The say anything tour continues:

In the heart of Ohio’s coal country, Republican Mitt Romney took a decidedly harsher tone toward President Obama’s energy policies Tuesday, accusing the president of “waging war on coal” and hindering job creation at a time when Americans are struggling. “He talks about how wonderful it is and how we’re adding jobs in the coal industry and producing more coal,” Romney said while flanked by dozens of coal miners in this key battleground state. “How in the world can you go out there and just tell people things that aren’t true?”

I dunno. Are we creating more jobs in the coal industry since Obama was elected? Here are the stats for WV (all links are .pdfs):

In 2008, there were 12,445-14,428 underground coal jobs and between 5316-6312 surface jobs throughout the year.

In 2009, there were 12,687-14,335 underground coal jobs and between 4955-6346 surface jobs throughout the year.

In 2010, there were 13,457-14,734 underground coal jobs and between 4778-5324 surface jobs throughout the year.

In 2011, there were 16,290 underground coal jobs and 6046 surface jobs throughout the year.

I am no math expert, but that sure looks like that looks like there are more coal jobs now than there were a few years ago. If Mitt Romney really wants to know how in the world someone can go out there and just tell people things that aren’t true, the best person to answer that question is Mitt Romney.

And again, if you really want to know who is waging war on coal, it isn’t Obama. It’s the free market and natural gas.