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After omitting Afghan war from speech, Romney compounds problem by lying about it

Mitt Romney was roundly criticized, by conservatives and liberals alike, for his failure to mention the war in Afghanistan during his speech at the Republican

Mitt Romney was roundly criticized, by conservatives and liberals alike, for his failure to mention the war in Afghanistan during his speech at the Republican National Convention. And since then, he's only made things worse.

In response, Romney told Fox News last week that one doesn't run down a "laundry list" when giving a speech. Apparently deciding that wasn't the best tack, Romney tried a new approach on NBC's Meet The Press this past Sunday, telling David Gregory:

"I find it interesting that people are curious about mentioning words in a speech as opposed to policy. And so I went to the American Legion the day before I gave that speech. I went to the American Legion and spoke with our veterans there, and described my policy as it relates to Afghanistan and other foreign policy and our military. I've been to Afghanistan, and the members of our troops know of my commitment to Afghanistan and to the effort that's going on there. I have some differences on policy with the president. I happen to think those are more important than what word I mention in each speech.” 

The only problem? That's not actually true. On Monday night, Rachel Maddow played  the clip of what Romney actually told the American Legion.

Here's what he said on Afghanistan, in its entirety:

Of course, we are still at war in Afghanistan. We still have uniformed men and women in conflict, risking their lives just as you once did. How deeply we appreciate their sacrifice. We salute them. We honor them. We respect and love them.

A specific description of policy? Not quite. As Politico's Josh Gerstein noted, the statement constituted about 16 seconds in a 16-minute speech.

It's getting hard to know how Romney thinks he can get away with this stuff.