Recovery from Mormonism

by steve benson Nov 2011

Mitt Romney and His Made-up Dreams--the Ones He Tries to Pass Off as Actual Events

Mormon Mitt, invoking his Mormon faith, dramatically and falsely claimed that he had seen his own father, Michigan governor George Romney, march with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Ooooops.

Mitt ended up having to abandon that tale once the actual evidence came out. Mitt's explanation for his fabrication was that his supposed first-hand eyewitness account of that event was actually an exercise in, well, figurative expression.

Romney also falsely claimed that he had himself marched with his own father and King in Detroit.

Ooooops.

Romney was eventually shown to have not been telling the truth on that, either, since the timeline demonstrated he was on knocking on doors on his Mormon mission in France--at the same time he was supposedly marching with King in Detroit.

Let's review the inconvenient details of the historical record on Mormon Mitt's lying for the Lord.
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--Mitt Claims He Saw His Father March with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

In the news story headlined, "Mitt's LDS Roots Run Deep," Romney tells the press:

"I was taught in my home to honor God and love my neighbor. I saw my father march with Martin Luther King. I saw my parents provide compassionate care to others, in personal ways to people nearby, and in just as consequential ways in leading national volunteer movements. I am moved by the Lord's words: 'For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed me . . . '"

("Mitt's LDS Roots Run Deep," by Michael Kranish and Michael Paulson. "Boston Globe," at: http://www.orsonprattbrown.com/Romney/Willard-Mitt-Romney/willard-mitt-r...)

Ooooops.

From an investigative news story headlined, "Mitt Romney Claims That His Father Marched with MLK, but the Record Says Otherwise":

"In the most-watched speech of his political career, speaking on 'Faith in America' at College Station, Texas, . . . Mitt Romney evoked the strongest of all symbolic claims to civil-rights credentials: 'I saw my father march with Martin Luther King.'

"He has repeated the claim several times . . . . But, while the late George W. Romney, a four-term governor of Michigan, can lay claim to a strong record on civil rights, 'The [Boston] Phoenix' can find no evidence that the senior Romney actually marched with King, nor anything in the public record suggesting that he ever claimed to do so.

"Nor did Mitt Romney ever previously claim that this took place, until long after his father passed away in 1995--not even when defending accusations of the Mormon church’s discriminatory past during his 1994 Senate campaign.

"Asked about the specifics of George Romney’s march with MLK, Mitt Romney’s campaign told the Phoenix that it took place in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. That jibes with the description proffered by David S. Broder in a 'Washington Post' column written days after Mitt’s College Station speech.

"Broder, in that column, references a 1967 book he co-authored on the Republican Party, which included a chapter on George Romney. It includes a one-line statement that the senior Romney 'has marched with Martin Luther King through the exclusive Grosse Pointe suburb of Detroit.'

"But that account is incorrect. King never marched in Grosse Pointe, according to the Grosse Pointe Historical Society, and had not appeared in the town at all at the time the Broder book was published. 'I’m quite certain of that,' says Suzy Berschback, curator of the Grosse Pointe Historical Society. . . .

"Berschback also believes that George Romney never appeared at a protest, march, or rally in Grosse Pointe. 'We’re a small town,' she says. 'Governors don’t come here very often, except for fundraisers.'

"In fact, King’s only appearance in Grosse Pointe, according to Berschback, took place after Broder’s book was published.

"That was for a March 14 speech he delivered at Grosse Pointe High School, just three weeks before King was assassinated. But there was no march, and George Romney was not there.

"Security concerns would have made a march impossible, even had one been planned. King was personally driven directly to the high school by the sheriff, as described by accounts at the time.

"This 1968 Grosse Pointe appearance is the one that Romney spokesperson Eric Fehrnstrom initially insisted, in email exchanges with the 'Phoenix,' was the event in question. Fehrnstrom cited the Broder column and 'the Romney family recollection.'

"Of the many contemporaneous and historical records of the Grosse Pointe speech, none make any mention of George Romney’s attendance. It is unlikely, if not implausible, that his presence would have gone unnoticed: not only was he governor of the state, he had just, weeks before, dropped out of the race for President."

("Mitt Romney Claims That His Father Marched with MLK, but the Record Says Otherwise," by David S. Bernstein, "Boston Phoenix," 21 December 2007, at: http://thephoenix.com/boston/news/53200-was-it-all-a-dream/#ixzz1hmrr83lI

Ooooops.

So, Mitt, what exactly was the truth on that supposed sighting of yours?

