The New York Times seems quite impressed with the latest attack ad from Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS, which is poised to blanket the airwaves in swing states. The Times calls it "deeply researched," "delicately worded," and "low key."
The paper neglected to mention another phrase: misleading to an offensive degree.
Jamelle Bouie had a good take on this:
As befitting a Karl Rove outfit, the claims in the ad are either misleading, or outright falsehoods. Citing a Reuters story from 2009 on conservative efforts to sink the bill, Crossroads GPS insinuates that the stimulus was a failure, despite wide consensus that the bill kept United States out of a depression, and significantly improved prospects for recovery.
The ad continues in this vein, blaming high insurance premiums on the Affordable Care Act — when the cited article says otherwise — and blaming Obama for the increase in debt, despite the fact that under his administration, government spending has risen at a slower pace than any time in the last 60 years.
Indeed, the great irony of the ad is that it's Karl Rove attacking Obama for the fiscal policies the president inherited from Rove's old boss.
The Times write-up focuses on the ad's efficacy, and I suppose it's possible uninformed voters who are easily swayed by nonsense, policy gibberish, and outright falsehoods will find it compelling.
But perhaps now would be a good time to note that efficacy and honesty aren't the same thing, and the latter matters more than the former.
The Crossroads attack ad is as cynical as politics can get, working from the assumption that voters are fools.
It talks about bailouts, assuming voters won't know it was Bush/Cheney that rescued Wall Street before Obama took office.
It talks about debt, assuming voters don't know Mitt Romney's agenda would raise the debt far more than Obama's agenda would.
It talks about student loans, assuming voters don't know that Obama expanded Pell Grants and Romney wants to scrap student loans altogether.
It talks about "job-killing debt," which as a policy matter, is just idiocy.
It lies about the stimulus; it lies about spending; it lies about health care.
If Obama were such a terrible failure, shouldn't his Republican critics rely on truths for their attack ads? Why make stuff up if the facts are supposed to be so damning?
As for the indifference to Crossroads' dishonesty, the political world has become inured to the constant lying, and it's not a healthy development. As Bouie concluded, "It's not hard to find an independent evaluation of each claim, and yet, it's rare that news outlets challenge the Romney campaign -- or Republicans in general -- on any of it. The GOP is running the most mendacious presidential campaign in recent memory, and the collective response has been a shrug."
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The media, as a whole, will never call Republicans out for their lies because they've have the line 'both sides do it' beaten into them so thoroughly that they really believe it. Romney could murder his wife on stage during the Republican national convention later this year, and the media would collectively just shrug and say, 'Oh, well. Both sides do it. Obama did the same thing in '08 when he got the nomination.'
Does anyone else think that is one of the creepiest morphs ever? It looks like they transformed the woman in the ad into a vampire or a zombie.
Men on fire… HA!
I have a question for Conservative voters. Do you care that Karl Rove is lying to you… AGAIN? Conservative men are always bragging about toughness but they let Karl Rove treat them like they’re stupid fools over and over. Rove has been lying to the Conservatives for over a decade now but the COWARDS refuse to call him on it. It’s actually the most pitiful pathetic thing I’ve ever been witness to.
Karl Rove and his super PAC Crossroads/GPS has come out with an anti-Obama/Biden ad that is so deep with BS I don’t know how he gets away with it. Either Conservative voters are getting some really bad information or you people really are the biggest suckers in the history of mankind.
That goes double for the news media. Oh Lord, I wonder if there is ONE Conservative news person who will come out and do a rundown of the lies in the Crossroads political ad? Will one newsman hold Rove accountable? We’ll be watching spoact.blogspot.com
Maybe Cory does not understand what a Private Equity firm is
or what it does. I heard a clip from another show that indicated that Cory
thought Private Equity firms like Bain Capital were being unfairly targeted. I
would like to see Rachel Maddow have Robert Reich on the show and have him
explain what Private Equity firms are. Robert Reich has a YouTube recording
explaining what Private Equity firms are and what they do. By just leaving Cory’s
“clarification” from May 21, as the last word on this topic, Progressives may
not understand how toxic Private Equity Firms are to Main Street. Wall Street always
wants to talk about the sub-Prime mortgages as toxic assets. Private Equity
Firms are toxic to our economy and to our personal lives. I do not know if Cory
has sold out. I don’t think that is the important point. I just think we need
to talk about how Private Equity firms are crippling our nation.
Thought I'd post the link to the Reich video.
How Did Mitt Romney Get So Obscenely Rich? Robert Reich
Rove cant just be honest,because the establishment republicans are pushing Romney, who is as bad as Obama, and both support nasty legislation, such as NDAA, HR347, NDRP, etc.
Anyone who votes for either Obama, or Romney, has been played by the establishment into continuing the policies that are ruining our great country. There is no contrast between Obama and Romney. What about that other candidate, that has actually confronted the "real" problems that are making the US a crappy place to live?
The ad is good at doing what it's supposed to do: reinforcing the GOP's narrative & trying to persuade right-leaning uncommitted voters to support Romney.
One sentence spoken several years back by a Cheney aide is all you need in order to comprehend exactly how the Republicans view facts, statistics & history:
"We create our own reality."
Now Obama will get a taste of the Romney camp. All they do is lie and cheat. They have been cheating Paul since last year. If it were up to the actual republican voters, Paul would be the nominee, but the establishment republicans are shoving the Romneycon at us. Beware of the establishment republicans dirty tricks. They will probably be the downfall of the GOP.