Mitt Romney 2012: Lying is Not a Welcome Virtue for Presidential Candidates

Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney, in all probability, will lose the electability edge he has over his Republican rivals if he doesn't learn to get his stories right. His latest blunder - getting caught lying by his rivals - is the last thing that should happen to any electable candidate.

Romney was caught contradicting himself on policy issues. He was caught turning 180 degrees in his stands on abortion, employment and other issues over a period of time. Although it should be noted that while consistency is a virtue Americans expect from their presidential candidates, changes can be pardoned to some extent - as opinions and stands could change over time.

Romney, in an NBC/Facebook debate, made a futile attempt to defend the advertisements attacking Newt Gingrich, which were made by a super Political Action Committee (PAC). In the process he ended up contradicting himself.

At the debate, Gingrich criticized Romney for the advertisements. Romney first denied he had seen a particular ad attacking Gingrich, released by a super PAC backing him; seconds later, however, viewers saw him giving a point-by-point description of the advertisement.

There can be only two possible explanations.

It could either be Romney lied when he said he had not seen that particular advertisement or he has some sort of paranormal capability to help him describe that which he has never seen.

The Republicans would probably wish for the latter to be true... not only because it is difficult to vote for a presidential candidate who doesn't mind lying but also because if Romney does have superhuman abilities, he would probably win the race hands-down. Imagine a President who could employ such skills in solving an economic crisis, creating jobs or ending war and terrorism.

Throughout his campaign, Romney has focused on his electability against Barack Obama. In fact, so far he even leads his fellow Republicans in national polls.

However, electability also depends on a person's virtues like honesty, integrity and consistency. If Americans start thinking he is lying now and so he might lie in the future too, then Romney is going to lose his game. With the election scenario heating up, rivals are not going to leave any opportunity to expose his weaknesses and unfortunately he does have many.

If he continues his flip-flop, it may not take long for rivals like Ron Paul - who have a better personal and career record -to overtake him.