Q JINN
2012-10-04 21:30:08 UTC
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<A
href=3D"http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-first-debate-mitt-ro=
mneys-five-biggest-lies-20121004">http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/new=
s/the-first-debate-mitt-romneys-five-biggest-lies-20121004</A>
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<DIV class=3Dsubcl>
<H1><FONT size=3D5>The First Debate: Mitt Romney's Five Biggest
Lies</FONT></H1>
<H2><FONT size=3D4>The truth behind that $5 trillion tax cut, pre-existing=
conditions and more<!-- Place this tag where you want the +1 button to
render --></FONT></H2></DIV></DIV></DIV>
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e-mitt-romneys-five-biggest-lies-20121004/20121004-obama-romney-debate-600=
x-1349358087.jpg">
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<DIV class=3Dimage-holder><IMG alt=3D""
src=3D"http://assets.rollingstone.com/assets/images/story/the-first-debate=
-mitt-romneys-five-biggest-lies-20121004/1000x600/20121004-obama-romney-de=
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<DIV style=3D"WIDTH: 598px" class=3DimageCaption>President Barack Obama an=
d
Mitt Romney at the first Presidential Debate.</DIV>
<DIV style=3D"WIDTH: 584px" class=3DimageCredit>SAUL
LOEB/AFP/GettyImages</DIV></DIV>
<DIV id=3DcontentInfo class=3DwithImage>
<DIV class=3Dauthor><SPAN class=3DfloatLt>By</SPAN> <A
href=3D"http://www.rollingstone.com/contributor/tim-dickinson">Tim
Dickinson</A></DIV>
<DIV class=3Ddate>October 4, 2012 9:32 AM ET</DIV></DIV>
<P><FONT size=3D4>Mitt Romney turned in a polished performance in last
night's presidential debate =96 and revealed himself to be an
accomplished and unapologetic liar. In an evening where he sought to
slice and dice the president with statistics, Romney baldly
misrepresented his own policy prescriptions, made up numbers to fit his
attacks and buried clear contrasts with the president under a heaping
pile of horseshit.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=3D4>Here are mendacious Mitt's five most outrageous
statements:</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=3D4><STRONG>1. "I don't have a $5 trillion tax
cut."</STRONG> Romney flatly lied about the cost of his proposal to cut
income-tax rates across the board by another 20 percent (undercutting
even the low rates of the Bush tax cuts). Independent economists at the
</FONT><A
href=3D"http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2012/08/01-tax-reform-bro=
wn-gale-looney"
target=3Dblank><FONT size=3D4>Tax Policy Center</FONT></A><FONT size=3D4> =
have
shown that the price tag for those cuts is $360 billion in the first
year, a cost that extrapolates to $5 trillion over a decade.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=3D4><STRONG>2. "I will not reduce the taxes paid by
high-income Americans." </STRONG>Romney has claimed that he will pay for
his tax cuts by closing a variety of loopholes and deductions. The
factual problem? Romney hasn't named a single loophole he's willing to
close; worse, there's no way to offset $5 trillion in tax cuts even if
you get rid of the entire universe of deductions for the wealthy that
Romney has not put off the table (like the carried interest loophole or
the 15 percent capital gains rate.) The Tax Policy Center report
concludes that Romney's proposal would create a "net tax cut for
high-income tax payers and a net tax increase for lower- and or
middle-income taxpayers." Moreover, some of Romney's tax cuts are
micro-targeted at American dynasties, particularly his proposal to
eliminate the estate tax, which would reduce his own sons' tax burden by
tens of millions of dollars.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=3D4><STRONG>3. "We've got 23 million people out of work or
[who have] stopped looking for work in this country."</STRONG> Romney is
lying for effect. The nation's crisis of joblessness is bad, but not 23
million bad. The official figure is </FONT><A
href=3D"http://www.rollingstone.com/www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.ht=
m"
target=3Dblank><FONT size=3D4>12.5 million</FONT></A><FONT size=3D4>
unemployed. An additional 2.6 million Americans have stopped looking for
jobs. How does Romney gin up his eye-popping 23 million figure? He
counts more than 8 million wage earners who hold part-time jobs as also
being "out of work."</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=3D4><STRONG>4. Obamacare "puts in place an unelected board
that's going to tell people ultimately what kind of treatments they can
have." </STRONG>Romney is reviving Sarah Palin's old death panels lie
here. Obamacare does establish an Independent Payment Advisory Board to
help constrain the growth of Medicare spending. The body has no
authority to dictate the practices of the private insurance marketplace.
