The Media Have Helped Romney Get Away with Lying

Mitt Romney's success, to this point, is living proof that the media fail to cover presidential campaigns adequately anymore.
Romney has been telling enormous lies - "whoppers" - right in nationally televised debates, and, the media have, largely failed to identify them and put them in the context they deserve.  I'll cite a most recent example:  In the last presidential debate on foreign policy, Romney criticized President Obama
for going on "an apology tour" to different countries early in his presidency.  It was a line Romney used frequently during the Republican primaries.  It was a lie.  Obama never went on a trip "apologizing" to countries.  (He made a speech or two when he acknowledged the United States, in the past, had made some mistakes).  So, the day after this Oct. 22nd debate, did the media play up Romney's repeating a lie he had used all year?  No.  It got mentioned briefly on a few TV talk shows, but the point is Romney has never really been held accountable for characterizing the President's actions in a completely false way.  Of course, Romney has made numerous false statements in just the past few weeks. I could write 15 blogs about that topic alone, but, right now I want to focus on just one aspect of this that has been overlooked:  Romney is the perfect candidate for today's media covering the election.
Why?  Today's entertainment-driven news media pay less and less attention to seeking and identifying the truth than at any time in our history. 
So, there is a convergence of two forces: 
1) Romney does more lying, distorting, omitting, misleading than any past presidential nominee.  In fact, he lies and misleads on the run because he also has changed his positions more than any candidate in history AND his has also changed his entire political persona more than any past nominees.  Romney is a chameleon.  His aide warned us that the Romney campaign could "Etch-a-Sketch" themes for his general election campaign and that's exactly what has happened.  It was even more jarring to see Romney do that "Etch-a-Sketch" all in one night - during the first debate.  Romney transformed himself, like a butterfly, from a right-winger into a "reasonable centrist" before our very eyes. 
2)  The news media, going back to the 1970s, has become worse and worse about reporting on the substance of presidential campaigns.  Covering "the horserace" on a 24-hour basis became the dominant goal and this left less time for truth-telling.  I recall my frustration in 1980 when President Reagan's little quip about "not holding the youth of his opponent (Walter Mondale) against him" immediately prompted political reporters to declare that election over because Reagan has somehow overcome the damage of the first debate when he performed very poorly against Mondale, who did very well.  Every four years, we've seen evidence that the media cares more about entertainment and sound bites more than telling us who's telling truth.  Look at Sarah Palin four years ago.  She demonstrated she was poorly equipped to even be a vice-presidential candidate, but, the press didn't hold her accountable for reckless anti-Obama remarks she made in the general election campaign.  I could give 100 example of how superficial the coverage has become, but I don't think people will argue.  Maybe that's part of the problem:  The public doesn't even seem to care anymore.
You can bet that the Romney campaign has noticed the press and public doesn't seem to care if Romney switches his positions in the same week or tells incredible lies. 

If Romney wins, and he implements huge tax cuts - including for the wealthiest Americans - that he can't pay for - just as President Obama tried to point out repeatedly in the first debate - I think I will partly blame the media for that.  I recall that the media, after that first debate was so busy talking about "Romney's Big Win" that they forgot to identify the big lies about his tax cut that he relied on to get that "Win"  It wasn't a "Win" in my book.

Romney has shown he has no core.  It's not clear what he believes in because he's lied and reversed himself so many times.  And everyone, including the media, seems to accept this.

That's how bad things have gotten.