never marched with Martin Luther King. It's completely fabricated, like most of Romney's soul.

When the press asked him about it this afternoon, he hemmed and hawed and gave a Nixonian performance:

"You know, I speak in the sense of I saw my dad become president of American Motors. I wasn’t actually there when he became president of American Motors, but I saw him in the figurative sense of he marched with Martin Luther King. My brother also remembers him marching with Martin Luther King and so in that sense I saw him march with Martin Luther King.”

Later he said, “I can’t even give you the time frame. I just remember that we talked about it. My brother also remembers my dad having spoken about the fact that he did not do political events on Sunday but that he decided at the last minute that he was going to break that self-imposed rule and participate and I think he did so on a Sunday as I recall.”

He added, “You know, I’m an English literature major as well. When we say, ‘I saw the Patriots win the World Series, it doesn’t necessarily mean you were there — excuse me, the Super Bowl. I saw my dad become president of American Motors. Did that mean you were there for the ceremony? No, it’s a figure of speech."

"If you look at the literature, if you look at the dictionary, the term ‘saw’ includes being aware of in the sense I’ve described,” he said. “It’s a figure of speech and very familiar and it’s very common and I saw my dad march with Martin Luther King. I did not see it with my own eyes but I saw him in the sense of being aware of his participation in that great effort.”

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2007/12/20/politics/fromtheroad/entry3636089.shtml

If John Edwards or Hillary Clinton had done this, it would be front page sirens on the SludgeReport.

Is Drudge even reporting it?

*****CRICKETS*******

This fits into a real pattern with Mitt Romney. He lies that he never attended a Planned Parenthood Event, then video of him at one surfaces. He lies and says the NRA endorsed his run for Governor, whe no such endorsement happened. He lies about growing up hunting, and then backtracks and gives a lame explanation about being a "varmint" hunter.

The press demolished Al Gore by twisting his statements about the origins of the internet.

This is far worse, this is nothing but bald faced lying, and habitual bald faced lying, at that. Will the press harp on this over and over, as they have when they wanted to destroy a Democrat's character?

Time will tell.

[acmavm]

1. Hell, we got a whole administration of liars. Mittens must fell like he

fits right in.

[insanad]

2. "Lying for the LORD"...Pinnochio the wooden puppet wants to become a "real boy"

Pinnochio wants to become a "Real Boy" but he just can't stop lying and so his nose grows and grows. He can't help it, he comes from a long line of such purveyors of obfuscation and revisionist history and he's been so well trained in the art that it's second nature to change positions, to re position his position, to deny, cover up and feign ignorance at the lies or inconsistancies. Yes, he's a dyed in the wool McMormon, but that makes him ripe for the kind of distortion necessary to be the perfect wooden puppet for the Republican Puppetmasters.

Whenever I see Mitt Romney, even from when he was helping SLC with it's Olympic Games challenges I get the distinct impression of a very slick used car salesman and the American people are the suckers. Maybe it isn't his oily countenence and nasaly tone but more the sanctimonious sneer and practiced nods. He comes from a long line of Mormons who've perfected this "Public Persona" in their weekly meetings, BYU and televised broadcasts. That half turn at the podium and head nod that suggests he's coming down a notch to casual, "I'm going to let you in on the secret" pose.

I grew up Mormon and saw this all the time, especially in the church heirarchy. The more they blink their eyes in a practiced show of "Deep spiritual sincerity" and soften the voice to a BYU pentameter and sing songy tone, the bigger the lie they're telling. The Mormon leaders are so skilled at this tactic andit's been practiced from the inception of the church by their biggest leader/liar, Joseph Smith. Brigham Young mastered it better than any in his time and his manipulation of the press and our govt. for his dirty and corrupt secrets and power is legendary. The documentation is overwhelming on all these counts. I believe Mitt Romney is just the latest puppet mouthpiece in this church's history of lies, manipulation, and absolute distortion of truth, history, or fact. They invented obsfucation. Go to http://www.mormoncurtain.com / and do a little browsing.

The Mormon people aren't bad, just their doctrine and religious practices. Beware America if you are foolish enough to support or elect such a charletan. He has been conditioned from birth to close his eyes to reality, fact, or reason. He'll jettison loyalties faster than grease through a goose when it comes to holding true to any value he professes at at the moment. He's a puppet of the Repub. party and I highly suspect under all that makeup is JEB BUSH, just waiting for his turn in the drivers seat.

If you want to know how many Mormon Leaders have practiced "lying for the Lord" in the past, here's an in-depth link. This man's experience is very common among those who try to leave or make sense of the church doctrine. http://www.exmormon.org/whylft149.htm

[Catherine Vincent]

3. Oops!

Then I guess he lied about how he wept with joy when he found out Blacks were allowed to become mormons?

