Weekly Update from the Obama Truth Team:Do you want a Doer or a FlimFlam man?

Mitt-Romney (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Jim -- If you're running for president and you have a chance to talk to voters about your plans for the country, you have a couple options. One is to explain your positions on issues, and how you'll help fight for an America where everyone has a fair shot. That's what the President did last week, and it is what the Vice President will do this Thursday when he debates Rep. Paul Ryan. Or, in the event that you know your plans would actually hurt the middle class, you can just refuse to tell the truth about what your actual positions are. That's the path Mitt Romney chose in last week's debate, and that's what we expect from Paul Ryan this week. Over the course of this election, we've seen that both Romney and Ryan avoid telling the truth about their plans and how they'd actually affect the middle class. It doesn't matter if they're talking about taxes, health care, Medicare, education, or clean energy -- the Romney-Ryan status quo is to misrepresent their positions and their practical effects. If we can't trust them to be honest with voters now, how could we trust them in the White House? We put together some content this week that holds Romney accountable for his distortions, so take a look and share with others so they know the truth about his positions. #1 Romney's debate dishonesty On issue after issue, Mitt Romney was dishonest during Wednesday's debate. The one that really struck me was his misleading claim that his health care plan would mean people with pre-existing conditions will still be covered. That's just not true, as even his own campaign had to admit. Here's a series of short videos that fact-check Romney on each issue -- check them out and share with others: #2 $5 trillion Romney has proposed a tax plan that promises $5 trillion in tax cuts weighted towards the wealthy -- which can only be paid for by raising taxes on middle-class families with kids by more than $2,000. During the first debate, he tried to walk away from his plan by making the impossible promise that it would neither add to the deficit nor raise taxes on the middle class. Unsurprisingly, he failed to offer any details on how he'd accomplish this. Take a look at this graphic about Romney's bad tax math, and be sure to share with others: #3 "Completely wrong" When a video of Romney giving a speech at a closed-door $50,000-a-plate fundraiser surfaced, Romney stood by his remarks, including the one about how 47 percent of Americans are "victims" who don't "take responsibility for their lives." He said that it was a message "I'm going to carry and continue to carry." Now, weeks later, he's changed his tune, and has said his comments were "completely wrong." One wonders if he would have come to the same conclusion had recent polling not shown that his remarks were incredibly unpopular with voters. Watch this video that tracks Romney's evolution on his 47 percent comments, and pass it along: #4 Big Bird or Big Oil? One of the few specific policy proposals that Romney offered at the debate was to fire Big Bird to cut the deficit. You couldn't make this stuff up. Time and time again, Mitt Romney has backed maintaining billions in subsidies to Big Oil, but now he wants to fire Big Bird? Take a look at President Obama's response and then share it with your friends. Stay tuned for more facts from us this week as the vice presidential debate approaches -- don't let Paul Ryan get away with the same distortions Mitt Romney peddled last week. Thanks for all your help, Stephanie P.S. -- Yesterday, it was announced that 1.8 million people chipped in to this organization in the month of September -- a staggering number. Help keep that momentum going, chip in $4 or more today.