Eyewitness photograph from a Balloon Juice reader.
And the “scandal” continues! First, eyewitness reports:
Shirley Basore, 72, says she was sitting in the hairdresser’s chair in wealthy Grosse Pointe, Mich., back in 1963 when a rumpus started and she discovered that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and her governor, George Romney, were marching for civil rights — right past the window.
With the cape still around her neck, Basore went outside and joined the parade.
“They were hand in hand,” recalled Basore, a former high-school English teacher. “They led the march. We all swung our hands, and they held their hands up above everybody else’s.”
But wait! I thought yesterday we learned that it doesn’t really matter if Romney actually marched with King, as Romney told us it all depended on what the meaning of the word “is” is:
“If you look at the literature, if you look at the dictionary, the term ‘saw’ includes being aware of in the sense I’ve described,” Romney told reporters in Iowa. “It’s a figure of speech and very familiar, and it’s very common. And 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 effort.”
I hope that clears things up. Meanwhile, the Powerline is ready to forgive and forget, however they are really mad at someone- the press! Take it away, Deacon:
Even assuming that this 29 year-old report accurately quoted Romney, I would have thought that the statute of limitations period on misrepresenting one’s self to the press in 1978 has expired.
Who knew! There is a statute of limitations for lying to the press! I bet this only applies to Republicans, though (even though they don’t lie, they “misrepresent”). Your turn, Hindrocket:
So it is possible that George Romney never marched “with” King, although he certainly did march in his support. Of course, King participated in a great many marches and demonstrations. Mitt Romney and his brother Scott both remember their father marching “with” King, and there is no reason to assume they are wrong, even if it didn’t happen in June 1963.
But what a petty controversy! If only reporters would dissect statements made by, say, Joe Wilson, John Kerry and Barack Obama with the same microscopic zeal–hostility, really–with which they examine every word uttered by Mitt Romney.
Or Bush or Cheney. Poor Mitt. He just can’t seem to get a fair shake. Times are rough for wealthy unprincipled businessmen with no core beliefs but a whole lot of ambition.
maxbaer (not the original)
Presumably, George Romney was a supporter of civil rights whether he marched with Dr. King or not. That makes him an honorable man. But, he ain’t running for the presidency. Slick Willard is. I’d like to know what Romney fils has done for civil rights, please.
Starscream
I remember how the press never portrayed any Democratic candidate as a serial fibber or exaggerator, particularly in a neck-and-neck presidential race…
The Other Steve
I don’t see what Mitt Romney hopes to gain here. Telling Republican voters your father was a strong supporter of Civil Rights is more likely to lose you votes, than gain them.
myiq2xu
I’m confused. Was Mitt telling the truth or is the all a pack of lies started by the librulfascist media?
Is Hillary to blame for this or is it all Hillary’s fault?
Does this mean Barack HUSSEIN OSAMA is a racist or an Islamofascist?
Exactly what is Gore lying about this time?
Zifnab
No no. Romney said he saw his father march in support of MLK. You have to combine this with the modern Conservative Wisdom that clearly states MLK was a Republican and that Democrats in the 60s were violently opposed to civil rights (and still secretly are).
Then you have to run with modern White House reasoning that stats the civil rights era is over and all black people have been successfully integrated into society, without a single racial concern left in the world.
Then you can start playing the martyr card – why don’t more black people vote Republican when Republicans have been so supportive of the black population?
Rednecks and the anti-white guilt crowd will vote for a candidate like that in droves.
calipygian
Shorter Hindrocket:
But Al Gore-leone invented Teh Internets!
Quoting Hindrocket makes me want to scoop my eyeballs out with a rusty spoon.
myiq2xu
Jeebus it’s quiet in here. Where are all the trolls this morning? Is he still asleep?
Elvis Elvisberg
You’re right, of course, the pro-GOP bloggers you linked to are willing to contort themselves into any position they can find to support The Party. (Wide stances, for example). And that Dems have been victimized by much stupider, or purely imaginary, bullshit.
But this is still stupid bullshit.
Romney really hurt himself when asked about it by lapsing into metaphysics and the etymology of the verb “to see,” but this is still awfully damn close to absolutely nothing.
