We’re familiar with campaign reports that don’t do enough factchecking. But here’s a strange one from ABC World News (9/25/12), which seems to be complaining that Mitt Romney departed from his usual misleading claims about how Obama’s been raising your taxes.
Pointing this out would be a good thing. The problem is that you have a hard time figuring out what the facts are, because the truth doesn’t seem to be the primary concern of the segment.
Here’s what correspondent David Muir said:
MUIR: Today, something from Romney about the President we haven’t heard before. Romney has long argued the president raised taxes on Americans in his first term. But today he appeared to argue the president had not done so.
MITT ROMNEY: His idea now…he’s got one new idea. I admit this, he has one thing he did not do in his first four years he’s said he’s going to do in the next four years, which is to raise taxes.
MUIR: Tonight, the campaign would not say Romney made a mistake standing there, instead standing by its argument before, that the president has raised taxes.
So the “news” is that Romney said something different from what he usually says about Obama raising taxes. His usual claim is, by reasonable standards, either false or highly misleading, given the array of tax cuts most Americans have seen over the past four years.
But ABC seems to be less interested in what is true and more concerned with whether Romney committed an unusual kind of gaffe–the “mistake” of telling the truth instead of the usual lie. Muir even helpfully notes that the campaign stands by its old claim that Obama raised taxes.
At the end of the report, Muir notes:
Now, on that issue of taxes, what the governor said here today, talking about those taxes, the president did not raise income tax rates in his first term, though has proposed raising taxes on families earning $250,000 or more.
Does it all makes sense now?
Muir isn’t the only reporter who didn’t seem to want to figure out which claims were accurate. Reporting on the same statement, NBC‘s Chuck Todd had this to say (NBC Nightly News, 9/25/12):
That last little comment by Mitt Romney today about not raising taxes in his first four years did raise some eyebrows with conservatives, by the way.
Well, that’s helpful, isn’t it?
Its duck speak, he opens his mouth, barks or quakes out a phrase, like a sick dog barfing up it’s dinner, and these people are eating it up like its foie Gras.
Amazing the peeps are totally trained to the tune whistled by however they are talking to. Might as well just use a tape recorder, it would be more faithful and accurate.
Oh lord, this has been the most excruciatingly long campaign season I can remember. We’re not even arguing about facts anymore; we’re arguing about perceptions about perceptions of facts in campaign talking points, the most prolific source of fiction. Why don’t we just all give up and start throwing darts at jello on the wall?
The media are desperately trying to maintain the illusion that this is a political race, when it’s rather evidently a qualified, if flawed, politician facing off against an unqualified, sociopathic plutocrat trying to buy or steal an election.
It’s too implausible to even be good sit-com.
why don’t we all just realize that neither candidate is about telling the whole truth. romney or obama, were all still in a world of trouble!
Apparently, the Republicans, and the Media are too stupid or lazy to take 20 minutes to log into the IRS website and confirm that in the past 4 years that there have been absolutely NO tax increases, but a large number of tax cuts.
The truth is that so far the president has been fought tooth and nail by those on the right to stop him from raising taxes on anyone,and this has been largely successful.Though if he had his druthers………If he wins in november taxes will go up.On most people.This is all he knows.One trick pony,same old tax n spend Dem we all know and love.
The GOP and it’s talking heads have closed the book on Romney and Ryan and are trying to salvage their positions in the House and Senate. They let the teabaggers take over and are not trying to control the damage the ultra right has caused. That’s why they’re walking away from Ryan.
Bud you must be listening to the main stream media.They are trying their best to tell everyone the race is over.Kind of funny.Polls that are fixed.Funny funny .I will give you my prediction.Mitt and Ryan by 5 points!!!They are going to split evenly give or take one point right and left.The right will be far more energized,so that is in their corner.And as usual the non aligned will go to the contender predominantly.The only possibility I see is the debates.Or world affairs that for some reason turn people into the presidents corner.The truth is we dont know what Mitt can do.It is a leap of faith.With Obama we know.$ years of unmitigated disaster.His own economic council….his Jobs council….his Fed chairmen see no rainbow ahead.What we are looking at is the collapse of this country.Guaranteed.No way out.The clock is running.As long as 12 years but far more likely to happen much sooner.THAT is what you vote for with Obama.Forget all political argument.THAT is the end of all arguments.That is our future.