In his first television ad in the wake of the three debates, President Obama unveiled a minute-long spot, highlighting his first-term accomplishments and noting several second-term goals. It's a positive, issue-focused ad, which mentions his opponent only in passing.
In his first television ad in the wake of the three debates, Mitt Romney is going in a different direction.
For those who can't watch clips online, the 30-second spot is yet another attack ad, accusing Obama of having gone on an "apology tour" and failing to visit Israel in his first term.
In some ways, I suppose it's fitting. Romney, before even launching his 2012 presidential campaign, based much of his national ambitions on the "apology tour" -- it was the basis for the title of his 2007 "memoir" -- and he included the falsehood in his kick-off speech in June 2011. It stands to reason, then, that the same lie would provide a bookend, bringing the Republican's ridiculous smear full circle.
But for those who still care about facts and reality, Romney really is lying. Obama has never apologized for America. The Republican knows this, but keeps repeating the claim anyway, hoping voters won't know the difference.
And what about Obama not having visited Israel in his first term?
As we talked about in July, the attack at least has the benefit of being partially accurate -- Obama visited Israel as a candidate, but has not been back during his first term. If Republicans choose to find that outrageous, their complaints are grounded in fact.
The problem, however, is the selective nature of their disgust. George W. Bush didn't visit Israel at any point during his first term, and neither did Bill Clinton. Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush didn't travel to Israel during their respective terms in office at all.
Is there any record of Romney ever condemning any of these other presidents for the same reason? Nope.
Moreover, Obama did visit Israel as a candidate, and as he explained last night, he did so the right way.
"You know, if we're going to talk about trips that we've taken, you know, when I was a candidate for office, first trip I took was to visit our troops. And when I went to Israel as a candidate, I didn't take donors, I didn't attend fundraisers, I went to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum there, to remind myself the nature of evil and why our bond with Israel will be unbreakable.
"And then I went down to the border towns of Sderot, which had experienced missiles raining down from Hamas. And I saw families there who showed me where missiles had come down near their children's bedrooms, and I was reminded of what that would mean if those were my kids, which is why, as president, we funded an Iron Dome program to stop those missiles.
"So that's how I've used my travels when I travel to Israel and when I travel to the region."
When Romney visited Israel over the summer, he brought donors, held a fundraiser, brought his teleprompter, and made every effort to make his trip as campaign-oriented as humanly possible.
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I'm sick of all the "liar" stuff name-calling. And it's certainly not convincing coming from the most disingenuous president in my 65 years. This election is pathetic. Two unlikable people refusing to discuss issues seriously. We are the victims of 12 years of terrible presidents and do not deserve this. Or, I guess because we vote for such miserable people, we do
The liar meme has been invented by the liberal press. You see it in the blogs like Daily Kos diaries, where they implore Democrats to actually use the word 'lie" when talking about Republican statements or opinions. They think it is psychologically beneficial, that it is a "messaging" meme which will sink in over time with voters. How do I know all this? I have a pitiful life and am a political junkie. I read the Daily Kos every day just to see laugh and see what new crap they are proposing today. I'm actually a banned user of their site, having attempted to engage their members in debate (uh...let's just say they're not interested). Anyway, they use terms like "fact checking", "reality-based", and other terms as a way to try and convince people that their opinions in fact, are REALITY, they're FACTS, that EVERYONE who is REALITY BASED agrees with them. It's basically a cult.
Obama did nothing but apologize for American exceptionalism on what can only be described as an Apology Tour. Only dimwits who didn't listen to the garbage coming out of this jackasses mouth would call it anything else.
Luckily for America, voters won't be as stupid as Obama needs them to be the second time around.
One and done.
How can a memoir wrote in 2007 be based on the apology tour that took place in 2008/2009
I swear you'd think the whole liberal left believes Romney coined the term, "apology tour". It's been in the public lexicon since Obama made the tour. And it was coined "the apology tour" because that's exactly what it was. Splitting hairs to discover what the meaning of "is" is isn't going to change that.
I listened to Obama's speech in Egypt, it sure sounded like an apology to me. Just because you have a different opinion doesn't mean that Romney is lying. However, if this is all the Obama campaign has is "liar, liar house on fire", binders, Romnesia, etc. then Romney will win in a landslide. I heard that Axelrod finally rolled out Obama's second term agenda, all 14 pages, with only two weeks to go. What's you hurry?
Did you notice Obama holding up his little elementary binder at his speech yesterday with a couple of talking points on the front, like, "hey, folks, told you I had a plan. Lookie here. Typed it myself". Seriously, look it up and watch.
I saw the footage last night. It was worse than I had remembered. Oh yes, he apologized. It was pretty disgusting.
