Posted on 12/21/2007 9:58:28 AM PST by Josh Painter
Susan Englander, assistant editor of the Martin Luther King Jr. Papers Project at Stanford University, who is editing the King papers from that era, told the Globe yesterday: "I researched this question, and indeed it is untrue that George Romney marched with [Dr.] King."
She said that when he was governor of Michigan, George Romney issued a proclamation in June 1963 in support of King's march in Detroit, but declined to attend, saying he did not participate in political events on Sundays. A New York Times story from the time confirms Englander's account.
A few days after that march, George Romney joined a civil rights march through the Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe, but King did not attend, Englander said. A report in the New York Times confirms Englander's account of that second march...
Romney has repeated the story of his father marching with King in some of his most prominent presidential campaign appearances, including the "Tonight" show with Jay Leno in May, his address on faith and politics Dec. 6 in Texas, and on NBC's "Meet The Press" on Sunday, when he was questioned about the Mormon Church's ban on full participation by black members. He said that he had cried in his car in 1978 when he heard the ban had ended, and added, "My father marched with Martin Luther King."
Mitt Romney went a step further in a 1978 interview with the Boston Herald. Talking about the Mormon Church and racial discrimination, he said: "My father and I marched with Martin Luther King Jr. through the streets of Detroit."
Yesterday, Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom acknowledged that was not true. "Mitt Romney did not march with Martin Luther King," he said in an e-mail statement to the Globe.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
The only desperate ones are Romney's spinners, trying to figure out how to "frame" his lie so it isn't really a lie.
Romney easily could have just cited his father's civil rights stand without embellishing it with false details. But he can't help himself, he seems to always add these false details to make the events seem grander. He could have been happy to have seen the LDS allow membership to blacks, but he had to make up a story about being a student who pulled over to the side of the road with tears in his eyes, despite not having been a student for 3 years at the time of the event.
Apparently, he's recovering somewhat, because 19 years ago, he claimed not only to have seen his dad march with King, but to have participated in it himself as well. (The Romney campaign issued a statement today admitting this, at least, was indeed a lie.)
You surely cannot be defending this lie with that kind of logic.
“Standing with Ronald Reagan in his fight” can truly be considered a figure of speech.
“My father and I marched with Dr King” is far, far, from a figure of speech, and I find your denial very troubling.
I saw my father march with MLK is comparable to saying I saw my father fight the fight against the Evil Empire with Ronald Reagan. It is acknowleding that people stood with someone, stood for something etc.... You Mitt-haters will assume the worst in everything Romney though.
OK. So now we know that, in 1978, Mitt Romney told someone he and his father marched with MLK.
That goes along with all the other stories, including the Broder book, that put Elder King in a march with MLK.
But we also seem to know that MLK was not in the march that the Elder Romney was in, even though they call it an MLK march.
Since in 1978, Mitt wasn’t running for anything, it seems that even in 1978, he thought MLK was in the march with his dad and him.
Still making the “saw my father” march literally true, but the “with MLK” not literally true, but only true in the sense that you are marching in concert with or in support of MLK.
That use the the word “with” is also common. How many times do candidates tell us to “walk with them”, or “talk with them”, or “join with them”, when they really mean for us to do things on our own that HELP them?
Fred Thompson even asked me to join with him on something. I didn’t think it was a lie.
Mitt’s problem is he COULD have marched with MLK. Since there was the possibility, using the term causes confusion, and he should have been more accurate.
Still, I don’t think something he said in 1978 is really going to be an issue in the campaign.
OMG, Walter Kronkite’s a LIAR. He said I was there, and I wasn’t.
And last night, some guy on Discovery channel said he was going to take me to see something, and when it was done I was still sitting in my chair.
Maybe some research should be done before deciding that someone is lying simply because you don’t support them as a candidate. http://hotair.com/archives/2007/12/20/did-mitts-father-really-march-with-martin-luther-king/
No, it was a calcualted lie to make it appear that something happened that actually didn't. And worse, it was an unnecessary and pointless lie, because the truth would have served just as well.
You Mitt-haters will assume the worst in everything Romney though.
Only because he gives us ample ammunition. You Mitt-worshipers will believe any crazy thing that excuses the lies and flip-flops of your "pretty" candidate.
Doing?!?!?! Man, I have not heard these types of verbal calisthenics since trying to figure out what “is” means. Being an enabler is not becoming...
Just to point out -- his campaign issued a statement admitting that this was a lie.
OMG! You actually WERE trying to make an issue out of something he said in 1978!!!!
I’m sorry, I thought better of you. Now I’m laughing so hard it’s hard to type.
If I were Josh Painter, I’d make you stop using my name now too. :-)
what’s that I hear now, buzzing in my ear? Gnats.
