Romney exploits war dead for political gain - Examiner.com

Exploiting U.S. war dead for political gain, GOP presidential nominee former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was told by the mother of a Navy Seal killed in the Sept. 11 Benghazi, Libya terrorist attack to stop using her son's name in vain. Speaking as if he had a relationship with Navy Seal Glen Doherty, Romney talked on the campaign stump about his "chance encounter," meeting randomly at a Christmas party some three years ago. Romney used Doherty's story to blame President Barack Obama for lax security at the Benghazi consulate resulting in the death of 52-year-old Amb. Chris Stevens and three other Americans. Romney and his VP pick Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who debates Vice President Joe Biden Oct. 11 at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, have ripped Obama for a "weak" foreign policy causing today's Mideast unrest, especially the Sept. 10 terrorist attack.

Doherty's mother, Barbara Doherty, asked Mitt to stop talking about her son on the campaign trail. "I don't trust Romney. He shouldn't make my son's death part of his political agenda. It's wrong to use those brave young men, who wanted freedom for all, to degrade Obama," said Barbara. Romney's shameless exploitation of a military family's mishap for political gain exposes the true nature of his campaign. Unable to win on published facts and data, Mitt uses old propaganda techniques to tell his story with relentless repetition. His chief strategist Stuart Stevens is a master of the narrative, where only story telling counts, not the facts. Mitt's claims of Obama's "weak" foreign policy suggest that failing to bomb Syria or other Mideast countries mirrors a lack of American resolve. Former President George W. Bush had much resolve in Iraq but wasted U.S. blood and treasure.

Mitt's drumbeat about the economy insists that no president has a right to run for reelection with an eight percent unemployment rate. Yet once the Labor Department reported Oct. 5 that the nation's 8.1% unemployment rate dropped to 7.8%, Romney completely ignored the event. When the National Assn. of Realtors reported that U.S. existing home sales rose 7.8% from July to August and were 9.3% above 2011, Mitt completely ignored the news. Romney's campaign preaches to the conservative choir that doesn't want to hear about any good news in the economy. He paints Obama as bungling the U.S. economy, requiring a real Wall Street guy, like Mitt, to fix it. When Romney's asked what he'd do differently than Obama he doesn't say exactly how he'd do things differently. Even when pressed on the issue, Mitt only talks of more tax cuts somehow generating 12 million new jobs.

Mitt knows more than most that a robust stock market is the key to generating more corporate jobs. His economic message suggests that the stock market can't grow under Obama. Romney doesn't ever mention what the economy was like at the end of the last Republican administration. His message hangs the entire U.S. economic mess on Barack, despite the colossal meltdown that happened in 2007-08 under Bush. Like most conservative radio pundits, the nation's economic failure was Obama's problem the day he took office. Romney keeps repeating the same economic talking points going back to Reagan that only cutting taxes fixes the economy. What Mitt doesn't mention is that he only pays 14% in taxes, like many other millionaires and billionaires who make use of every possible IRS loophole, including putting his money in offshore tax shelters in the Cayman Islands.

Romney's recent use in campaign speeches of Doherty's death shows the same pattern of looming tall tales about Barack's military failures. Telling military families that the president doesn't support the military isn't consistent with ending the Iraq and Afghan wars to help save American lives. Putting more U.S. troops in harm's way in Afghanistan doesn't help mothers like Barbara Doherty whose son Glen made the ultimate sacrifice for his country. Barack's approach to the military involves making sure that before the Pentagon asks young citizens to die for their country there had better be a good national security reason. Despite ending the Iraq War Dec. 31, 2011 and trying to wind down Afghanistan, Mitt suggested the president was weak for not jumping in to Syria's civil war. Committing U.S. tax dollars and military assets to more foreign wars only weakens U.S. national security.

Exploiting the death of former U.S. Navy Seal Glen Doherty to bash Obama's foreign policy, Romney commits the same egregious propaganda he does with the U.S. economy. Refusing to acknowledge the over 70% rise in the stock market since Obama took office Jan. 20, 2009, Mitt wants to paint a distorted record. His strategists tell him in the last four weeks of the campaign he must paint a bleak economic picture to convince independents to vote for him. He can't give Obama any credit on the economy or any military victory, including the historic mission "Geronimo" to kill Sept. 11 mastermind Osama bin Laden. You know Mitt's heavily buried in propaganda when he can't give Barack any credit for ordering the mission that brought the long arm of American justice to Bin Laden. Using Doherty to bash Barack is the tip of the propaganda iceberg for Romney.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.