Jason in MO
Republicans, Please Please Please Make this man your nominee! It just might be enough to get Hillary over the finish line (if we end up with her as the nominee).
Ted
This is indeed tricky for them. You have to integrate the conservative wisdom that, in this context only, LBJ was a conservative Republican.
KCinDC
It’s too bad no one discovered this statute of limitations back in 2004 when John Kerry was being attacked throughout the media and the right-wing blogs (including Power Line) for supposed misstatements in his past.
Hindrocket is correct that this story is petty, and in a sane world no one would be paying attention to it, but let’s not pretend there’s anything unprecedented about it — unless it’s that this sort of thing usually isn’t done to Republicans.
Scott H
Maybe Mitt’s father lied to him, which should come as no surprise to Mitt as his father was a politician also.
(Wow, The Mitt really conquered Time, too!? Well, even if it is Photoshop, it surely represents the figurative reality of history.)
canuckistani
In 1969, I landed on the moon and then had a threesome with Pat Nixon and Jane Fonda at the Watergate Hotel. Then I returned to Canada and singlehandedly invented the Tim Horton’s Sour Cream Glazed doughnut. I defy anyone to prove otherwise.
Notorious P.A.T.
If only reporters would dissect statements made by John Kerry with the same microscopic zeal
What color is the sky on your world, John?
myiq2xu
Red. Because blue is the color of librulfascism.
Krista
You. Are. A. God.
ThymeZone
Wonderful post, John.
My favorite part is where the righties bemoan the “dissection” of Mittney’s remarks.
If we can’t expect the press to act as a faithful distribution conduit for Republican press releases, and government press releases, then surely the Warrenterrah and Defensamairge are lost, and America goes the way of the Romaine Empire.
Lettuce pray.
David Glick
For more proof, go to: http://thepage.time.com/romney-campaign-on-george-romney-and-dr-martin-luther-king-jr/
Keith
Especially the part about misprepresenting onesself to the press having a statute of limitations. Somewhere, John Kerry is going “What the FUCK?!??!!”
Rudi
Mitter was brainwashed by the evil Karl Rove. On the Lou Gordon Show.
Like father, like son, this family flip-floppped while Kerry fought against the Vietnam War.
myiq2xu
Fixed
OxyCon
Does this really help Multiple Choice Mitt?
Everyone knows the majority of Repubs hate Martin Luther King and fought against creating a national holiday in his honor. Repubs usually smear King as being a Commie adulterer.
Incertus (Brian)
Taken on its own, it’s close to nothing, but taken in context with Romney’s entire career, it’s another example of what he seems to have done for decades–make ludicrous claims and expect not to be called on it. I’m sure that doesn’t bother some voters–it doesn’t seem to faze Assrocket much.
myiq2xu
You’ve been brainwashed by librulfascist schoolteachers. The Republicans love them some Martin Luther King! It was DemocRats like Strom Thurmond and Jesse Helms that opposed the Civil Rights movement.
The GOP only opposed making MLK’s birthday a holiday because that would hurt minority owned businesses. They only opposed Affirmative Action and every other program or law intended to help minorities because they wanted to end “the soft bigotry of low expectations.”
The Other Steve
Damn. You are right. I keep forgetting about KKK loving Byrd. Or that Democrat, Strom Thurmond.
Remember, making sure abortion is illegal is just like ending slavery!
Tsulagi
These guys who still get a hard-on for Clinton (the male one) just do not disappoint.
From the family values side we had Haggard with his “I did not snort that meth I bought, nor did I have sex with that gay hooker I paid for.” Now robo-parsing from the “honor and integrity” patriot warrior side in its Multiple Choice Mitt form. Then to complete the package, complete ball licking service from the GOP faithful personified by “Bush is a misunderstood genius” Assrocket. Behold, the Party of Bush in all its glory.
Speaking of the male Bush, in the spirit of Romney, I looked up the definition of “lie.” As an intransitive verb, the very first definition is recline: to stretch out on a surface that is slanted or horizontal. See, Bush hasn’t been lying all these years as you thought, he’s just been kicking back. Romney could confirm.
The Other Steve
Rudi… Speaking of Vietnam.
Old Mitt was born in 1947. Which places him at prime draft age between 1965 and 1974.
