[Vision2020] The Romney/Ryan Reign of Error: Foreign Policy

[Nicholas Gier]

Good Morning Visionaries:

This is my final installment on this issue and my final column for the
election.  The updated full version is attached.

Obama has made up for his debate "nap" and Romney has lost his
momentum. He is now slightly ahead in an average of all available
polls and leads 303-235  (RealClearPolitics) and 307-231
(FiveThirtyEight) in the Electoral College.  Tester was surging in
Montana but now they are giving his senate seat to the GOP, but still
both outfits predict a 53-47 Dem majority.

I can't wait for this to be over.  I agree with the little girl from
Colorado, but I'm not crying yet.

Nick

The Romney/Ryan Reign of Error
57% Truth Telling for Romney/Ryan vs. 72% for Obama/Biden

We’re not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact checkers.

—Neil Newhouse, Pollster for the Romney Campaign

The American people are fortunate to have two presidential candidates
who are eloquent, but they would like a chief executive whom they
could trust to tell the truth.  I have now collected 37 distortions
and falsehoods from Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.  What disturbs me most
is that after many of their statements have been refuted, Romney and
Ryan still continue to use them.
	
I will begin with the scorecard from the Truth-0-Meter at
PolitiFact.org, the Pulitzer-winning fact checking organization.  As
proof of balance, I offer the fact that PolitiFact ruled that the “GOP
voted to end Medicare” the “Lie of the Year 2011.” For the six top
lies of the presidential campaign, they chose three false statements
from the Dems and three “pants on fire” from the GOP. Those who still
dismiss PolitiFact (or FactCheck.org) as biased are obligated to
evaluate each of the well-researched and balanced answers. The burden
is on them to prove the fact checkers wrong.

Out of 516 statements tested by PolitiFact, Obama and Biden have a
total of 147 mostly false, false, and pants on fire.  That is a record
of 72 percent truth-telling.  Out of 234 statements Romney and Ryan
have 101 mostly false, false, and pants on fire.  They were telling
the truth only 57 percent of the time.

Here are the major Romney/Ryan falsehoods on defense and foreign policy:

•	Romney,  Ryan, and the Republicans have constantly charged that
Obama has apologized for American actions in the world. PolitiFact has
used every possible definition of an apology and has found nothing to
substantiate this piece of libel. Politifact has now issued a “Pants
on Fire” (for a record 19) for Romney’s bald-faced one.

•	In his debate with Biden, Ryan criticized Obama for waiting two
weeks to respond to the attack on the consulate in on September 11,
2012. The very next day and the day after the President condemned this
“act of terror” as “outrageous and shocking.”  Biden was correct to
say that neither he nor Obama received these requests, which are
strictly the purview of the Department of State.

There is absolutely no evidence that the Obama administration called
for a delay in responding to the attack. The CIA has now released
classified documents that show that the 24-minute delay by CIA
operatives was due to a failed attempt to get machine gun mounted
trucks from the Libyans.

•	Romney charged that Obama “could have gotten crippling sanctions
against Iran. He did not."  Politifact has ruled that this statement
is mostly false. If Obama could have persuaded Russia and China,
tougher sanctions would have been implemented sooner.

•	Both Romney and Ryan charge that Obama will make huge, arbitrary
cuts to the defense budget.  These cuts are of course part of the
dreaded sequestration to which both parties have agreed.  Romney’s
promise to increase this budget by $2 trillion dollars is something
that the Pentagon has not requested and, worse, something that will
increase the deficit dramatically.

•	Ryan claimed that Biden “went to China and said that he sympathized
with and wouldn’t second-guess their one-child policy of forced
abortions and sterilizations.”  Ruling this statement as mostly false,
the researchers at PolitiFact explain: “Biden did not use the word
‘sympathize’ and didn’t endorse the one-child policy.  Instead, he
said that he understood it and would not second-guess it. Days after
the speech, his spokeswoman said he specifically condemned coercive
birth limitation policies.”

•	Ryan asserted that Obama was in New York City at the same time as
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and that he failed to meet
with him. They were both at the opening of the United Nations, but
they were not there on the same day. Vice-President Biden scored some
excellent points by saying that he has known “Bibi” for years, and
that he and Obama talk on the phone with him all the time.

•	In his debate with Biden, Ryan claimed that the Obama administration
called Syrian President Bashar Assad a “reformer.”  What Hilary
Clinton did say was that “many members of Congress of both parties who
have gone to Syria in recent months have said they believe he's a
reformer.” She made it clear that this was not Obama’s position.

•	In his debate with Biden, Ryan charged that Iran now has “enough
fissile material to make five nuclear bombs.”  The fact is that they
don’t even have enough to make one bomb.  Biden was correct in saying
that Israeli intelligence also agrees with this; and furthermore, Iran
has no way of delivering a nuclear weapon.

•	Romney has also claimed that “the U.S. military is at risk of losing
its military superiority because our Navy and Air Force are smaller.”
During Reagan’s first term “active ship force levels” were 571
vessels, but the total was down to 441 by the end of 8 years of Reagan
and Bush I.  During the first 6 years of Bush II the number was only
281, but since then it has risen to 285 and Obama has asked for
another 15 ships.

The Republicans’ problems with truth began in earnest with Richard
Nixon, but Ronald Reagan continued the tradition, more by bumbling
than by cunning.  His constant exaggerations of Soviet military
build-up, however, were deliberate deception.

With all that corporate money coming in, I would suggest that GOP
advisers buy some flame resistant suits and skirts.  The Democrats
could use a few as well.

Nick Gier taught philosophy at the University of Idaho for 31 years.
Read all of his columns on the 2012 election at
www.NickGier.com/2012.pdf.
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