Mitt Romney's presidential campaign has presented the political world with an important test. I'm eager to see whether we pass or fail.
First, a little background. Some Republican governors this year asked the Obama administration for some new flexibility on welfare standards -- the governors had some ideas about moving folks from welfare to work and needed the White House to sign off. Obama agreed -- existing work requirements would stay in place, but states, if they want to, can take advantage of new flexibility when it comes to experimenting with existing law.
This is the sort of shifting-power-to-the-states policy that Republicans are supposed to love. As of this morning, however, it's the basis for a new Mitt Romney attack ad.
It's important to realize this is as dishonest an ad as you'll ever see -- in 2012 or in any other campaign cycle.
For those who can't watch clips online, the ad shows President Clinton signing welfare reform into law in 1996, "requiring work for welfare." The spot then argues, however, that President Obama "quietly announced a plan to gut welfare reform by dropping work requirements." The voiceover tells viewers, "Under Obama's plan, you wouldn't have to work and wouldn't have to train for a job. They just send you your welfare check.... and welfare to work goes back to being plain old welfare."
We then learn, "Mitt Romney will restore the work requirement because it works."
Romney's lying. He's not spinning the truth to his advantage; he's not hiding in a gray area between fact and fiction; he's just lying. The law hasn't been "gutted"; the work requirement hasn't been "dropped." Stations that air this ad are disseminating an obvious, demonstrable lie.
All Obama did is agree to Republican governors' request for flexibility. That's it. Indeed, perhaps the most jaw-dropping aspect of this is that Romney himself, during his one gubernatorial term, asked for the same kind of flexibility on welfare law that Obama agreed to last month. Romney, in other words, is attacking the president for doing what Romney asked the executive branch to do in 2005.
The entire line of attack is simply insane.
And that brings us back to the test for the political world.
How are we to respond to a campaign that deliberately deceives the public without shame? This lie about welfare policy comes on the heels of Romney's lie about voting rights in Ohio, which came on the heels of Romney's lies about the economy; which came on the heels of Romney's lies about health care; which came on the heels of Romney's lies about taxes.
The Republican nominee for president is working under the assumption that he can make transparently false claims, in writing and in campaign advertising, with impunity. Romney is convinced that there are no consequences for breathtaking dishonesty.
The test, then, comes down to a simple question: is he right?
The cynical response to an ad like this is that the lies are routine -- it's just something "everybody" in politics does. That's wrong. An ad this dishonest is a genuine scandal and it's time for political observers treat it as such. Reporters within earshot of the candidate shouldn't ask, "What about the gaffes?" They should ask, "Why are you lying about welfare policy?"
Also note the larger context: if Obama were as awful a president as Romney claims, the Republican attack machine wouldn't have to make stuff up -- the truth would be so brutal that voters would recoil and flock to the GOP candidate naturally. What does it say about Romney's strength as a candidate that he has to make up garbage and hope voters don't know the difference?
Postscript: I'd be remiss if I neglected to mention the racial subtext of an attack ad like this one. For decades, Republicans used "welfare" as part of a racially-charged message ("Democrats want to give white people's money to lazy black people who'll get checks for sitting around"). I can't speak to Romney's motivations -- I'm not a mind-reader -- but the language in the ad harkens back to the kind of ugly and racially divisive rhetoric we heard from GOP candidates for far too long.
It's quite likely Team Romney would prefer to spend the next several days debating whether or not his new attack ad is racist -- it'd beat talking about his secret tax returns -- but that's not much of an excuse.
Indeed, it's what arguably makes this ad, not just painfully dishonest, but also disgusting. If Romney has any shame left, now would be a good time for him to take a long look in the mirror and come to terms with what he's become.
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"If Romney has any shame left . . ."
Ha! That's hilarious.
It seems like the Canadians have the right idea. They have laws that forbid lying in the media. Unfortunatly we have no such laws. Is there a way to play off of that so that people might somehow realize that not all media sorces tell the truth. Play on the fact that fox news is banned in Canada.
It is disgusting, absolutely disgusting that a campaign would stoop so low to blantantly put forth one lie after another. Reminds me of the story of "The Boy that Cried Wolf" I believe that the moral of that story is if you arrogantly making false statements eventually others will ignore you, when you really need help everyone will ignore you because you have shown that your word is not worth a dime.
But ONLY if they realize your statements are false.
They have to stop pulling the wool over their own eyes, first.
..it is not just the COM that think americans are stupid; its the rest of the bloody world too!
George and Lenore Romney, Mittens' mom and dad, must be rolling over in their graves. Both of them ran for office and never stooped to this kind of low life ad. But the base will eat it up and anything the Democrats say about the lies will be rebuffed. The press is about the only group who can call him out on this and they don't seem to want to do that.