Why is there no record of him serving in the military?
Wilfred
Didn’t his father claim that he was brainwashed and didn’t than ruin his own run? Maybe it runs in the family, like hair dye.
madtom
Which Romney? Which reality?
Photoshop now seems to be another accepted tool for Republican redefinitions of simple truths like who was where, when. (Add this to simple redefinitions of torture and habeas corpus and the Bill of Rights)
Compare the Mitt Romney photo online at
http://www.thestranger.com/blog/files/2007/01/Mitt%20Romney%20Photo.jpg
with the smiling, waving Romney in the picture presented as evidence in this item.
This photographer’s eye was first caught by little things like the lighting on Romney’s face compared with that on others, and a bit of difference in the perspective and sharpness, as if the Romney face came through a lens with a different focal length, from a different distance, than those nearby. Romney is the only person smiling and waving directly at the camera, while all other attention focuses more logically within the real scene. Romney is the one in a standard, often-photographed politician pose.
But most telling was how easily Google image search turned up the original – recent – image of Mitt, not George.
Oh well, surely we can believe those who present themselves as eyewitnesses.
They are certain to be at least as reliable as Swiftboat veterans, right?
myiq2xu
Because he went to France instead.
Really.
madtom
Those who might doubt my claim of Republican fakery in the photo should go to http://www.eastman.org/taschen/m198804590003.jpg
and have a good, close look at the original picture of Dr King in that car. See the nice police officer in the spot where Romney’s face was inserted?
Thanks again, Google!
madtom
Okay, so maybe I just missed the joke here with the fake photo, having had my sense of humor blunted by certain recent Republican excesses in their redefinition of the truth. Something about the events of the last ten years has just eroded my willingness to accept these things with the quiet good humor they deserve. Silly me. Sorry.
ThymeZone
Yes, as a missionary to the heathen, in the jungles of deepest Bordeaux.
The Grandest Panjandrum
Like his buddy the Vice Current Occupant Mitt had other priorities. I believe Mitt’s were college and missionary work.
Now that I think about it, doesn’t this refute Mitt’s argument made in his recent speech about “faith” that the country would always come first? His loyalty to America didn’t come first when it was his ass on the line. He was more interested in spreading fairy tales about the Garden of Eden being in Missouri. Or, is this also beyond the statutes of limitation? Interesting.
Redhand
TPM has a new post titled “Witnesses Back Up Mitt Romney On MLK,” citing eyewitness accounts posted on The Politico.
I don’t have a dog in this fight, but TPM’s comment is germaine:
ThymeZone
Well, it is. It’s just outside of Branson.
demimondian
Actually, TPM’s comment seems inapt to me. For better or for worse, Marshall’s people whiffed on this one initially, and would do well, in my opinion, to set a good example by saying “We were wrong, and we apologize.”
The question of why Romney’s campaign was so artless, while interesting, is exactly the kind of ass-covering misdirection I whine about in the more traditional media. It’s true that the campaign’s behavior would make a normal person suspicious…so what?
Pb
Remember, folks, the Republican party ended slavery–in fact, opposition to slavery was one of its founding principles! So take a look at what they stood for, and then tell me, WTF happened…
Pb
Er, yeah. That’s right up there with citizen-journalists on Fox. Any eyewitnesses that knew the governor wasn’t there? Any pictures? Historical accounts?
The Other Steve
While it was fun when I was a kid, I would hardly call Silver Dollar City the garden of eden.
The Other Steve
Incorrect. According to modern southern revisionist history theory, slavery was never an issue in the civil war. So the Republicans couldn’t possibly have ended it.
I think. It’s hard sometimes to keep all of these revisions straight.
demimondian
Sigh.
No, the South has been completely consistent in its TruthSpeak. Ever since the Northern aggressors won, the war has always been about State’s Rights. It was only when it looked like the Confederacy might actually get Britain in on their side that the war was about the continued availability of -Iraqi oil- Southern cotton.
Splitting Image
“Old Mitt was born in 1947. Which places him at prime draft age between 1965 and 1974.
Why is there no record of him serving in the military?”
Because he worked on his dad’s election campaign?
Same thing, you know.
