The biggest political liars of 2012 named by Post fact-checkers

Glenn Kessler, The Washington Post’s chief fact-checker, has compiled a list of the most blatant political lies told in 2012. He started with the numerous statements or advertisements that earned his infamous “Four Pinocchios” rating for a total lack of truthfulness.

That review was not a fun experience.

“In many ways, it was depressing reading,” Kessler wrote. “So much of the campaign was fought over trivial or inconsequential issues. For instance, we wrote nearly 20 columns dissecting every possible claim about Mitt Romney’s career at Bain Capital, which came under attack both from his Republican rivals and the Obama campaign.

“Romney left himself open to scrutiny because he incorrectly claimed that he helped create more than 100,000 jobs at Bain -- he mainly created wealth for his investors -- but the attacks often were equally false. A candidate’s experience and background is certainly worthy of debate, but all too often in 2012 it just turned into a game of political gotcha.”

The biggest liars on the Pinocchio list are Romney and President Obama, but Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid is deservedly at the top of the list for his reckless statements about Romney’s tax returns.  The comment judged by Kessler was: Mitt Romney hasn’t paid any taxes for 10 years.

The worst violations of the truth by Obama, his campaign or the Super PAC supporting him were: As a corporate raider, Romney shipped jobs to China and Mexico. As governor, he did the same thing: Outsourcing state jobs to India.

90 percent of the budget deficit is due to George W. Bush’s policies

Mitt Romney closed my plant, I lost my health insurance and short time later my wife died.

As for Romney, here are his verbal misdeeds:

Obama sold Chrysler to Italians who are going to build Jeeps in China.

Let me tell you how I will create 12 million jobs

And, finally, Kessler and his crew did a great service to all political junkies by debunking a common misconception about Ronald Reagan’s attempts at chopping budget deficits during his time in office. Specifically this: Reagan made a deal to cut $1 in taxes for $3 in spending cuts, and the Democrats never made the cuts.

I’ve been hearing that claim for nearly 25 years and never realized how far off the mark it is.