“My father and I marched with Martin Luther King Jr. through the streets of Detroit.”
If he was saying it figuratively, he would NOT have added the “through the streets of Detroit” part.
My advice to Mitt? Quit digging. Admit you lied, say you’re sorry, and move on.
"My father and I marched with Martin Luther King Jr. through the streets of Detroit."
How is any part of that metaphorical?
Isn't the answer simply that Mitt was trying to get people to believe that he and his father marched with King through the streets of Detroit?
And isn't the problem that that was untrue?
“My father and I marched with Martin Luther King Jr. through the streets of Detroit.”
...ooops no we didn’t. I meant figuratively.
“Steve King endorsed me. Its exciting.”
...oops no he didnt ..well we thought he did until he didn’t.
“NRA endorsed me while running for governor.”
....oops no they didn’t. well kinda it was an NRA poll which is kinda like getting it.
WAIT...I need to talk to my attorneys I think.
How many strikes does one get? Do you honestly think the Dems will give him a pass for these?
I have previously been opposed to Mitt based on his flip flops on issues. (abortion,guns, etc.).
But, now I am beginning to doubt him on character issues. He is showing himself to be nothing more than a power hungry politician that will say anything to make himself sound good to “the people”.
Forgive me for inserting another “bash”, but perhaps his training culminating in his activities as a 19 year old, have become ingrained in his very being. I haven’t seen this as an issue up until now, but it is starting to be quite apparent.
Should he become the nominee, I will have to hold my nose and vote for him. The alternative choice would be suicide.
Can you provide a link where Romney said that he and his father marched with MLK through the streets of Detroit?
Did you read the article posted here?
If it were Mitt’s only whopper, then the figure of speech argument might hold up.
Mitt claimed that he never supported Planned Parenthood, but he was photographed at a 1994 PP fundraiser.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2007/12/romney-attended.html
He claimed he had been a hunter “all his life,” but it turned out that he had only been hunting twice.
He said that he owned a gun, but it turned out to belong to one of his sons.
In a 2006 interview with RedState.com, Mitt said, “I’ve never called myself pro-choice.” This was after he said in his 2002 acceptance speech, “I respect and will fully protect a woman’s right to choose.”
He told Tim Russert that the NRA had endorsed him in his 2002 gubernatorial race. Turns out they didn’t.
It goes on and on...
I’m sure Mitt doesn’t intend to lie... he just can’t help himself. Hey, isn’t that the definition of a pathological liar?
You missed the point of this post, Josh is saying that Mitt “lied” in 1978. Yes, he is attacking Mitt for something he did in 1978. I’m not sure but I’m betting there are people reading this thread who weren’t ALIVE in 1978.
I personally think going back more than 12 or so years is just too much, especially after what happened with George Allen last year (not Macaca, but the whole “n-word” stuff).
It’s nice to see the Romney campaign can read, understand, and adjust to new information. Up till a week ago most of us thought Romney had marched with King, now with some digging it appears he marched 6 days later than King because he wouldn’t march on Sunday (I wish more Christians would take the Lord’s day as seriously as Mormons do).
That was when Mitt was a teenager, about 15-16 years old. In 1978 apparently Mitt was asked and incorrectly recounted that MLK was in that march in 1963. (realise that is 15 years after a march where Romney was supposed to march with King but didn’t because of Sunday but marched 6 days later). And it was 11 years after a book was written which said Romney marched with King.
SO after all these years, decades really, of a family having come to believe that their father marched in a protest that MLK marched in, only NOW, in December of 2007, has anybody bothered to do detailed checks, and it turns out the marches were actually 6 days apart.
Of course, that doesn’t change the story’s point, and it doesn’t say anything about anything except that over the years recollections sometimes do not match reality in every detail.
The 1978 quote is decades ago, but reinforces the claim that everybody believed MLK was in that march with Romney in 1963.
BTW, this means there’s a 5th thing that was said about this that was false — the claim that Romney NEVER said anything about this until after his father died.
See, apparently in 1978, while his father was still alive, Romney said his dad and he marched with MLK. Maybe his father isn’t like my father, but if he was, he would have read the article, and if he knew it was wrong, he would have said something.
So that means that by 1978, Elder Romney was probably telling the same story. Not surprising, there’s no evidence he “corrected” the 1967 book that said the same thing.
But it does show that Romney didn’t wait till his father died to say this — a STORY told by mitt-haters because it implies Romney knew it wasn’t true and waited until his father couldn’t correct him.
And I’m supposed to believe this because it’s “posted” here? I think I’m seeing the pattern, it’s kind of like the libs hating our intelligence community when they say something they don’t like, but loving them when they say Iran stopped it’s nuke program. We all seem to choose what we want to believe.
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