The Republicans and Mitt Romney never let the facts get in the way of a good political myth, or political ad. They are totally without scruples. The Republicans forgot every right wing position that Romney took, the guy who claimed he was "extremely conservative." The guy who said "Let Detroit go bankrupt." Now he has Romnesia and Romney and the Republicans hope enough of the country have "Romnesia" too. Americans won't forget the real Romney and they won't forget what the Republicans did to our national debt beginning in 2001. Where was the Tea Party when the Republicans were starting two wars off the books (2001 Afghanistan) and 2003 (Iraq)? Where was the Tea Party when GW Bush and Cheney let out no bid contracts to Cheney's firm for "security" in Iraq? Where was the Tea Party when Bush gave a big wet kiss to the pharmaceutical industry (no bid contracts again!) when he expanded Medicaid? Where was the Tea Party when Bush erased the Clinton budget surpluses and left office in 2009 with a national debt of $10 trillion? Oh, wait...I get it. There was a Republican in the White House, so he got a pass. But when a black Democrat got elected President, it was time to ramp up the outrage. You are so obvious its comical. Same goes for the "conservative" Republicans "concerned" about the debt. Phonies to the core.
What does Obama being black have to do with it? You Lefties kill me with this stuff.
Right and in other news tea bagged republicans keep on proving they have the word understanding of 1st grade students learning to read. Here is a clue the left broke the rights code words a long long long time ago, that every republican candidate pits poor whites against poor minorities to gain votes is a well known fact and has been since Nixon first designed the Southern Strategy.
You will be a world more effective and credible if you will study grammar and apply its principles in posts in which you call into question others' "word understanding" to borrow your presumably much more advanced than 1st grade vocabulary.
@whomitmay - Tossing around charges of racism and epithets like "teabagger" gives you negative credibility. And what on earth does Nixon have to do with conservatives disliking a liberal President who happens to be black, in 2012???
Right here is a clue the GOP never change they still believe that Hoover was right about economics. What we see today shows that Nixons southern strategy is still in play. How do we know this, rather simple even though the welfare system that Reagan lied about no longer exists tea bagged republicans still whine about that old system. Really all you proved is how misinformed you are oh and heres your new name since you no longer like tea bagger we will just start calling you Mitt wits.
"But for those who still care about facts and reality?"
Great line, Steve. Let's use it.
But for those who still care about facts and reality, know there's no systemic racism in the GOP.
But for those who still care about facts and reality, know that no GOP policy or deregulation caused the financial recession.
But for those who still care about facts and reality, know that there is no Romney budget that will cause a 5T deficit.
You made the bed.....now lie in it.
So Obama never used the words "I apologize for America" on the Apology Tour. Big deal. He also never used the words "I am a lousy president" but people know the truth.
STRASBOURG FRANCE: OBAMA 04.03.09: In America, there's a failure to appreciate Europe's leading role in the world. Instead of celebrating your dynamic union and seeking to partner with you to meet common challenges, there have been times where America's shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive. (OOOPs that sounds like an apology to me)
CAIRO EGYPT: OBAMA 06.04.09: Iraq was a war of choice that provoked strong differences in my country and around the world. 9/11 was an enormous trauma to our country. The fear and anger that it provoked was understandable, but in some cases it led us to act contrary to our traditions and our ideals. We are taking concrete actions to change course. I have unequivocally prohibited the use of torture by the United States, and I have ordered the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed by early next year. (OOOPs that sounds like another apology to me)
STILL IN CAIRO EGYPT: OBAMA 06.04.09: There's been controversy about the promotion of democracy in recent years, and much of this controversy is connected to the war in Iraq. So let me be clear: No system of government can or should be imposed by one nation on any other. (OOOPs that sounds like another apology to me)
In each of these examples, and many others, Obama is apologizing for the actions taken by the United States. I for one will never be ashamed or apologetic for spreading freedom around the world. America is the greatest nation in the world, made greater by the fact that we want other people to enjoy the same freedoms and opportunities we do!!!
God Bless America and GoodLluck MR. Romney
Thanks for getting the quotes. I was too lazy to do so. All this needs to do is be put in front of normal folks without anyone telling us what to think about it or how to interpret like Rachel, Chris, Ed. et al do.
You government dependent intellectual invalids are going to stroke out on November 7th when you get to hear him referred to as President Elect Romney!
