Mitt Romney, mid-whopper.

Mitt Romney, mid-whopper.

Think Progress counted 27 Romney "myths" in the 38 minutes he used during last night's debate. Number 13 in their list is the big Medicare lie: that Obamacare cuts $716 billion in Medicare that hurts seniors.

He liked that lie so much, he told it 10 times in 38 minutes.



But on Medicare, for current retirees he’s cutting $716 billion from the program. [...] This -- we have 4 million people on Medicare Advantage that will lose Medicare Advantage because of those $716 billion in cuts.

I can’t understand how you can cut Medicare $716 billion for current recipients of Medicare. [...] I want to take that $716 billion you’ve cut and put it back into Medicare. By the way, we can include a prescription program if we need to improve it, but the idea of cutting $716 billion from Medicare to be able to balance the additional cost of “Obamacare” is, in my opinion, a mistake. [...] What I support is no change for current retirees and near-retirees to Medicare and the president supports taking $716 billion out of that program. Second reason, it cuts $716 billion from Medicare to pay for it. I want to put that money back in Medicare for our seniors. We didn’t raise taxes. You’ve raised them by a trillion dollars under “Obamacare.” We didn’t cut Medicare. Of course, we don’t have Medicare, but we didn’t cut Medicare by $716 billion. [...] If the president were to be re-elected, you’re going to see a $716 billion cut to Medicare. [...] I’ll restore that $716 billion to Medicare.

You remember that lie, the one that's been fact-checked into oblivion but Romney won't be shamed into stop telling because it works for them and because they are "not going to let [their] campaign be dictated by fact checkers."

It's still a lie, and the fact-checkers are still calling it out and will be 'til the votes are counted.

There is still the truth here: the cuts to Medicare in the President's plans don't hurt beneficiaries. The cuts will extend the solvency of the Medicare trust fund because they save the program money in the long term. Romney's plan would make Medicare insolvent by 2016, the end of his first presidential term, if he wins. And that does some serious damage to current retirees.

That's the fundamental Mitt Romney: a politician who will tell any lie necessary, as often as necessary, to win.