I posted earlier about Ken-doll Mitt’s rather dubious claim that he “saw” his father march with Martin Luther King in 1963 and the outrageous spinning that followed when his claim was thoroughly debunked. CC pointed out that Josh Marshall’s Talking Points Memo had reported on new eyewitness testimony, via The Politico, which supported the Ken-doll’s claim and suddenly people were demanding apologies to Republican Ken.
It's looking like Mitt Romney might have been judged too quickly on the Martin Luther King business. Two witnesses have now come forward to The Politico, insisting that they saw the late Gov. George Romney (R-MI) make a surprise appearance alongside King in 1963.
My God, could the Ken-doll have actually been telling the truth? Not so much. Better hang on to those apologies, folks, because David Bernstein at the Phoenix, who originally broke the story, has taken Romney’s supposed vindication and kicked it firmly to the curb.
Then-governor George Romney did indeed march in Grosse Pointe, on Saturday, June 29, 1963, but Martin Luther King Jr. was not there; he was in New Brunswick, New Jersey, addressing the closing session of the annual New Jersey AFL-CIO labor institute at Rutgers University.
Those facts are indisputable, and quite frankly, the campaign must have known the women's story would eventually be debunked -- few people's every daily movement has been as closely tracked and documented as King's. As I write this, I am looking at an article from page E8 of the June 30, 1963 Chicago Tribune, which discusses both events (among other civil-rights actions of the previous day), clearly placing the two men hundreds of miles apart. I also have here the June 30, 1963 San Antonio News, which carries a photo and article about Romney at the Grosse Pointe march; and an AP story about King's speech in New Jersey.
A King researcher editing his letters from that time has stated definitively that the two men never marched together; Michigan and Grosse Pointe historians have stated definitively that King was not at the 1963 Grosse Pointe march; Michigan civil-rights participants of the time have concurred; so have those who worked for George Romney at the time.
And then he really goes to town on the Romney campaign:
Bear in mind that the Romney team has a substantial research team (and vast resources for outsourcing more). Bear in mind that the campaign has compiled vast documentation about the candidate's father, particularly his civil-rights activities, long before the Phoenix posed the question earlier this week. Bear in mind that the campaign has direct access to George Romney's materials and documents, his family members, his friends, his former staff, etc.
Believe me, they know the two men never marched together. This is an attempt to rewrite history. And even if it is a small rewriting, it is offensive.
Get out the popcorn, kids, this is really gonna be fun.
ZOMG!! John Cole from Balloon Juice now has pictorial evidence which totally proves the Ken-doll is telling the truth!!
Dispute that, haters. Go on ... I double dog dare you.
1 comment:
I loved this bit from Hindrocket over at BJ:
If only reporters would dissect statements made by, say, Joe Wilson, John Kerry and Barack Obama with the same microscopic zeal—hostility, really—with which they examine every word uttered by Mitt Romney.
LOL. How many statements by Kerry were relentlessly dissected and then parsed to death under a microscope? These righties are such amnesiacs.
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