And the law also makes explicit that this body is banned from rationing
care or limiting medical benefits to seniors.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=3D4><STRONG>5. "Pre-existing conditions are covered under my=
plan."</STRONG> In the biggest whopper of the night, Romney suggested
that his health care proposal would guarantee coverage to Americans with
pre-existing conditions. This is just not true. Under Romney, if you
have a pre-existing condition and have been unable to obtain insurance
coverage or if you have had to drop coverage for more than 90 days
because you lost your job or couldn't afford the premiums, you would be
shit out of luck. Insurance companies could continue to discriminate and
deny <SPAN>you coverage, as even Romney's top adviser conceded <A
href=3D"http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/10/top-romney-adviser-stat=
es-will-have-to-cover-people-with-pre-existing-conditions-under-president-=
rom.php"
target=3Dblank>after the debate was over.</A></SPAN></FONT></P>
<DIV class=3Drelated-content>
<H3>Related</H3>
<UL>
<LI><A
href=3D"http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/mitt-romneys-real-agenda=
-20120928">Mitt
Romney's Real Agenda</A> </LI>
<LI><A
href=3D"http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/greed-and-debt-the-true-=
story-of-mitt-romney-and-bain-capital-20120829">Greed
and Debt: The True Story of Mitt Romney and Bain Capital</A> </LI>
<LI><A
href=3D"http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-federal-bailout-that=
-saved-mitt-romney-20120829">The
Federal Bailout That Saved Mitt Romney</A>
</LI></UL></DIV></DIV><BR><BR>Read more: <A style=3D"COLOR: #003399"
href=3D"http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-first-debate-mitt-ro=
mneys-five-biggest-lies-20121004#ixzz28MjAiCRn">http://www.rollingstone.co=
m/politics/news/the-first-debate-mitt-romneys-five-biggest-lies-20121004#i=
xzz28MjAiCRn</A></DIV></html>
<A
href=3D"http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-first-debate-mitt-ro=
mneys-five-biggest-lies-20121004">http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/new=
s/the-first-debate-mitt-romneys-five-biggest-lies-20121004</A>
<BR><BR>
<DIV style=3D"BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; TEXT-ALIGN: left; BORDER-LEFT:
medium none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: #ffffff; COLOR: #000000; OVERFLOW:
hidden; BORDER-TOP: medium none; BORDER-RIGHT: medium none;
TEXT-DECORATION: none">
<DIV id=3Dteaser>
<DIV class=3Dsubcolumns>
<DIV class=3Dsubcl>
<H1><FONT size=3D5>The First Debate: Mitt Romney's Five Biggest
Lies</FONT></H1>
<H2><FONT size=3D4>The truth behind that $5 trillion tax cut, pre-existing=
conditions and more<!-- Place this tag where you want the +1 button to
render --></FONT></H2></DIV></DIV></DIV>
<DIV id=3DstoryTextContainer class=3DisHorizontal>
<DIV class=3DclearFix><FONT size=3D4></FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=3D"assetContainer imageStandard floatLt horiz-image"><!-- <a
class=3D"thickbox imageLink" title=3D""
href=3D"http://assets.rollingstone.com/assets/images/story/the-first-debat=
e-mitt-romneys-five-biggest-lies-20121004/20121004-obama-romney-debate-600=
x-1349358087.jpg">
-->
<DIV class=3Dimage-holder><IMG alt=3D""
src=3D"http://assets.rollingstone.com/assets/images/story/the-first-debate=
-mitt-romneys-five-biggest-lies-20121004/1000x600/20121004-obama-romney-de=
bate-600x-1349358087.jpg">
</DIV><!-- </a> -->
<DIV style=3D"WIDTH: 598px" class=3DimageCaption>President Barack Obama an=
d
Mitt Romney at the first Presidential Debate.</DIV>
<DIV style=3D"WIDTH: 584px" class=3DimageCredit>SAUL
LOEB/AFP/GettyImages</DIV></DIV>
<DIV id=3DcontentInfo class=3DwithImage>
<DIV class=3Dauthor><SPAN class=3DfloatLt>By</SPAN> <A
href=3D"http://www.rollingstone.com/contributor/tim-dickinson">Tim
Dickinson</A></DIV>
<DIV class=3Ddate>October 4, 2012 9:32 AM ET</DIV></DIV>
<P><FONT size=3D4>Mitt Romney turned in a polished performance in last
night's presidential debate =96 and revealed himself to be an
accomplished and unapologetic liar. In an evening where he sought to
slice and dice the president with statistics, Romney baldly
misrepresented his own policy prescriptions, made up numbers to fit his
attacks and buried clear contrasts with the president under a heaping
pile of horseshit.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=3D4>Here are mendacious Mitt's five most outrageous
statements:</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=3D4><STRONG>1. "I don't have a $5 trillion tax
