The campaign of Mitt Romney, the putative GOP nominee, put out an ad today in which Pres. Obama was deliberately quoted out of context as saying, “If we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.”
Politifact.com has given the top Republican’s ad its “Pants on Fire” rating:
Here’s what Obama said in the October 2008 speech, which came about two weeks before he defeated Sen. John McCain:
“Even as we face the most serious economic crisis of our time, even as you are worried about keeping your jobs or paying your bills or staying in your homes, my opponent’s campaign announced earlier this month that they want to ‘turn the page’ on the discussion about our economy so they can spend the final weeks of this election attacking me instead,” Obama said in the speech. “Sen. McCain’s campaign actually said, and I quote, ‘If we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.’”
So the comment is drastically different than the way it’s portrayed in the Romney ad. Obama was actually saying that his opponent’s campaign three years earlier had said, “If we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.” That context is not included in the Romney ad — and leaving it out sends a profoundly different message.
Fine. If it’s okay for the Romney campaign to take things out of context, then it must be okay for his opponents to deploy the same sort of poetic license.
Example 1. Transcript from the video above:
MITT ROMNEY: I’m Mitt Romney. From my vantage point in business and government, I’ve become convinced that with Pres. Obama’s policies, America’s best days are still ahead. That’s why today I am announcing that I believe that Pres. Obama’s policies will confirm America’s future to become the greatest nation in the history of the earth. I’m Mitt Romney. Thanks so much.
Example 2. In which Romney repeatedly trashes the United States:
MITT ROMNEY: We should just raise everybody’s taxes … There’s nothing unique about the United States … Government knows better than a free people how to guide an economy … Fiscal responsibility is heartless and immoral … Let us just raise your taxes some more. We just need a little bit more … America’s just another nation with a flag.
Update: The Romney campaign has confirmed that it deliberately breibarted the president. Romney operatives also insist that taking people’s statements out of context is fair game:
“We used that quote intentionally to show that President Obama is doing exactly what he criticized McCain of doing four years ago,” said Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom. “Obama doesn’t want to talk about the economy because of his failed record.”
Added Romney Communications Director Gail Gitcho in an email to CBS News and other outlets: “Three years ago, candidate Barack Obama mocked his opponent’s campaign for saying ‘if we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.’ Now, the tables have turned – President Obama and his campaign are doing exactly what candidate Obama criticized.”
…Romney senior New Hampshire adviser Tom Rath tells CBS News the ad is “exactly what we want.”
“They were using McCain’s words to make fun of McCain. And we’re using the exact same technique,” he said.
Pressed on whether it was unfair to lop off the top of Mr. Obama’s comments — which would show the president was quoting the McCain camp — Rath said, “He did say the words. That’s his voice.”
He then suggesting [sic] that the more people discuss the ad, the better it is for the Romney campaign.
The old “there’s no such thing as bad publicity” gambit. But there is a risk here that the more people discuss this intentionally misleading ad, the more they’ll come to view Romney as an untrustworthy liar.
And it is unfounded attacks like this that make any candidate’s base rally to him. Watch the president’s approval rating bump a point or two, if this story catches fire.