[MrScorpio]

4. George Romney, the man who sent National Guard tanks into Detroit

Saw them myself

Not one of Michigan's best loved govs

[dailykoff]

5. Yeah he'll fit right in.

Right in with hand-me-my-script Reagan and other animatronic creations of the CIA/GOP.

[Zynx]

6. Is it a surprise out of someone who said this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8m2ADixdXs&feature=related

[suston96]

7. Uh, maybe so, maybe no.......

The Washington Post's David Broder wrote a book in 1967, The Republican Establishment, which said that George Romney "has marched with Martin Luther King through the exclusive Grosse Pointe suburb of Detroit and he is on record in support of full-coverage Federal open-housing legislation."

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2007/12/20/romney_the_elder_and_martin_lu_1.html

[ruggerson]

10. Uh, maybe not

http://thephoenix.com/article_ektid53200.aspx

Asked about the specifics of George Romney’s march with MLK, Mitt Romney’s campaign told the Phoenix that it took place in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. That jibes with the description proffered by David S. Broder in a Washington Post column written days after Mitt’s College Station speech.

Broder, in that column, references a 1967 book he co-authored on the Republican Party, which included a chapter on George Romney. It includes a one-line statement that the senior Romney “has marched with Martin Luther King through the exclusive Grosse Pointe suburb of Detroit.”

But that account is incorrect. King never marched in Grosse Pointe, according to the Grosse Pointe Historical Society, and had not appeared in the town at all at the time the Broder book was published. “I’m quite certain of that,” says Suzy Berschback, curator of the Grosse Pointe Historical Society. (Border was not immediately available for comment.)

Berschback also believes that George Romney never appeared at a protest, march, or rally in Grosse Pointe. “We’re a small town,” she says. “Governors don’t come here very often, except for fundraisers.”

In fact, King’s only appearance in Grosse Pointe, according to Berschback, took place after Broder’s book was published.

That was for a March 14 speech he delivered at Grosse Pointe High School, just three weeks before King was assassinated. But there was no march, and George Romney was not there.

Security concerns would have made a march impossible, even had one been planned. King was personally driven directly to the high school by the sheriff, as described by accounts at the time.

This 1968 Grosse Pointe appearance is the one that Romney spokesperson Eric Fehrnstrom initially insisted, in email exchanges with the Phoenix, was the event in question. Fehrnstrom cited the Broder column and “the Romney family recollection.”

Of the many contemporaneous and historical records of the Grosse Pointe speech, none make any mention of George Romney’s attendance. It is unlikely, if not implausible, that his presence would have gone unnoticed: not only was he governor of the state, he had just, weeks before, dropped out of the race for President.

And, Mitt Romney would not have known about the event, let alone had a chance to “see” it. He was at that time in the middle of his two-year mission for the Mormon church in Le Havre, France. By his own description and others’, he was cut off from virtually all contact with his family; and at the time, King’s Grosse Pointe appearance was no more than local news.

The original mention, in Broder’s 1967 book, of a Romney-King Grosse Pointe march might have resulted from an accidental conflation of several different events.

In June 1963, King marched in Detroit, and delivered an early version of his “I Have a Dream” speech; Governor George Romney did not participate, according to news accounts of the time.

Later that month, a local organization of roughly 50 members, called the Grosse Pointe Human Rights Council, held a walk through their town in support of open housing.

King had already left the state, and Romney did not participate in the Grosse Pointe walk, according to records from the time.

George Romney would later lead a 10,000-person march through Detroit, but not with King.

Although Broder’s book contained the brief mention, there is nothing in the public record to suggest that George Romney himself ever claimed to have marched with King.

Had George Romney ever marched with Martin Luther King Jr., it almost certainly would have been documented. From the mid-’50s through 1962, Romney was one of the country’s most prominent business leaders — for him to travel South for a civil-rights march would have been remarkable. From January 1963 on, as governor of Michigan and a presumed Presidential candidate, Romney was one of the most visible political figures in the country.

UPDATE: ROMNEY CAMPAIGN SAYS “TOGETHER” MAY MEAN DIFFERENT CITIES, DIFFERENT DAYS

A spokesperson for Mitt Romney now tells the Phoenix that George W. Romney and Martin Luther King Jr. marched together in June, 1963 -- although possibly not on the same day or in the same city.

[lpbk2713]

8. What a weasel.

No wonder he's a front runner. He demonstrates all the qualities the goppers hold near and dear.

[pepperbear]

9. He marched with MLK in that "figurative" sense in that he didn't march with MLK. n/t

[Yuugal]

11. the question is "what is the definition of the word saw"?

b] ‘I saw the Patriots win the World Series, it doesn’t necessarily mean you were there — excuse me, the Super Bowl. I saw my dad become president of American Motors. Did that mean you were there for the ceremony? No, it’s a figure of speech."