Eventually, Romney was forced to admit that he had not, in fact, told the truth--meaning, his dad didn't march with King. So, why didn't Mitt's dad march with King? Because Mitt's dad said his Mormon religion wouldn't allow him to march on Sunday.

From a press report headlined, "Romney Fields Questions on King":

"Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has said he watched his father, the late Michigan Gov. George Romney, in a 1960s civil rights march in Michigan with Martin Luther King Jr.

"On Wednesday, Romney's campaign said his recollections of watching his father, an ardent civil rights supporter, march with King were meant to be figurative. 'He was speaking figuratively, not literally,' Eric Fehrnstrom, spokesman for the Romney campaign, said of the candidate. The campaign was responding to questions raised by the 'Free Press' and other media after a Boston publication challenged the accuracy of Mitt Romney's account.

"In a major speech on faith and politics earlier this month in Texas, Mitt Romney said: 'I saw my father march with Martin Luther King.' He made a similar statement Sunday during an appearance on NBC's 'Meet the Press.' He said, 'You can see what I believed and what my family believed by looking at our lives. My dad marched with Martin Luther King. My mom was a tireless crusader for civil rights.'

"Romney's campaign cited various historical articles, as well as a 1967 book written by Stephen Hess and 'Washington Post' political columnist David Broder, as confirmation that George Romney marched with King in Grosse Pointe in 1963. 'He has marched with Martin Luther King through the exclusive Grosse Pointe suburb,' Hess and Broder wrote in 'The Republican Establishment: The Present and Future of the GOP.'

"'Free Press' archives, however, showed no record of King marching in Grosse Pointe in 1963 or of then-Gov. Romney taking part in King's historic march down Woodward Avenue in June of that year. George Romney told the 'Free Press' at the time that he didn't take part because it was on a Sunday and he avoided public appearances on the Sabbath because of his religion. Romney did participate in a civil rights march protesting housing bias in Grosse Pointe just six days after the King march.

"According to the 'Free Press' account, however, King was not there. . . . The 'Boston Phoenix' reported Wednesday it could find no evidence that Romney and King ever marched together. Mitt Romney's older brother, Detroit attorney Scott Romney, said he recalls his father telling him the elder Romney marched with King, possibly in 1963, but he could not remember exactly when the event took place. Fehrnstrom called the Romney brothers' recollection and the historical materials a 'pretty convincing case that George Romney did march with Dr. Martin Luther King and other civil rights leaders in Michigan.' The governor's record was one of supporting civil rights. He helped create the state's first civil rights commission and marched at the head of a protest parade in Detroit days after violence against civil rights marchers in Selma, Ala., in 1965.

"Mitt Romney's campaign planned today to further research George Romney's papers for evidence of his march with King."

("Romney Fields Questions on King," by Todd Spangler, "Free Press," Washington staff, 20 December 2007, at: http://www.wzzm13.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=85276)

Again, asserted Mitt:

"I saw my father march with Martin Luther King."

Ooooops.

Fact check:

"No, they never marched together. They were both in Michigan at the same time once, but Mitt was in France on his [Mormon] mission."

("Mitt Romney's Skeleton Closet," at: http://www.realchange.org/romney.htm)
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--Mitt's Mumble-Mouth Attempts to Straighten Out His Lies by Invoking Visions

When pressed by the press, Romney had nowhere to run.

From a news article headline, "Romney's MLK Comments Questioned: For Mitt Romney, the Devil is in the Details":

"During his recent speech on faith, the former Massachusetts governor told his audience how he had witnessed his father, George Romney, marching with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

"Romney repeated the claim that his father, who was the governor of Michigan from 1963 to 1969, had marched with King on NBC's 'Meet the Press' . . ., growing emotional as he discussed his own reaction when he learned that Mormon leadership had decided to allow black people to participate fully in church rites.

"'I'm not going to distance myself in any way from my faith,' Romney told NBC's Tim Russert. 'But you can see what I believed and what my family believed by looking at, at our lives. My dad marched with Martin Luther King. My mom was a tireless crusader for civil rights.'

"But Romney never did witness his father march with King, as the campaign now acknowledges.

"Romney's presidential campaign says that the elder Romney marched with the civil rights leader, that he told his sons he had, and that written accounts from the time back up the claim.

"'It's a figure of speech,' Romney said this week of the claim he'd witnessed his father and King together, like saying 'You know, I speak in the sense of "I saw my dad become president of American Motors." I wasn't actually there when he became president of American Motors, but I saw him in the figurative sense of he marched with Martin Luther King.' . . .