Only in your delusional world of nit wit Ronnie in the real world robme will self deport to the Cayman Islands with his money smirking all the way about the stupidity of his base.
well, my "delusional world", and Gallup's apparently "delusional world". Wait a minute, there's Rasmussen's "delusional world". Lets not forget those "in the tank for Romney" deludes, Monmouth, ABC, and Politico. Read your comment again. You and your ilk sound like a bratty three year old who was just told "no"! Maybe you could complete the imagery and go hold your breath until you turn blue. Goodbye government slaves, goodbye invalids, try again in 2016, if you haven't starved to death begging for government scraps. By the way, "self deport" is redundant. If no one else is doing the deporting for you, then the only logical conclusion is that one would be deporting themselves.
Right but when polls show mitt behind the Mitt wits claim polls don't matter. Guess what Mitt is behind in all of the important swing states except for 2, in order for robme to win he needs almost every swing state to go his way. What we see the Mitt wits doing is showing just how desperate they are getting.
In 2009, President Obama gave an interview with Al-Arabya
when he said, "And my job is to communicate to the American people that
the Muslim world is filled with extraordinary people who simply want to live their
lives and see their children live better
lives. My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not
your enemy. We sometimes make mistakes. We have not been perfect. But if you
look at the track record, as you say, America was not born as a colonial power,
and that the same respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim
world as recently as 20 or 30 years ago, there's no reason why we can't restore
that. And that I think is going to be an important task." What has the
United States done in the past 20 or 30 years to warrant that statement? Carter
did little to stop the deposing of the Shah in Iran and helped push the
Egypt/Israel peace talks. Reagan sent marines to Lebanon to help prevent a
civil war. George HW Bush led a global effort at the request of the Saudis to
drive Sadaam out of Kuwait, Clinton sent troops to Bosnia to prevent the
genocide against Moslems and almost pulled off an Israeli/Palestinian peace and
George W invaded Iraq, which actually helped more moslems than it hurt. We can
agree or disagree to the good sense of each of the above policies but I would
argue that none of these actions were anti-Moslem. So what have we done in the
past 20 or 30 years that warrants his statement? I would call
an apology.
And we get the history rewrite from the right full of assumptions and lies. Here is a clue all GWB did was make more terrorists by invading Iraq nothing more the Iraqis are not anymore free then they were under Saddam.
Say what you want but, President Obama went on several trips attacking US decisiopns of the past past, claiming us to be arrogant, and dissident. I'm sure Hitler and Mussolini said many similar things about the US during WW II as well. Although the words 'I'm sorry' or " we apologize' were never used directly, I know an apology when I hear one and Obama was apologizing. One more point, I know having to be a leader in this crazy world is an unfair burden on the US. I hate the responsibility, too. But, if we don't do it, someone else will and thats really the cruxt of the problem. I'd rather it be us than China or Russia or Iran. Get it? I didn't think so.
In two weeks America is going to have an enormous bm and then flush this bunch right back down the sewer from whence they came.
The reality is that the President did apologize. He also took responsibility for our role in a lot of the Middle East that led to problems there. He was, in other words, honest. Why he couldn't simply own that is beyond. We have things to apologize for, after all. You can celebrate the great things that America has done while also making clear that we haven't been perfect.
Liberals are so funny!! The author somehow equates visiting Israel as a candidate as being equal to visiting as President. Moreover, the comparison with other presidents that did not visit Israel during the first term misses the mark entirely, as those presidents didn't tour the Middle East and skip visiting Israel, which is, of course, the smaller point. But, as one can imagine, the silly Liberals miss the point entirely. And, of particular import, the author never addresses the infamous Obama speech and his message, which is, of course, the main point of the attack. The depth of Liberal cognitive dissonance is almost impossible to comprehend.
With respect to your article sir, you are the one not reporting accurately. WE HAVE SEEN IT FOR 4 YEARS! OK? When he apologizes and BOWS...oh yes bowing to Arabic leaders, you remember that one right. Please folks, lets keep it real. The Democrats thought we needed to repair our relations with the world right? So, if you BELIEVE this, then how do you go about "repairing" your relationship with your friends or wife....YOU APOLOGIZE!! Seriously, why is it now, when it was thought to be the right thing to do then, its dismissed as never happened now. Maybe it's Mr. Obama and his friends that are the ones trying to be like Mitt?
If the liberal minded folks (by the way, it's quite ok to be a democrat or republican and have conviction in your views) applauded this for the last 4 years, why not stand behind it now? Bad policy? Trying to reverse course or just a way to convince independents that what they saw the last 4 years was really just a David Copperfield show, filed with illusions that never happened?
So in a nutshell, he apologized, ok....can we at least move on from this article... a huge biased lie? I can't say for sure, but I would not be surprised if this writer actually called for an apology tour...I know all my good liberal friends did, and I still love them, I just totally disagree with them.