Chuck Butcher
This Mitt-statement is not really very germaine, but the one from the first debate where he said Saddam threw out the inspectors as the reason GWB went to war, and when called on the facts, said it was a matter of context. The context, of course, being a room full of red-blooded Republicans.
c’mon if I said, “I saw what the Vietnam War did to this country,” would anyone expect that meant I visited every place in the US? The guy is a serial liar and position of convenience candidiate, but sometimes there is going too far. Even if you took the ‘saw’ as literal, which statement goes to the point? The one I’ve just brought up is a sledgehammer and you’re wiffing with a flyswatter.
Bruce Moomaw
For those of us old enough to remember what the GOP Right was saying about Martin Luther King when he was actually alive, the insistence of today’s conservatives (at least since the mid-1980s) that they were Enthusiastic Supporters of him all along is nothing short of hilarious. For a REAL indicator of how the GOP Right felt about him (and about black civil rights in general at the time), read W.H. Von Dreele’s little humorous poems in National Review from 1961 up through at least 1978 (at which time he was still comparing King to Father Divine and announcing that the late Earl Earren deserved to go to Hell because he wanted to “INTEGRATE”, to quote V.D.’s own capital letters). Also read the 1971 rave review of Von Dreele’s poetry book — specifically including its attacks on civl rights supporters for viciously abusing poor white Mississippi — by C.H. Symonds (who was a rising young star at NR at the time but seems to have disappeared since then).
As for Mitt, Cole is right — it’s rather remarkable that Mitt apologized for lying BEFORE his defenders found evidence that his father really had marched with MLK (whether Mitt actually saw him or not, and presumably he didn’t). But then, keep in mind that CBS got ambushed by the fake Bush National Guard transcripts in exactly the same way. As the Wash. Post reported at the time, “60 Minutes” agreed to put that story on the air only AFTER Andrew Card personally told them that he had shown the memos to Bush and that he couldn’t disagree with any of the facts listed in the memos. It was only after that event that the Rightbloggers found evidence that the actual physical memos had been forged — presumably by Bill Burkett, embittered by the fact that (as he had said earlier) he had seen memos at National Guard headquarters with exactly that content in them before the Guard commanders ordered them destroyed. He then tried to use forged memos to force Bush to reveal the truth, and he almost succeeded.
tBone
Typical liberal revisionism. The true story can be found in National Treasure: Book of Secrets.
Fun movie, btw. Even more wildly implausible than its predecessor, but if you liked the first one, you should enjoy this one too. And there was one scene that made me have terribly inappropriate thoughts about Helen Mirren, so it’s got that going for it as well.
Sadly, the movie didn’t touch on the web of liberafascist lies surrounding the elder Romney’s dealings with MLK. Maybe in the next one.
Bruce Moomaw
As for Chuck Butcher, he might have a point if Mitt hadn’t also gotten caught lying unambiguously in 1978.
And as for Powerline’s moanings about “petty controversies” supposedly only embraced by the Left: be still, my heart. Remember how they examined all Kerry’s statements with a microscope, including his confusion as to exactly WHEN he had illegally been sent into Cambodia (in which, as Virginia Postrel said, his own account includes virtual proof that he honestly got his memories of Christmas 1968 and Tet 1969 mixed up)? Both sides’ legions of bloggers and fact-checkers now go through every candidate’s statements as armies of amateur (and biased) Sherlock Holmeses, and so it will continue to be for as long as there’s politics. But then, biased political propaganda of Hinderaker’s type has also always been, and will always be, a routine feature of human politics.
justme
Mittens seems to have claimed that he hizzownself made such a march, and then admitted the wups.
DougJ
I still think he may be the least frightening of the Republican candidates. And these white lies pale in comparison with Giuliani’s big lies about health care.
aghast
Madtom,
You’re right that Mitt’s face was obviously photoshopped into the picture, but I don’t think it was necessarily obvious to everyone — IMO there were plenty of people who accepted the photograph as truth and didn’t get the joke at all.
Incertus (Brian)
That may be the epitome of the phrase “damning with faint praise.”
ThymeZone
That’s a four footer.
(Distance covered by spit coffee).
Thanks.
