Mitt Romney’s 5 Biggest Lies During the First Half of the Town Hall Debate

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Last updated on February 8th, 2013 at 01:43 pm

The lies are rolling off Mitt Romney’s tongue at a rapid pace during the second presidential debate, but here are his 5 biggest of the first half of the debate.

1). Romney claims fewer people are working today than when Obama took office.

The Truth: From CBS News, “The job market has been improving, sluggishly but steadily. Jobs have been added for 24 straight months. There are now 325,000 more than when Obama took office.”

2). Romney said Obama took Detroit to bankruptcy.

The Truth: Romney was fudging the facts. According to The Washington Post, “Ultimately, along with getting nearly $80 billion in loans and other assistance from the Bush and Obama administrations, GM and Chrysler did go through a managed bankruptcy. But many independent analysts have concluded that taking the approach recommended by Romney would not have worked in 2008, simply because the credit markets were so frozen that a bankruptcy was not a viable option at the time.”

3). Romney claimed oil permits are down under Obama.

The Truth: The real story is quite what Romney was telling voters. According to CNN, “But it is an overstatement to say that “all of the increase” has been on private lands — since, by definition, new permits and licenses have been granted for federal lands (bringing in more gas and oil). Romney’s claim that Obama’s administration has “cut the number of permits and licenses in half” for federal lands is also not on the mark.True, there has been a significant drop — one tied, in part, to the unprecedented Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Yet the actual numbers of permits and licenses haven’t been “cut … in half.” As mentioned above (and including data from part of the Bush administration), there has been a 42% decrease in leases and 37% decrease in drilling permits — not 50%, as Romney implied. Even the Institute for Energy Research acknowledged that “this decrease isn’t a result of President Obama’s policies exclusively, but it is the result of decades and policies that have systematically reduced energy production on federal lands.”

4). Romney said Obama will raise taxes by $4,000 on the middle class.

The Truth: According to FactCheck.org, the Romney claim of a $4,000 tax hike on the middle class is nonsense, “Mitt Romney falsely claims in a series of TV ads that President Obama “will raise taxes on the middle class by $4,000.” That’s nonsense. The ads cite a conservative group’s study, but even the group itself doesn’t say Obama will raise taxes on middle-income taxpayers. It says his budget could result in a “potentially higher tax burden” over the next 10 years.”

5). Mitt Romney claimed his tax plan cuts taxes for the middle class and not the wealthy.

The Truth: According to Reuters, “Republican U.S. presidential challenger Mitt Romney’s proposal to slash income taxes by 20 percent across the board would boost income for the wealthiest taxpayers while reducing it for the middle class, according to a nonpartisan analysis released on Wednesday. The report by the centrist Tax Policy Center found that Romney’s tax cuts would boost after-tax income by an average of 4.1 percent for those earning more than $1 million a year, while reducing by an average of 1.2 percent the after-tax income of individuals earning less than $200,000.”

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

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Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association

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