Strength is something Mr. Obama has been working on to be quite honest....and he actually my be a little more aware now (as evidenced) that Mr. Bush was not so far off, was he?
If you only watch CNN or Fox, you are mindless...read for yourself...figure it out and don't let biased columnist on either side tell you what they want you to hear. If you vote, be informed and not from one news outlet or side of the story. Otherwise, it won't matter...just go in the booth, hit vote all republican or democrat and walk away...boy, that really does us all justice, doesn't it.
Lol, you don't have to actually use the word "apologize" to be apologizing. Incredible. Nice try MSNBC.
Unfortunately, msnbc has been uable to comment correctly since obama came on the scene. For whatever reason, the left has been blind for 4 years, and they will probably stay that way until the end of the world. What this country needs is a true leader, not one that divides us from one another , using anything and everything to accomplish the task.
Obama and the democrats have had 4 years to show that they were truly commited to righting the wrongs of our country, and in 4 years they have managed to wrack up extensive debt, turn tail and run from the middle east, and bent over backwards to appease all muslims and everything muslim.
We have not gone "Foward", we have lost 20 years, and now everyone is hurting, including the leftf welfare has become a way of life, unemployment could very well be extended for another 4 years, and the middle class, lower class, and the above average citizens have been ordered to render up more money to support obama's socialist agenda.
Enough of this is enough, the senate needs to be replaced, along with the pretender in chief, we can no longer afford "green jobs", extensive welfare, obamacare and all the rest of the liberals agenda.
Predicting the next 4 years would be impossibile if obama won, you can bet your money on one thing, we need to bring our military back and be ready to face an upheaval in this country similiar to the civil war, because that is what we will get with 4 more years of obama, reid, peloski, and the rest of the fools currently in charge!
I've watched Chris Matthews for many years. I used to argue with my father in law about him. We'd talk about Fox and MSNBC and I would always say to him, Matthews is the one guy who keeps it pretty straight. You could tell he leaned left, but it was barely perceptible. My father in law called him a lib, but I'd argue you just couldn't tell because he had on guests of both sides and would question and argue with them both to the same degree (sometimes the same ANNOYING degree where he does the staccato interruption thing). He's changed completely. Something triggered in him. Maybe it was Iraq, maybe it was Obama and the promise of hope that Chris represented from his days working int he Peace Corps, maybe it's the paycheck and the orders from NBC to be a strong counterweight to FNC, but now he's literally about to have a nervous breakdown on the air. It is so one sided, he now only gets a couple of weak tit sycophants on the Republican side who are willing to even engage. Pitiful
Except, he did go on an apology tour. Did he ever utter the words, "I'm sorry"? Nope. Instead he said (paraphrasing now) "Uh, we suck! We, uh, are going, uh, to do better! Now let's, uh, go have a beer!"
Sure as hell sounds like an apology to me.
If Obama had exhibited the same petulance toward misbehaving muslims as he did toward Governor Romney the other night, they might respect him more.
Right Obama got OBL the GOP got robme and robme followers are showing themselves to be Mitt wits because while you are following robme he is following the president.
Because Obama didn't utter the word "sorry" or "apologize", they think they have their "gotcha" here. The headline has the scare quotes in the wrong place. It should be,
Apology Tour "Lie" Comes Full Circle
Romney didn't say that Obama never visited Israel. Pointing out that he has visited Israel ... as a candidate ... is a strawman argument. Romney pointed out that Obama went on a Middle East Tour, skipped Israel, and gave mea culpa's (Romney even pointed out the wording) to countries in the Middle East. It really showcased Obama's anti-colonial worldview.
The hair splitting that must be done to call this a "lie" is on the order of arguing over what the meaning of the word "is" is to wiggle out of a charge on a linguistic technicality. But this is how the Left truly thinks, and they're actually proud of it.
What this really does is expose the kind of linguistic gymnastics Obama employs when he says something is or isn't true. And the next time he makes a claim or interrupts someone in a debate saying "that's not true" ... people will have this asterisk in the backs of their minds.
Claim: Obama said "the 1980s called"
Facts: The 1980s did not call. A decade is unable to place calls.
Rating: Pants on fire lie.
I voted for McGovern, Carter, Clinton, and Obama. How could someone with so much promise and goodwill evolve into someone teasing a candidate about his name (Romnesia). Is he in 3rd grade? My late Democratic dad will turn over in his grave, but I am voting for Romney this time. I can't take 4 more years of watching this.
Nice try, Steve. But just because the President didn't use the precise word, "apology," everyone with an ounce of brains understood the gist of his messages on that tour. And your Clintonian parsing of the language appears both purile & desperate.