OK, I know campaign ads are designed to demonize your opponent and coronate your candidate in a few words, but wouldn’t you think they should stop short of out-right lies?
It seems appropo of this campaign that the very first ad Romney ran against President Obama was a clip with him saying “If we keep taking about the economy, we lose.” It was meant to show the President as callus and uncaring about the economy.
The reality of that statement was this, and I quote the President of the United States, during a campaign speech in 2008 “John McCain actually said, ‘if we keep taking about the economy, we lose’.”
The president was quoting his Republican challenger, decrying McCain’s callus uncaring attitude about the economy–but Romney chose to completely distort the quote to make it sound like Obama was making the statement.
The only good news is that this out-right lie has played many times on national television, so most folks know that Romney was dishonest.
But not to be outdone, Romney has done it again!! He now has an ad claiming President Obama bankrupted auto manufacutures (when, in fact, he saved them and at least a million jobs) and Jeep is now going to move production of Jeep out of America. (Romney, who famously said “Let Detroit go Bankrupct” now claims HE is the true friend of the auto industry.)
The Jeep lie is so outrageous, Jeep issued a statement saying it had no intention of moving jobs overseas and in fact, has plans to expand its American plants.
This lie so treats voters like idiots, that I bet it’s going to backfire, especially where it counts most: Ohio, where auto-related jobs are important.
I have an idea: Use the REAL records of your opponents to your best advantage; tear them apart for their failings; ignore their wins and focus on their losses, but there should be a law to say you can’t just out-right lie. We could call it the Romney Law.