Mitt Romney, repeating welfare lies, says Obama wants to 'shore up his base'

Liar, liar, fake-man-of-the-people jeans on fire. Mitt Romney is continuing his prolonged episode of mendacity so extreme that the media is repeatedly calling him out on it in straight news stories. That is, he's continuing his attack on President Barack Obama for the waivers Obama's administration has proposed granting states on welfare-to-work requirements but has not actually granted yet. Those are the same waivers Romney took advantage of as governor of Massachusetts, not to mention the 2005 letter he signed asking for more waivers. Romney really thinks he's got a winner here, and he's going to push it as far as he can:

"There's no question in my mind that the president's action was calculated to... shore up his base," Romney said, according to an extended quote that USA Today provided to The Huffington Post.

There are not enough people on Temporary Assistance to Needy Families to constitute much of a "base," but Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul clarified that the base in question isn't just welfare recipients but people who recognize that welfare "reform" is broken "liberals." The New York Times explains where the Romney campaign is going with this message:

The Romney campaign is airing an advertisement falsely charging that Mr. Obama has "quietly announced" plans to eliminate work and job training requirements for welfare beneficiaries, a message Mr. Romney's aides said resonates with working-class voters who see government as doing nothing for them.

Basically, it's "look over there, white working-class people! The black president wants to give lazy black people free cash. Because liberals." Delivered, of course, as a cover for the massive theft from the working and middle classes Romney and Paul Ryan want to put into law through tax policy, Medicare, Social Security, education, and health policy.

(For more discussion, see TomP's recommended diary.)