cut."</STRONG> Romney flatly lied about the cost of his proposal to cut
income-tax rates across the board by another 20 percent (undercutting
even the low rates of the Bush tax cuts). Independent economists at the
</FONT><A
href=3D"http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2012/08/01-tax-reform-bro=
wn-gale-looney"
target=3Dblank><FONT size=3D4>Tax Policy Center</FONT></A><FONT size=3D4> =
have
shown that the price tag for those cuts is $360 billion in the first
year, a cost that extrapolates to $5 trillion over a decade.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=3D4><STRONG>2. "I will not reduce the taxes paid by
high-income Americans." </STRONG>Romney has claimed that he will pay for
his tax cuts by closing a variety of loopholes and deductions. The
factual problem? Romney hasn't named a single loophole he's willing to
close; worse, there's no way to offset $5 trillion in tax cuts even if
you get rid of the entire universe of deductions for the wealthy that
Romney has not put off the table (like the carried interest loophole or
the 15 percent capital gains rate.) The Tax Policy Center report
concludes that Romney's proposal would create a "net tax cut for
high-income tax payers and a net tax increase for lower- and or
middle-income taxpayers." Moreover, some of Romney's tax cuts are
micro-targeted at American dynasties, particularly his proposal to
eliminate the estate tax, which would reduce his own sons' tax burden by
tens of millions of dollars.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=3D4><STRONG>3. "We've got 23 million people out of work or
[who have] stopped looking for work in this country."</STRONG> Romney is
lying for effect. The nation's crisis of joblessness is bad, but not 23
million bad. The official figure is </FONT><A
href=3D"http://www.rollingstone.com/www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.ht=
m"
target=3Dblank><FONT size=3D4>12.5 million</FONT></A><FONT size=3D4>
unemployed. An additional 2.6 million Americans have stopped looking for
jobs. How does Romney gin up his eye-popping 23 million figure? He
counts more than 8 million wage earners who hold part-time jobs as also
being "out of work."</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=3D4><STRONG>4. Obamacare "puts in place an unelected board
that's going to tell people ultimately what kind of treatments they can
have." </STRONG>Romney is reviving Sarah Palin's old death panels lie
here. Obamacare does establish an Independent Payment Advisory Board to
help constrain the growth of Medicare spending. The body has no
authority to dictate the practices of the private insurance marketplace.
And the law also makes explicit that this body is banned from rationing
care or limiting medical benefits to seniors.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=3D4><STRONG>5. "Pre-existing conditions are covered under my=
plan."</STRONG> In the biggest whopper of the night, Romney suggested
that his health care proposal would guarantee coverage to Americans with
pre-existing conditions. This is just not true. Under Romney, if you
have a pre-existing condition and have been unable to obtain insurance
coverage or if you have had to drop coverage for more than 90 days
because you lost your job or couldn't afford the premiums, you would be
shit out of luck. Insurance companies could continue to discriminate and
deny <SPAN>you coverage, as even Romney's top adviser conceded <A
href=3D"http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/10/top-romney-adviser-stat=
es-will-have-to-cover-people-with-pre-existing-conditions-under-president-=
rom.php"
target=3Dblank>after the debate was over.</A></SPAN></FONT></P>
<DIV class=3Drelated-content>
<H3>Related</H3>
<UL>
<LI><A
href=3D"http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/mitt-romneys-real-agenda=
-20120928">Mitt
Romney's Real Agenda</A> </LI>
<LI><A
href=3D"http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/greed-and-debt-the-true-=
story-of-mitt-romney-and-bain-capital-20120829">Greed
and Debt: The True Story of Mitt Romney and Bain Capital</A> </LI>
<LI><A
href=3D"http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-federal-bailout-that=
-saved-mitt-romney-20120829">The
Federal Bailout That Saved Mitt Romney</A>
</LI></UL></DIV></DIV><BR><BR>Read more: <A style=3D"COLOR: #003399"
href=3D"http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-first-debate-mitt-ro=
mneys-five-biggest-lies-20121004#ixzz28MjAiCRn">http://www.rollingstone.co=
m/politics/news/the-first-debate-mitt-romneys-five-biggest-lies-20121004#i=
xzz28MjAiCRn</A></DIV></html>