Why Romney keeps lying about Obama and welfare
The first answer has everything to do with the press. Reporters aren’t equipped to deal with constant dishonesty, and one-off fact checks aren’t enough to stop a lie from gaining currency. The Romney campaign is capitalizing on both facts to push a false narrative and embed it in the political conversation. So far, judging from the non-response of most reporters, it’s working.
The second answer is much more cynical. As Greg noted when the first ad debuted, this is a clear attempt to resurrect the politics of resentment. It’s no accident that Romney uses this line when speaking to groups of working-class white voters; it’s meant to conjure images of “young bucks” and “welfare queens” who abuse the system and take from more “productive” Americans. Indeed, when you consider the extent to which this attack came out of the blue — no one was talking about welfare before Romney began this assault — and the fact that Romney’s White House bid depends on record levels of support from white voters, it’s hard not to see it as a blatant attempt to pander to the racial anxieties of downscale whites.
Which is why it’s worth pointing out this lie whenever it surfaces. Far more so than Joe Biden — who made an off-the-cuff remark — Romney is playing a deliberate game of racial division, trying to harm Obama’s standing with whites by connecting him to long-circulating stereotypes about African Americans. It’s an ugly move that should be condemned in the harshest terms possible.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/romney-keeps-lying-about-obama-and-welfare/2012/08/20/1c42b33e-ead2-11e1-866f-60a00f604425_blog.html
= new reply since forum marked as read
it's a subtle reminder that Obama is black.
rocktivity
