Romney's Debate Performance Filled with Flip-flops and Misstatements

One of the unsettling and indeed frightening things about Mitt Romney is the ease with which he lies and abruptly changes his issue positions. Here is a person who presents himself as devoutly religious, yet he casually violates the tenets of any religion about telling the truth

That slipperiness was seen clearly in the last Presidential debate where he either flat-out lied or suddenly did a 180-degree turn and suddenly adopted policies he stoutly opposed in the primaries where he was playing to a far-right base.

The New York Times writes in an editorial( 10/4/12), "The Mitt Romney who appeared on the stage at the University of Denver seemed to be fleeing from the one who won the Republican nomination on a hard-right platform of tax cuts, budget slashing and indifference to those at the bottom of the economic ladder. . . Virtually every time Mr. Romney spoke, he misrepresented the platform on which he and Paul Ryan are actually running."

Here are some of Romneys misstatements, reversals, and distortions. He tried time and again to deny that he supports a $5 trillion tax reduction plan which would further destabilize the federal budget. Yet, his previous public statements argued for cutting income taxes by 20 percent, cutting corporate taxes by almost a third, extending the Bush tax cuts, and repealing the alternative minimum and estate taxes. That adds up to a $5 trillion reduction.

"Cut taxes," you say, "that sounds great." Except that those tax cuts will increase the deficit by $5 trillion. Romney won't acknowledge this fact, and offers no solution to the problem, perhaps getting us to believe he will somehow pull a rabbit out of his top hat.

Romney claimed that his vouchercare program, which ends Medicare as we know it, will harm no one. Yet, the $6000 voucher provided under this program forces older folks to negotiate with private insurance companies for health care, a perilous experience that hasn't worked to seniors benefit in the past. In addition, health care costs will steadily rise above the $6000 voucher, forcing the elderly to pay the difference themselves.

Romney claimed that Obama took $716 billion away from Medicare that was intended for the treatment of patients. In fact, this money was taken from health care providers, not beneficiaries, and Romney's running mate, Paul Ryan, has exactly the same deduction in his health care plan.

The Times notes in its editorial, "On health care, Mr. Romney pretended that he had an actual plan to replace the Affordable Care Act, and that it covered pre-existing conditions. He has no such plan . . ."

Romney stated during the debate that "Obama care would result in "a federal takeover of health care." In fact, so-called Obamacare was originally proposed in the 1990s by Republicans. Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act, builds on a foundation of private insurance. It provides subsidies for millions of low-income Americans so they can stay out of emergency rooms in hospitals where the high cost of treatment is eventually shifted to other people.

Romney now claims an important role in education for the federal government when only last spring, he was advocating an end to the Department of Education.

Romney claimed that President Obama had doubled the deficit. This is simply not true. When Obama came to office, he was handed a $1.4 trillion deficit. For 2012, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the deficit is predicted to be less - $1.1 trillion.

Enough. You get the point. Romney is a chronic shape-shifter who adopts policies and says things he feels will appeal to voters at any moment, and then is fully prepared to reverse himself shortly thereafter. Well, what does that mean for you and me? It means we have no idea at all what Romney actually believes or what he would do as President. It means that he is an unknown quantity, who could greatly surprise us as President. That is a risk I'm not prepared to take.