John Boehner and Mitt Romney – made for each other

By Richard K. Barry On Wednesday, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) was on CBS This Morning with his anti-Obama speaking points in tow. As Steve Benen at The Maddow Blog [...]

By Richard K. Barry

On Wednesday, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) was on CBS This Morning with his anti-Obama speaking points in tow. As Steve Benen at The Maddow Blog points out, Boehner was factually wrong on several counts.

Here is what Boehner had to say:

This election is going to be a referendum on the president’s economic policies. They’ve not only not helped the economy, they’ve actually made it worse.

When you look at his higher taxes, his refusal to deal with the debt, the regulatory regime here in Washington out of control, they’ve scared every businessperson and investor in America.

Here is Benen’s response:

While Boehner talks about Obama’s “higher taxes,” Obama has actually cut taxes.
While Boehner said Obama has refused to deal with the debt, Obama offered Boehner a $4 trillion debt-reduction plan that Republicans rejected.
While Boehner frets over a “regulatory regime,” Obama has actually created fewer regulations than his Republican predecessor.

And on the idea that Obama has made the economy “worse,” Benen said this:

Look, Boehner is probably a busy guy, but it’s not unreasonable to think he’d take some time to update his talking points from time to time. An economy that was shrinking when Obama took office is now growing, and an economy that was hemorrhaging jobs is now creating jobs. The Speaker thinks the administration has “scared every businessperson and investor in America,” but corporate profits are up and the stock market has soared over the last three years
.
Mitt Romney, the man Boehner has endorsed, has acknowledged several times that the economy has improved since Obama became president, and members of Boehner’s own far-right caucus agree (they want credit for the progress).

Now that Boehner has formally endorsed Romney, it appears he’s also fully on-side with Mitt’s approach to campaigning. Say anything. Ignore the facts. Hope no one notices.

It got Romney the nomination. Let’s hope it doesn’t get him the White House.

(Cross-posted at Lippmann’s Ghost.)