It takes a Brit to tell the truth about Mitt Romney -- he's a serial liar, and therefore not a good Mormon.
In the Clear the Air segment at the end of his afternoon MSNBC show Thursday, Bashir went where the corporate media is scared to go -- calling Romney a liar, and relating his lying to the rather dire proscriptions against lying in Mormon scriptures.
Here's a taste:
It doesn't matter how many times he hears the truth, Mitt Romney prefers to tell lies.
Which brings us to the moral codes of Mormonism that Mr. Romney claims to live by. In Section 63, Verse 17 of the Doctrine and Covenants of the Mormon Church , we find this -- "All liars, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie, and the whoremonger and the sorcerer, shall have their part in that lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death."
More, below.
Bashir notes three Romney lies from Wednesday, among so many over the past year.
1) That Ted Nugent reached out to him to offer his support, when Romney himself called Nugent to seek his (politically worthless) endorsement.
2) That there is "a vast conspiracy set out to undermine his campaign presumably run by some hidden hand in the media, this after he spent the whole day on right-wing radio and Fox News," when "the truth is there's no left wing conspiracy and he knows it."
3) That Obama "promised to keep unemployment" below 8 percent, when "the President never, ever said such a thing. In fact, that figure of 8 percent was a speculative projection written by two analysts who had limited access to data and well before the President was even inaugurated. but much more to the point, it is something that the president has never written nor said."
Bashir called Romney "Mitt the mendacious" for his "hat trick of falsehoods" in just one day, and reminds Romney that the Book of Mormon, the Mormon bible made up by Joseph Smith, also condemns liars:
We find this in the Book of Mormon -- "Woe unto the liar for he shall be thrust down to hell."
Given what the Book of Mormon is clearly saying, Mitt Romney has but two choices. He can continue lying and potentially win the White House but bring eternal damnation upon himself, or he can start telling the truth.
The question for him, I guess, is which is more important?
Bashir did not mention that Mormon proscriptions against lying are not as inflexible as they seem.
The Mormon tradition of "lying for the Lord" -- lying to protect and help grow the church -- goes all the way back to Joseph Smith, who lied about his polygamy for several years and about the provenance of the Book of Mormon.
Nor did he mention the scores of lies Romney has told before Wednesday, about Obama, his primary opponents, his record as Massachusetts governor, trees in Michigan, etc.
But he used the "L" word that too many journalists shy away from, even when it's obvious, and has put the "Mitt the Mendacious" meme out there.
Hopefully, more journalists will report honestly on Romney's habitual lying, and Obama will nail him on a lie or two in the debates.