On this Martin Luther King Day it’s worth remembering one of Mitt Romney’s biggest whoppers of all time.
Romney is famous – infamous – for his flip flops and tortured attempts to work his way out of gaffes. But the one incident that really left him tongue-tied in the last presidential campaign was a remark he made about Martin Luther King.
In a speech in December 2007, Romney claimed: “I saw my father (former Michigan governor George Romney) march with Martin Luther King.” This transparent attempt to win a slice of the black vote quickly went haywire. The candidate (who was a teenager in the days of MLK’s marches) altered the claim during an appearance on Meet The Press: “My dad marched with Martin Luther King.”
Unfortunately for the candidate, neither statement was true. Apparently, Romney realized that he had stuck his foot in his mouth and was looking for a way out.
Too late. The Boston Phoenix, a weekly newspaper, reported it could find no evidence that George Romney and King ever marched together.
George Romney
According to politisite.com, The Boston Globe then reported Romney had offered this explanation: His father had told him he had marched with King. And the candidate had been using the word “saw” in a “figurative sense”.
Huh?
Romney later told reporters while campaigning in Iowa,” It’s a figure of speech and very familiar, and it’s very common. I saw my dad march with Martin Luther King. I did not see it with my own eyes, but I saw him in the sense of being aware of his participation in that great (civil rights) effort.”
After that bit of nonsense, the Internet and cable news channels were filled with correlations between Romney’s definition of “saw,” and former President Clinton’s question about what “is” is.
I’m kind of amazed that Romney’s lie about such an important topic has never resurfaced in the current campaign. But … the day is young.
Did you cover this Chad??
When speaking before a black audience, Obama made the statement that his mother and father met while participating in the Selma, Alabama civil rights march in 1965, I presume in order to give him credibility as being “one” of them. He stated that he was born as a result of his parents hooking up at this march. Only trouble is, Obama was born more than 3 years before the Selma March. That was a big “whopper”.
I have been interested in politics dating back to the Kennedy/Nixon contest in 1960. I was 9 years old, selling newspapers on the main st of San Bruno, CA. I was thrilled with the 'action' and completely won over by JFK. I recall many of the claims and counter-claims, and maintained an interest ever since. So now for over 50 years, I can say I have NEVER heard so many lies, "nuances" as I have made by Mitt Romney and the other 2 of 3 republicans candidates. Things like "the economy is worse", "we're less safe viz a vie Iran", "we're weaker militarily", Obama has "abandoned America", much like Capt Schettino of the Costa Concordia, etc. etc. To admit that Romney had to over compensate for his father, is only reasonable. However given his track record, Romney seems to have been given the advice of "when caught, deny, deny, deny"! Will Romney ever be president? Never Never Never!