"If you look at the literature, if you look at the dictionary, the term ‘saw’ includes being aware of in the sense I’ve described,” he said. “It’s a figure of speech and very familiar and it’s very common and I saw my dad march with Martin Luther King. I did not see it with my own eyes but I saw him in the sense of being aware of his participation in that great effort.”


If I see a insincere political hack dissemble is that the same as when you tell me you saw it instead? I suppose I'd tell a third person, "I heard that ass-clown told a huge lie and then try to recover and got laughed at." But if mittens wants say he saw it when he really didn't thats ok.

As long as we can talk about the special underwear. Whats the deal with that? Anyone know?

[ruggerson]

16. It's in Missouri, isn't it?

oh wait, that's the Garden of Eden

[insanad]

17. Mormon Underwear Discussion

A few days ago there was a whole thread devoted to the funky underwear and the Mormon practices that are amusing, strange, and fairly exclusive to their culture and religion. Look for this thread About This "Mormonism" Thing. Here's my piece on the Garments (Mormon underwear)

Itchy, uncomfortable, sticky in the butt saggy yellowed skanky underwear

Holy Joe Smith came up with these as some bizarre marketing tool to help separate the ones who'd been through the freaky temple ceremonies and those who hadn't, although back in the early days you couldn't tell who was wearing them and who wasn't. Now the Mc Mormons wad them up under their shorts or try to keep them from twisting and binding under their t-shirts, but ultimately they're just funky uncomfortable underwear.

They have little symbols sewn into them that represent promises made in the temple ceremonies and they're designed to be mostly modest, covering the torso to an appropriate neckline (no cleavage should show) and to the top of the knee. They used to be longer and went to wrist and ankle. The old style with the split back (not like kinky panties) were a one piece with a huge sloppy slit in the back where you would separate it to do your dirty business in the back.

They have been made from wool, cotton, and nylon or other man made fabrics. The new ones are two piece and just look like badly designed long underwear. For the ladies, they're so poorly fitted that the seam at the bodice writhes it's way up across the nipple and causes a nasty rash on some as it rubs and scratches. Perhaps it's some kind of penance for some but for me (when I was in the church for 30 some grueling years) it was torture. The bottom section is so poorly designed that when a woman is on her cycle the pad tosses around like a dryer sheet and ends up in the pant leg or sock, making for embarrassing moments.

The reason some think Mormons only get one pair is because so many of them wear them long past their prime. Perhaps because they're sort of expensive or because they think they're holy underwear, they wear them until it becomes literal. I've seen Mo's wear them till they're yellowed, skanky, saggy, full of holes, grey from poor laundering, and downright nasty.

The garments are just one bizarre part of the Mormon experience but overall most Mormons are very nice good people with a bizarre and backward set of religious beliefs. They're pretty harmless, like a bunch of toothless piranhas, gumming you up a bit but no real harm done....unless you try to leave. Then watch out.

[Mend]

19. the Mormons are the only people who realize just how much God cares

about underpants. Whew...I thought no one knew how much God fretted about this...not poverty, cruelty, injustice...but underwear, pork, Friday fish, wigs, head scarves...all the important things in the universe.

[struggle4progress]

12. Yeah, Romney tried to strap MLK on top of his campaign

[CitizenLeft]

13. man. what a dumbass.

:eyes:

I heard Crawford on Abrams tonight mention Gore and the internet myth as fact - I wanted to yank him through the TV screen and smack him silly. STILL talking that BS.

[DCKit]

14. He also said he pulled over and cried when he heard on the radio that...

Blacks had finally been admitted to the Mormon church.

His usual parsing: he didn't say whether he was happy or distraught at the news.

[Mend]

15. was his dog still riding on the roof of his car when this happened cause the

the dog would have cried, too, with relief, that 70 mph winds had stopped blowing on him.

[gratuitous]

18. Your conclusion is spot on

We will hear nothing in the popular press about how Mitt Romney will "say anything" to get elected, just like we don't hear a peep about how much of his campaign has been self-funded. There will be no thumb-suckers about how he's a "serial exaggerator" or how he has a "problem with the truth." You won't hear little riffs and take-offs on how Mitt "marched with" anyone or "saw" the Cubs win the Super Bowl.

Tell that one about the "liberal" media again; that one allus cracks me up.

[SavageDem]

20. I heard the audio of his "explanation"...

...on the Stephanie Miller Show this morning. Priceless. Talk about humminahumminahummina. As Bugs Bunny was fond of saying: "What a maroon!" I don't know how anyone can take this lying sack of crap seriously. Not only a used-car salesman, but a bad used-car salesman - sort of like the father in Breaking Away before he repented at the end.

Anyone have a link to the audio to which I refer?

[knitter4democracy]

21. I'm an English major, too, and I don't make crap up about my dad.

He's a disgrace to his dad.