"'That's what happens in the course of a campaign, when everything you say gets jumped on,' Romney spokesman Kevin Madden said Friday. 'Do you think every word that came out of your mouth this month was completely accurate? Can anyone's speech stand up to that kind of scrutiny?'

"When campaign reporters pressed him on his King claims this week, Romney explained that he 'saw' his father march with the civil rights leader 'in the figurative sense,' but did not literally see the two men walk side by side.

"'The reference of seeing my father lead in civil rights, and seeing my father march with Martin Luther King, is in the sense of this figurative awareness of and recognition of his leadership,' he said. 'I've tried to be as accurate as I can be. If you look at the literature or look at the dictionary, the term 'saw' includes being aware of--n the sense I've described.'

"'I'm an English literature major. When we say, "I saw the Patriots win the World Series," it doesn't necessarily mean you were there,' he said. (The Boston Red Sox won the World Series in 2007. The New England Patriots last won the Super Bowl in 2005).

"The explanation didn't quite satisfy the media. But will it be enough for voters?"

("Romney's MLK Comments Questioned," 27 December 2007, at: http://wrestlingclique.com/general-discussion/53098-romneys-mlk-comments...)
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--Irritating Facts Trump Mitt's Unfaithful Inventions (Including Another Mitt's Whopper That He Personally Marched with King and Mitt's Dad in Detroit)

From an article entitle, "The 'Absurd' Romney/King Flap":

"As we all know, news accounts never die. They remain on long after we are gone. Now it’s come back to bite Mitt Romney . . .

"'Mitt Romney acknowledged yesterday that he never saw his father march with Martin Luther King Jr. as he asserted in a nationally televised speech this month, and historical evidence shows that Michigan’s Governor George Romney and the civil rights leader never did march together.

"'Romney said his father had told him he had marched with King and that he had been using the word 'saw' in a 'figurative sense.'

"'Susan Englander, assistant editor of the Martin Luther King Jr. Papers Project at Stanford University, who is editing the King papers from that era, told the '[Boston] Globe' yesterday: "I researched this question, and indeed it is untrue that George Romney marched with Martin Luther King."

"'She said that when he was governor of Michigan, George Romney issued a proclamation in June 1963 in support of King’s march in Detroit, but declined to attend, saying he did not participate in political events on Sundays. A "New York Times" story from the time confirms Englander’s account.

"'A few days after that march, George Romney joined a civil rights march through the Detroit suburb of Grosse Pointe, but King did not attend, Englander said. A report in the "New York Times" confirms Englander’s account of that second march, mentioning George Romney’s attendance but making no mention of King.'

"'Romney has repeated the story of his father marching with King in some of his most prominent presidential campaign appearances, including the “Tonight” show with Jay Leno in May, his address on faith and politics Dec. 6 in Texas, and on NBC’s “Meet The Press” on Sunday, when he was questioned about the Mormon Church’s ban on full participation by black members. He said that he had cried in his car in 1978 when he heard the ban had ended, and added, "My father marched with Martin Luther King.”

"'Mitt Romney went a step further in a 1978 interview with the "Boston Herald." Talking about the Mormon Church and racial discrimination, he said: “My father and I marched with Martin Luther King Jr. through the streets of Detroit.”

"'Yesterday, Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom acknowledged that was not true. “Mitt Romney did not march with Martin Luther King,” he said in an e-mail statement to the "Globe." . . .

"The simple fact is that he said he and his dad marched with MLK. It didn’t happen. Would you call that a lie or not?

"Some are spinning this for sure. Mark Kilmer:

"'You see, Michigan Governor George Romney issued, in June of 1963, a proclamation of support of MLK and his movement. Later that year, Governor George Romney participated in a civil rights march in Detroit.

"'Dr. King wasn’t there, but perhaps a younger Mitt was.' . . .

"Paul Mirengoff with his own surreal explanation:

"'It seems probable to me that Romney did not mean to say that he literally saw George Romney and Dr. King marching together. In that event, Romney likely would have said that he was with his father when he marched with King, or that he himself marched with King.'

"'Meanwhile, though, Jennifer Rubin . . . reports that Romney told the "Boston Herald" in 1978 that he and his father marched with Dr. King. The campaign admits that Mitt Romney never marched with King.

"'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.'

"Oh sure, there is a statue of limitation now on lying to the press. Wha-wha-what?