The Grandest Panjandrum
Any place with Yakov Smirnoff as a featured show has surely got to be a little piece of heaven. But, without an Osmond Family Reunion Show it isn’t quite ready for being proclaimed the Garden of Eden.
Rick Taylor
Chuck Butcher wrote:
In a sane society,this would have sparked a lot more controversy than Mitt’s statement about Martin Luther King. I hadn’t heard he’d been called on it or given an excuse though. Interesting.
jcricket
In Soviet Russia the candidates vote on the citizens.
Or something like that.
jcricket
Yeah, the bloggers who would be “Kings of Kerning” moaning about petty controversies is pretty rich. In fact, anyone on the right, whose main strategy right now seems to be faux outrage over made-up non-stories, should STFU when it comes to any minor criticism of their candidates.
But we know that won’t happen, because (everybody now) IOKIYAR.
Just like the filibuster. When Dems do it, it’s undemocratic and treasonous. But when Republicans do it, it’s protecting this great nation from the tyranny of the liberal-o-fascists.
Breschau
Oh, some of us had that going on a long time ago
myiq2xu
Now them there twin peaks is some national treasures.
Pug
TPM has a new post titled “Witnesses Back Up Mitt Romney On MLK
I believe said eyewitnesses have already been debunked. On the day King marched in the toney suburb of Grosse Pointe, Romney the Elder gave a speech to a labor group at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
These events shouldn’t be hard to prove as the calenders of both King and Governer Romney should be available. Where these guys were and when is pretty well documented.
Psycheout
Those nice ladies who said they saw Romney and MLK marching together… well, they were mistaken. And the campaign knew it, but steered them to the Politico anyway.
This is really annoying because all the MittBot comments I’ve been reading elsewhere have been crowing about how this obfuscation had been soundly debunked.
Whether it’s “Say Anything” or “Say Nothing,” it doesn’t matter to Mitt as long as he is able to sneak his way into power. It makes me ill.
tBone
I didn’t know she was in Excalibur – I’ve never seen it. For some reason my parents didn’t think it was appropriate for an elementary school student.
A 27-years-younger Helen Mirren, eh? Oh, Netflix . . .
Redhand
What a whore. I agree this takes “say anything” to a whole new level.
myiq2xu
Even whores have higher ethical standards than Zelig Romney.
Psycheout
Zelig. Great reference, myiq.
Mitt certainly blends into whatever environment he finds himself in. Much like the Zelig character, he has no core values or personality of his own.
Do the Chameleon!
Krista
Bless that woman for making 62 look soooo sexy.
demimondian
Um, Psicko? Can we stop for a moment and discuss a contemporaneous item in the _Detroit Free Press_ discussing Gov. Romney “a surprise arrival and marching in the front row”? That’s a pretty compelling claim.
Of course, next thing I’ll be hearing from you is that since your local library doesn’t have those papers any more, it can’t be true either. I wonder if you even know how to operate a microfiche reader…
Matthew B.
Sure, Gov. Romney marched — he just didn’t march with King. And nowhere does the Detroit Free Press story claim that he did.
Darkness
Sure, Romney Sr. marched with King in the sense that he marched (which I’ll give him some credit for, especially given what his religion’s official position said about Blacks before realizing that position was in the way of world domination) around the same time King was marching. Fine. I’ll buy that. And John Kerry was a war hero. Take ’em both. Or take neither of them. Believe always the worst about everyone’s old stories, or always the best; picking and choosing when to do each is pure hypocrisy.
Psycheout
Silly demi. You really don’t get the point, do you? It must have sailed over your pointy little head.
George Romney was a good principled man. Too bad his son isn’t. Trying to score points by trying to blur the line between himself, his daddy and MLK is the issue. That and Mittens’ continual lying and self-aggrandizing serial exaggeration.
The issue isn’t George Romney. It’s Mitt and his words. The Romney campaign tried to run away with the goalposts, and they cheerfully allowed false information that they knew to be bogus to get into the public record.
Of course, if you want to make this about what newspapers my local library has on hand, be my guest.
myiq2xu
We ain’t got no liberry since the book burned down.
demimondian
Out the in christotopia, I would assume that your library has no newspapers. It only needs one book, since all truth is found there, right?