Part of what makes democracy works is having a free, accurate press and yet these days it seems that the coverage, as some of the other comments have mentioned, is lukewarm. There appears to be an attempt at even-handedness but it's superficial. You can also see this with issues like global warming, where they'll also make space for comments from the anti-global warming scientists, even though they comprise only a very small percentage of the scientific community. With politics, if a lot of bills get filibustered, the mainstream press holds off from saying Republicans blocked the bills and instead blame it on the whole congress. It's true that Republicans are part of congress, but responsibility gets obscured. Even with the segment here on "Worst. Congress. Ever", no one leads off that top some experts have named the Republicans as the major culprit, because that sounds too partisan.
And then with either liberal and conservative networks (especially Fox), you realize that it's very easy for people of either side to go through each day without having much to challenge their views that the other side is hypocritical and corrupt. It's why, I do appreciate it when Rachel's show makes the effort for corrections or comments on Senator Reid's more extreme attacks on Romney.
Sometimes I wonder if it is just that most press coverage is just not that deep. Take the case where this blog pointed out that NPR was not adequately mentioning the clear biases of the supposedly average "business" people being quoted. Are journalists mostly relying on what is being spoon fed or simply regurgitating campaign rhetoric, in the rush to get the story out, without fact-checking the claims.
And even if details come out, sometimes it's such a trickle, that the scope of issue gets lost. For example the efforts that Romney will go to, to avoid paying taxes: offshore accounts, negotiating with the city of San Diego, (I think dressage is listed as a deduction)... It's starting to add up, but would anyone put together a report that gives a comprehensive look. Or even the extent to which Romney/Republicans push for disclosure, but give so little themselves. Here we're trying to get more than one year's tax returns from Romney, which even Republicans call for, but Republicans at the same time push for Obama's birth certificate, both Michelle's and Barak's law school transcripts... there's a double standard, but the press doesn't highlight this.
If the press doesn't report much on campaign deception or address the widespread, inaccurate misperceptions, then we're losing a cornerstone of our democracy. We may have already lost it (I'm somewhat idealistic). Yes, the airwaves are being flooded with negative, misleading advertising which at least people know is paid for. But if the press doesn't make an issue of reporting the inaccuracies, then as a test to society, we're failing in this case.
A key condition of a working democracy is when people have accurate information to make good decisions. Even if what is accurate is not what we want to hear. And while I don't think it's the sole responsibility of the press, if they don't go after the facts, who will? While all media outlets are biased, we count on the more responsible ones to have a bias towards the facts. Otherwise where are we going to get the information, from viral facebook statuses, Comedy Central, or politicians whom people will immediately discount as biased?
Thanks for the post, J4. Maybe not sole responsibility, but THE responsibility of a free press is to inform the public, at which they, including TRMS, are failing because their questions to get that information are not answered and they let that happen, much because of agenda/cycle driven presentation to entertain viewers enough to go to the next commercial. Quite the paradigm.
Obviously, the tiny-brained are taking this in. I'm getting emails with this "fact" already. Fortunately, rather than sending it to themselves and BCC everyone else, my right-wing pals address it to everyone. That way, I get the names and addresses of all who received it. When I respond with the documented truth, I simply copy and paste their entire "TO" list and copy them the response. Gawd, don't you just love technology?
I say, Mitt R-Money should be sued...why not? it is slander. It is smut that Fox Cable News puts out there to sway the public into voting for R-Money so they will keep the rich tax in place! Sue Romney for slander, Mr. President...he deserves it and should get it, too!!
Totally agree with you. On my drive home last night, I saw a campaign poster with Obama with a Hitler moustache! How can they keep getting away with this??
Mitt Romney is going to win. Dont get me wrong, Im voting for Obama and DEM all across the board, but I bet you all $10 that Mitt will BUY the election just like Bush did in 2000. How else can he be so "presumptive", and "confident" enough to put out crap like this? Blatantly LYING to everyone, everywhere (even overseas!!). He KNOWS its in the bag already, all he has to be, is a FACE.
http://www.fcc.gov/complaints
( Patango here , a walk thru )
To help us deal with your complaint efficiently, select the option that best relates to your complaint (click on Details for more information):
Deceptive or unlawful advertising or marketing by a communications company
Unauthorized, unfair, biased, illegal broadcasts (does NOT include Obscene, Profane or Indecent material)
( Patango here , I chose Deceptive communications , which takes you to )
Based on the information you provided, you need to file Form 2000A - Deceptive or Unlawful Advertising and Promotion Complaint. Please choose a convenient method to file your complaint. We highly recommend using our online form. This will ensure that all required information is received.
You are about to file Form 2000A - Deceptive or Unlawful Advertising and Promotion Complaint
Online Form - Recommended Method
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Phone
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( Patango here again , you must have a time and date of the advertisement , when you saw it , the station and channel , but you can do this for any false ad you see , you can also file the same info right to the local station also , filing a complaint with them may get more immediate actions , as was noted also here , calling the reporters directly works too )
Thanks again, Patango.
your welcome bluesmokeandmirrors
You are the genius I was looking for. Thanks a bunch. This has to stop
The following Mitt Romney illustration is only fitting.
http://mariopiperni.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Romney_Pinocchio-final.jpg
And on the same day prioritiesUSAaction comes out with this. To attack the POTUS you have to lie through your teeth. To attack Romney you just have to have one guy sit at a kitchen table and say what Romney did to the factory where he worked. The truth always does have a liberal bias.