"Dan Riehl with a much more sane take on this story:

"'Falsely capitalizing on the image of a slain civil rights leader is simply not a good thing. For a man with a privileged and somewhat pious background, it’s even worse.

"'Maybe Romney can finesse it, maybe he can cop a plea and put it behind him. But pronouncing it as either absurd or ridiculous doesn’t quite cut it for me.'"

("The 'Absurd' Romney/King Flap, posted by "Curt," under "Flopping Aces," 21 December 2007, at: http://floppingaces.net/2007/12/21/the-absurd-romneyking-flap/)
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--Summing Up Mitt Romney's Delusional and Dishonest Dreaming

From an article headlined, "I Saw my Father March with Martin Luther King': Mitt Romney Speech Revisited 4 years Later":

"Mitt Romney’s speech on December 6th, 2007, called 'Faith in America,' has a statement in the 26th paragraph containing the now-controversial statement, 'I saw my Father (the late Michigan governor George Romney) march with Martin Luther King.' Governor Romney made a similar statement on 'Meet the Press,' when he said, 'My dad marched with Martin Luther King.'

"Shortly following the speech, the 'Boston Phoenix' reported it couldn’t find evidence that Romney and King ever marched together. Then the 'Boston Globe' reported Romney said his father had told him he had marched with King and that he had been using the word 'saw' in a 'figurative sense.' 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 effort. . . .

"The question arises, could Romney have been told this tale throughout his childhood to late teen years about his father, a champion of human rights, marching with Martin Luther King, then during schooling reading textbooks that related the event occurred? [Could] [a] psychological process called false memory syndrome . . . have taken effect and Romney developed a memory that he actually saw his father march with Martin Luther King?

"This scenario is completely plausible as this syndrome has been documented following the return of veterans from the combat theater. Some veterans believe they were part of a particular action, when in reality they were injured and being treated in a hospital.

"Children have also fallen victim to this syndrome as a social worker, parent or another authoritative figure, continuously asks questions, providing details, and then asking the child if the events cited is what happened. The child finally indicates the affirmative. Later it is found the so-called victim in the case had been suggested the events and in order to do as the authoritative figure wished agreed that the event was truth. . . .

"Could it be that Romney’s speech writer went back to authoritative citations and added it to the candidate's speech? Romney remembers the events due to False Memory Syndrome and approved the speech for presentation.

"Later, when Romney answered questions presented by the media, he realized the time frames did not match as he was on his 2- year mission at the time of the events cited and became confused having quite a bit of difficulty answering the reporters questions.

"There is the sinister possibility [that] Romney knew he didn’t see the event, thought facts wouldn’t be caught, allowed the content in his speech to relate that his family had been very sensitive to minority and civil rights issues.

"[It is the view of this writer that] Willard Mitt Romney heard this story during his early life. He developed a visual of the events told to him. He later believed based on these memories that he was actually in attendance."

(“I Saw my Father March with Martin Luther King': Mitt Romney Speech Revisited 4 years Later," by Albert N. Milliron, at: http://www.politisite.com/2011/11/05/i-saw-my-father-march-with-martin-l...)
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Ooooops, ooooops, jump through hoooops.

"In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

"Ooooops.

"I meant to figuratively say in the name of that dream, that vision or that whatever it was I had in my campaign office, where I saw this pillar of light directly above my head, brighter than the noonday sun, in which were standing, I mean, in which were marching three personages: Martin Luther King, my dad George and me.

"Yeah, that was it.

"Amen.

"Just don't quote me on it."

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NewNameNeeded
Re: Promoting His Mormon Faith While Lying About the Messy Facts: "I Have a Dream"--Mitt Romney & His Fanciful Visions About Seeing & Marching with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. ...
I have a dream that Mitt Romney will release his tax records showing he's not giving a full 10% or his income, or that IF he is giving a full 10% of his fortune to one single entity that he can't be trusted in the presidency.

Very interesting post. I do see a trend here though:

Mitt Romney: Make up history
Mormon Church: Make up history

Mitt Romney: Change personal history events
Mormon Church: Change church history events

Mitt Romney: Omit key details
Mormon Church: Omit Key details

Mitt Romney: Hide behind demands not to release important information, like tax records.
Mormon Church: Censor critical information, limit access to information.

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munchybotaz
I saw my dad cry with Mitt Romney in Mitt's car in 1978.
No, wait--I was with my dad in *his* car, and no one was crying. Or maybe I was, because I had no civil rights.

Thanks, now I'll probably have another Mitt Romney dream.

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"Recovery from Mormonism - www.exmormon.org"