Posted on 01/23/2012 2:20:24 PM PST by Qbert
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) appeared on “Fox News Sunday” yesterday and argued that President Obama’s policies “have actually made our economy worse.” Then he said it again. And again. All told, the House Republican repeated the claim five times in one interview (and in each instance, host Chris Wallace offered no pushback whatsoever).
For those who care about reality, Boehner’s claim isn’t true. Since the president took office, every aspect of the American economy — job creation, economic growth, manufacturing, the stock market, etc. — has improved considerably. Repeating a lie five times doesn’t make it true.
But what I find especially important about this is the extent to which Mitt Romney, the likely Republican presidential nominee, disagrees with Boehner.
Consider this remarkable exchange between Romney and conservative radio-host Laura Ingraham late last week: (thanks to F.B. for the tip)
INGRAHAM: You’ve also noted that there are signs of improvement on the horizon in the economy. How do you answer the president’s argument that the economy is getting better in a general election campaign if you yourself are saying it’s getting better?ROMNEY: Well, of course it’s getting better. The economy always gets better after a recession, there is always a recovery. […]
INGRAHAM: Isn’t it a hard argument to make if you’re saying, like, OK, he inherited this recession, he took a bunch of steps to try to turn the economy around, and now, we’re seeing more jobs, but vote against him anyway? Isn’t that a hard argument to make? Is that a stark enough contrast?
ROMNEY: Have you got a better one, Laura? It just happens to be the truth.
I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say this may be the most important statement Romney has made since launching his 2012 presidential campaign. Think about it: the likely GOP nominee argued, on the air and on the record, that the economy is getting better under President Obama, and it “happens to be the truth” that Obama took steps to turn the economy around, resulting in more jobs for American workers.
If Laura Ingraham had asked a Democratic ally of the president the same question, she likely would have heard a similar answer.
What’s more, as I noted over a week ago, Romney keeps saying this. He told voters in South Carolina and New Hampshire that under Obama, the economy is “getting better.”
Romney’s message, of course, comes with a catch: he believes the economy is improving, but he doesn’t want the president to get credit for it. But as Ingraham noticed, that’s an argument that will fail miserably.
A month into 2012, the Republican is effectively arguing, “Sure, Obama inherited a deep recession. And sure, he took a bunch of steps to turn the economy around. And sure, we’re now seeing more jobs being created and more economic growth. But vote against him anyway.”
This isn’t just a tough sell; it’s an impossible one.
This link goes right to the interview without have to listen to Rachel Maddow and it is shorter.
"I showed this to someone and he accused this left wing blogger of making it up. Does anyone remember hearing this interview? Or have a link to the transcript?"
See comment 20- it appears that the left-wing blogger chopped off the last part in the interview where Romney added that he "didn't think Obama was helping". Still- if this is the best Romney can come up with, this is pretty pathetic.
If it’s getting better, then why should we vote for ya, Guvnor, the change might just screw the wonderful Obama economy up.
Tinfoil for everyone!!!!!!!
No mitt No way!!!!
“And sure, we’re now seeing more jobs being created and more economic growth.”
Sooo... I guess I can put my house on the market and get the same 750K for it as I could have gotten pre-obama?
Idiot!
Luckily, Zero's 'all' isn't very much.
....exactly which galaxy does this east coast twit inhabit?
Or has he just got his head jammed up his bum so far that he can’t even detect daylight anymore?
I live and work in South central Montana, which we’ve been told is really, truly recession-proof and livin’ high, mostly because of all the energy development (Bakken Field is 300 miles east, “our” piece of Keystone is just a tad bit closer).
Bullsh**.
The company I work for is the last one remaining out of five that were here in ‘08, our job schedule beyond the first of April (normally our busy time) was real skimpy BEFORE The 0 started dithering around with Keystone, and went to absolutely jack-point-zip-diddly-sh** nothing as soon as the Great Proclamation last week.
My best guess right now is that I’ll be out of a job when the company finally folds up just about time to send in my taxes.
Maybe I should have everybody here send our tax bills to the Washington Weekly to pay, since they’ve got such a hot deal going. \sarc
The contrast between Romney and Newt could not be more stark. Go Newt!
Romney give it up, it’s never gonna happen. Go have a beer with McCain.
A LIGHT beer, of course...
Mitt Romney on Laura Ingraham's radio program: "Of course it's getting better. The economy always gets better after the recession. There's always a recovery. There's never been a time anywhere in the world where an economy has never recovered. The question is how is recovered by virtue of something the president has done or has he delayed the recovery and made it more painful? And the latter, of course, is the truth."
"The president's policies have made the recession deeper and have made the recovery more tepid and more difficult on the American people. This is the worst recovery that we have seen from a recession since Hoover. And President Obama wants to take credit for things getting better, he's in fact made things worse. He's made this recovery take much longer, but, will our economy get better someday? Of course it will."
When Laura Ingraham asks Romney if it is hard argument to make that 'Obama is making the economy better, but vote for me,' Romney says 'Do you have a better one Laura?'
"“And sure, we’re now seeing more jobs being created and more economic growth.”
--Sooo... I guess I can put my house on the market and get the same 750K for it as I could have gotten pre-obama?"
Amazing that he completely misses that. Yet another pertinent example of the disconnect between Romney and the voters again.
It is NOT getting better. The labor force has shrunk and it makes it appear things are getting better but in actuality they are much worse. Get a frickin’ clue.
In my younger days, I would've asked for some of what this guy Benen is smoking!
Among other things, I guess he doesn't consider the national debt as an aspect of the American economy.
Has Romney appointed John McCain his head campaign advisor?
This may (or may not!) be a good place to ask...does anyone know how Romney came to be governor of Massachusetts? He was raised in Michigan.
I looked around the web and can find no satisfactory answers on this. Was he in politics prior to running for governor?
And while looking around, I found very little clear about his residency in the past few years. Is he a resident of Massachusetts where he voted after buying a home in CA...and/or after buying a home in NH? What’s with the mailing address in the basement of his son’s home? And in CA, people there saw him so often they thought he was running for office there.
Where exactly does this guy live? According to his tax returns or his voting record — presumably the same...or maybe not! Where is he now registered to vote? And has he voted consistently in one state?
Romney doesn't shop for groceries!
Out of touch!
Can barely wait to see his Tax Returns tomorrow...LOL.
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