PUBLIC VIEWPOINT

What Won’t Romney Lie About?

Bill Clinton was impeached because he lied. As a friend asked me, “If he would lie about having sex with ‘that woman,’ what wouldn’t he lie about?” Updating that question, “What won’t Mitt Romney lie about?”

Romney had to present himself as a moderate Republican to be elected governor of Massachusetts, a very liberal state. To get the presidential nomination,he had to present himself as a radical right-winger.

To accomplish this transformation, he had to lie about many or all of his basic beliefs, assuming he has any.

Take an example from his second debate with President Obama. He avoided a question about support of equal pay for women by boasting that as governor he solicited “binders full of women“ to fill important roles in his administration. He did receive a compendium of women’s names, but he didn’t ask for it. MassGAP, a nonpartisan coalition of women’s groups, compiled the list before the election to give to whichever candidate won. He hired few, if any, of them.

In another example from that debate, Romney repeatedly and emphatically accused Obama of concealing the fact that terrorists attacked our consulate in Benghazi, killing our ambassador and three others. Moderator Candy Crowley had to intervene to correct Romney. Not only was Romney lying to us, he was politicizing a national tragedy for personal gain.

Let’s not elect a proven self-promoting liar as our president. Re-elect Obama and give him a Congress that will work with him, not against him.

NANCY SAUNDERS

Durham

Opinion, Pages 5 on 10/26/2012

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