Faced with good news about economy, Romney dissolves into incoherence

[ProSense]

Faced with good news about economy, Romney dissolves into incoherence

By Greg Sargent

Since Mitt Romney announced his candidacy last June, he has continually made two core claims about Obama’s economic record, each of which contradicts the other. Depending on the moment, Romney has said either:

1) Obama didn’t cause the recession, but he made it worse; and his policies have destroyed jobs.

or

2) Yes, the economy is recovering, but only in spite of Obama’s policies, not because of them.

Today, in response to the better than expected jobs numbers, Romney tried out a third line: The economy may or may not be recovering, but one thing is certain: Obama’s policies are preventing a “true” recovery.

Here’s Romney’s statement, just released:

“We welcome the fact that jobs were created and unemployment declined. Unfortunately, these numbers cannot hide the fact that President Obama’s policies have prevented a true economic recovery. We can do better. Last week, we learned that the economy grew only 1.7% in 2011, the slowest growth in a non-recession year since the end of World War II. As a result, the percentage of Americans in the job market continues to decline and is now at a level not seen since the early 1980s. Nearly 24 million Americans remain unemployed, underemployed, or have just stopped looking for work. Long-term unemployment remains at record levels. I am running for president because I have the vision and experience to help rebuild the economy and put us on a path toward greater prosperity for all Americans.”

The use of the passive voice here — “jobs were created” — is a nice touch. Now, in fairness to Romney, this statement, parsed carefully, could be read as being in sync with position number two: Yes, the economy is recovering, but only in spite of Obama’s policies. But ultimately, Romney’s claim today that “Obama’s policies have prevented a true economic recovery” is inconclusive about the question of whether any kind of recovery is underway. So this reads like a third position.

- more -

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/faced-with-good-news-about-economy-romney-dissolves-into-incoherence/2012/02/03/gIQArXvymQ_blog.html

Romney vs. Romney vs. Reality

By Steve Benen

While accepting Donald Trump's endorsement yesterday, Mitt Romney repeated one of the central arguments of his entire candidacy: &quot President Obama is) frequently telling us that he did not cause the recession, and that's true. But he made it worse."

Part of the problem with the claim is that Mitt Romney strongly disagrees with Mitt Romney. The likely Republican presidential nominee has said, consistently and frequently in recent weeks, that the U.S. economy is improving under President Obama. To be sure, the former governor doesn't believe Obama deserves credit for these developments, but Romney has nevertheless said, over and over again, that the economy is "getting better."

<...>

The more glaring issue is how wrong Romney -- at least yesterday's version -- has the facts wrong.

Here's a chart, for example, showing private-sector job totals by month since the start of the Great Recession, with red columns showing the months when George W. Bush was president and the blue columns showing the Obama era.



And here's a chart showing private-sector job totals by month over the last two decades.

<...>

And here's a chart showing economic growth by quarter since the start of the recession.

<...>

And here's a chart showing the Dow Jones Industrial Average since Obama took office.

<...>

The question reporters might want to pose to Romney is simple; in what universe did Obama make the recession "worse"?

http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/03/10310174-romney-vs-romney-vs-reality

In the second chart in Benen's piece, I wonder how much of the post 2003 job growth can be attributed to ramping up the war machine to illegally invade Iraq?

[Historic NY]

1. In Poor Willard's Almanac....things are suppose to get real bad for the 1%

[LiberalFighter]

4. That is the threat that Romney fears.

If unemployment goes down because there are more jobs then the 1% won't get the money that goes into the pockets of the workers. Workers staying in the USA instead of being downsized and work shipped to other countries under the model that Romney operates runs counter to their plan which requires robbing the companies of their assets.

[Scurrilous]

2. K & R

[Rex]

3. The POTUS IS TO BLAME!?!

No no no...your shitbag PARTY is to blame for blocking everything the POTUS send to help get things rolling! It was the GOP that caused all this economic GARBAGE and put a lot of Americans in the poor house, overnight.

MITT SHUT THE FUCK UP.

YOUR PARTY DID THIS.

:extendmiddlefinger:

[Old and In the Way]

5. That single chart needs to be broadcast and reamplified continuously.

There is no better talking point that conveys as much information simply and concisely as this does. So simple and easy to understand, even a Republican voter can grok it.

[ProSense]

7. Here's the one

from Nancy Pelosi's office:

[cbdo2007]

6. I liked it last week when he said he'd like to "turn the economy around."

Someone should have asked him why he would want to turn around an economy that is already improving and getting better (albeit slowly).

[yardwork]

8. Dissolves? When is he anything but incoherent?

[ProSense]

9. Good point n/t

[lpbk2713]

10. "Yeah but ... but ... but ... um ... (crickets) "