There are no consequences for his dishonesty, because his supporters come in three flavors: 1. Get it but don't care because they're wealthy and know he'll work to make them more wealthy through deregulation, privatization, and ignoring their economic crimes; 2. Get some of it but don't care because they are virulently opposed to Obama for reasons of their own, which include - but are not limited to - racism; and 3. Too stupid to question it.
I just heard an NPR news story that failed this test. Basically: "Romney ad accuses Obama of ending welfare-to-work; Obama campaign says was only waivers for governors of both parties." End of NPR coverage.
I tweeted: "@NPRnews Fail: You report Romney ad says Obama dumping welfare reform; you report Obama campaign denies. You do not report which is true."
Join me in calling out this sort of lazy journalism whenever and wherever we see it.
I remember when NPR was sane , sending tweet now , thanks
What ever crowd Mitt Romney is addressing, he will apease that particular crowd.When he was in ths South, he was so in love with cheesy grits. If he was addressing a crowd that loves garbage, then he would be telling people how much he loves garbage and was born in garbage. He would sell his soul for a vote. He's a man that cannot be trusted.
Why there are some people still believing in Mitt Romney is beyond me. Have the Olympics distracted the attention of the American people from the Economy, job creation and Pinocchio Romney lies? Or was it the Mars landing? Or the resignation of Sharon Osborne as a judge of America Got Talent?
The sorry sapsuckers need to be called down on this and the other one on lieing about the Ohio lawsuit. The GOP is counting heavily on the ignorance and apathy of people that will accept this as gospel just because it's a political ad. "Well, they wouldn't say it if it wasn't true, right?" Stupid, lazy-minded people!! That's the sort that will vote for this sleaze-bag. It's infuriating!!!
Wasn't there something in the last few months...a law of some kind...that was amended to allow propaganda inside the U.S.? That's what this is!! Misinformation. Propaganda. Lies.
"How are we to respond to a campaign that deliberately deceives the public without shame?"
Depends on which 'we' we're talking about.
If 'we' is the MSM, the only question is, what does Matt Drudge (who rules their world) have to say about it?
Probably nothing, of course. And if he doesn't consider Romney's lies a story (and why would he?), it's hard to see the MSM getting worked up about them.
Wow, you libtards sure like jerkin' off all over each other. Usual "criticize the Pres + Racist" drivel.
Restrictions are applied to all kinds of activities in the public domain. This is just another one. Just like you can't yell 'fire' in a crowded theater. Restrictions are everywhere, dear heart. Get over it. You're not gonna win this one.
Don't worry Democrats and like-minded Independents. We all know pathological liars, like bullies, they are really cowards. Romney is only digging his own grave. Pathological liars can't keep their lies straight, that's why it's pathological. They think they can lie their way out. Comes the debates. Romney will crash and burn. He is not smart enough to keep track of his lies and that's why he only speaks in generalities and mistruths. "I don't recall the specifics of what I said, but I stand behind it, what ever I said". I get frustrated when Obama dosen't personally call this rat out but now I understand. He's setting a trap. Romney will be eating a lot of cheese and his face will puff out and turn red when he is finally confronted. And you know, Obama will not flinch. No Drama Obama. Intelligence, integrity and honor....Now that's what we have in our President. I can't wait....
Interesting read....check it out concerning Mitty !
The only thing Mitt has to offer is lie after lie...everything said by Obama has been taken out of context or a flat-out lie. Everything!!! That just tells me the republithugs have nothing to run on except the hate and disrespect of Obama...the t.v. hosts need to start calling out Mitt and his supporters and just say it on-air...Romney lies !!! At least Rachel has the cojones to do it!!
Exactly! If candidates can be purposely erroneous, how can this be legal or even fair?! Politics shouldn't be based on lies and it shouldn't be the way the game is played at all. But for some reason it seems as if this is acceptable play to The White House. Are we that afraid of the ultra rich and powerful, that we're willing to turn a blind eye to the hypocrisy and down right blatant lies being told?! So shameful. It almost makes you feel ashamed of being an American.
Is this Romney or is it his handlers? I don't get that he's actually that bad a guy. I DO get however, that the machine behind him is filling the coffers with gazillions of dollars so they can flood the airwaves and work hard to get BO our and thier guy in. It amy be why Romeny didn't have a whole lot of GOP or Tea Party support until he outlasted all the other nominees. He's out of tuch, but too bland to be truly malevolent. I fear for the machine that lies so blatantly.
I don't like being the one who told you this...but Mister Romney is "that" bad of a guy.