But when Romney was asked last week about the accuracy of his contention that Obama worsened the recession, he did not claim to be invoking a truth that trumps mere facts. Instead, he denied making such an assertion. "I didn't say that things are worse," he insisted. "What I said was that the economy hasn't turned around."
The denial makes him look confused and dishonest. A campaign spokesman did Romney no favor by saying (in an e-mail to me) his comment "was in response to part of the reporter's question about the stock market" -- which it obviously wasn't, and which compounded one risible deception with another. Nor did it help when, a few days later, Romney went back to saying Obama "made things worse."
It depends on what the definition of "is" is.