Another Obama Sleight-of-Hand Lie About Romney

Last week, in Ohio,  President Barack Obama gave a campaign speech in which he attacked Romney's tax restructuring plan.  In it, he basically said that Romney's plan would soak the middle class while giving tax breaks to people "like him", the rich.  Then, he went on to explain that it was not him or "his staff" saying this but, it was based on an independent study that had been done.

Now, the study that Mr. Obama is referring to is one that was produced by the left-of-center and highly partisan Tax Policy Center (TPC) which is a joint project of two left-leaning think-tanks: the Brookings Institute and the Urban Institute.  The report was co-authored by a former Obama senior economist/staffer , Adam Looney,  who sat on his Council of Economic Advisers and who also worked under the President's  Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner; and, by another author, William Gale who was a frequent visitor to the White House over the last three years.

Before going further, I need to make a couple of pertinent points.

The Romney plan is very similar to the plan that was produced by Obama's own debt reduction commission: Simpson-Bowles.  It differs in that the extra revenues being produced by his plan are passed on to "all" taxpayers in the form of lower tax rates; thus, stimulating the economy in much the same way that Reagan did.  It theorizes that a better economy would produce more tax revenues that would help reduce the debt. Romney also has a separate debt reduction plan that would cut spending throughout government. Simpson-Bowles, on the other hand, retains the revenue increases to straight-up reduce the debt.

Secondly,  the Romney plan, at this juncture, is simply an outline with the details to be filled in much later,  and, this is the "door" that the TPC used to provide this highly slanted review of Romney plan.  Because the TPC had no details, they had to make some assumptions of their own, and, if your liberal group and your President are in the process of conducting a class warfare, rich-versus-us campaign, you're going to make a bunch of assumptions that support the Obama campaign.   And, that's exactly what happened.  The best article written about this comes from Jennifer Rubin in a commentary that was published in the Washington Post: Tax plans and tax spin: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/tax-plans-and-tax-spin/2012/08/04/d9fe2346-ddac-11e1-8e43-4a3c4375504a_blog.html

The bottom line is that we have a President who, as usual, is practicing political dishonesty.  I call it "sleight-of-hand" because he's delivering the facts in such a way so as to make you believe that this "report" is all on the up and up.  He says things like "it's not me or my staff saying this", when, if fact, the people writing the report certainly have a dotted-line relationship with him.  He uses the term "independent group" to describe the TPC so that you  might deduce that the group is non-partisan, and, as far as the left leaning media is concerned, they are all siding with the TPC and the President's explanation that Romney will soak the middle class.  Take, for example, this headline editorial from the Tampa Bay Times: 'Romney's tax plan crunches middle class'.

Between lying reports, a lying president, and a media that refuses to "fact check" what Obama says, it seems impossible for Romney to win.

Related reading:

Free Beacon: Obama cites ‘independent, nonpartisan study’ former staffer wrote.. Obama emphasized staff did not put study together: http://freebeacon.com/obama-cites-independent-nonpartisan-study-former-staffer-wrote/

NewsBusters: CNN Promotes Liberal Analysis of Gingrich Tax Plan as 'Non-Partisan: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/matt-hadro/2011/12/13/cnn-promotes-liberal-analysis-gingrich-tax-plan-non-partisan

Tax Policy Center: Paul Ryan’s Budget Plan: More Big Tax Cuts for the Rich: http://taxvox.taxpolicycenter.org/2012/03/23/paul-ryans-budget-plan-more-big-tax-cuts-for-the-rich/


Note: The last two articles just proves how partisan the Tax Policy Center is.  And, that it has a history of doing hit-pieces on conservative tax plans.