The Voice Of One Crying Out In Suburbia

More on Mitt

(Playing a little fast and loose with the facts!)

According to a news report from the AP, it turns out that maybe Romney's dad didn't actually march with Martin Luther King Jr....

BOSTON - Mitt Romney, who earlier this year had to backpedal on his hunting exploits, is explaining himself again after claiming an endorsement he did not receive and saying he witnessed his father in civil rights marches he could not have seen.

"It's a figure of speech," Romney said Thursday after media inquiries into the Republican presidential contender's statement during his recent religion speech that he watched his father, the late Gov. George Romney of Michigan, march with Martin Luther King Jr.

Romney, who was in high school at the time, later said he only heard of his father marching, and some historians have questioned whether his father, in fact, did march with King. The Romney campaign provided books and news articles it said supported his statement.

A figure of speech? This is what he said in his 'Faith in America' speech: " I saw my father march with Martin Luther King."

How is that a "figure of speech"? That smacks of Clintonian spin. Well, I didn't see him, but I saw him, if you know what I mean. The Detroit Free Press, which takes a special interest in Romney because his father is the former Governor of Michigan, has additional details:

Asked about the reports, Romney said: "My own eyes? You know, I speak in the sense of I saw my dad become president of American Motors. I wasn't actually there when he became president of American Motors, but I saw him in the figurative sense of he marched with Martin Luther King.

"My brother also remembers him marching with Martin Luther King, and so in that sense I saw him march with Martin Luther King."

So now his brother allegedly remembering something means that Mitt saw it happen? Huh?!

The AP report also mentions some of Romney's other faulty recollections:

Romney similarly backtracked after telling a national television audience Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" that "I received the endorsement of the NRA" in 2002 while running for governor of Massachusetts.

The gun rights group did not endorse either candidate, and gave a higher issues rating to his Democratic opponent.

Romney said Monday, "It was, if you will, a support phone bank, which is not an official endorsement."
...
Throughout his campaign, he has been dogged by allegations of flip-flopping on key issues, from abortion rights to gun control and gay rights.

"It's the fine-tuning that's created the problem. It's always that one extra step that causes him the trouble," said Tobe Berkovitz, a longtime Romney observer and the interim dean of Boston University's College of Communication. "You can't just say that African-Americans were accepted into the church and I was happy, you have to say you pulled over and you cried."
...
Nonetheless, Romney faced snickers in April after his staff said he had been hunting on only two occasions despite his telling a New Hampshire voter, "I've been a hunter pretty much all my life." Romney later said he had hunted more than twice but only for "small varmints" and that he did not own a gun or have a hunting license.

This is National Reviews true blue conservative? This is their guy? A guy who makes bold claims about stuff that never happened, claims endorsements he never received and makes up a persona to appeal to hunters? Maybe Rich Lowry and company need to look a little harder...