Mitt Romney’s False Ad
Living in Ohio I have been exposed to an avalanche of political advertisements so far this election season. A majority of them are negative, play loose with the facts, and are from 3rd parties who hide where their money comes from. All of those elements, to me are un-American. What really pisses me off is when an ad is actually a lie. What makes me even more mad is when that false ad was put out even after the facts were known. Mitt Romney released such an ad with the tagline of “Where did all the Obama stimulus money go?” Now because my local journalists seem to refuse to fact check this false ad I’ll have to do it here.
The ad starts:
VOICE OVER: “Where did all the Obama stimulus money go?”
VIDEO TEXT: “Friends, Donors, Campaign Supporters, Special Interest Groups”
Here’s the ad:
So here is summary of all that is false about Romney’s ad:
Of course, this is at best distorted. For instance, PolitiFact, not exactly a big friend of Democrats, found the “windmills from China” claim to be “mostly false.” It further found the “electric cars from Finland” claim to be totally “false.” The Washington Post’s Fact Checker, also no friend of Democrats, gave the ad overall two “Pinocchios” for having “Significant omissions and/or exaggerations” (that’s an understatement). Finally, see Media Matters for a complete demolition of the Romney ad, including the New York Times analysis that “much of the ad is false;” the ABC News analysis that “less than .000031 percent of the $814 billion stimulus program” went to wind turbines made in China; the Washington Post analysis that “the stimulus created about 51,000 jobs in the U.S. wind industry;” etc, etc. Bottom line: this ad is false, false, false – no matter how many times they run it on our TV screens.
Where DID the Obama Stimulus Money Go? NOT Where Lyin’ Willard Said It Did, That’s for Sure!
My local paper The Columbus Dispatch has a Campaign Watch topic under their political section. While the false Romney ad has been airing for a couple of weeks, the Dispatch has not fact checked it. The last three ads to be checked have all been put out by Democrats. None of the local TV stations have fact checked the ad but they all accept the money from the heavy playing the ads are getting.
As noted by Meteor Blades on Daily Kos:
That bespeaks someone who calculates that most people, come time to vote, won’t remember that a lie actually is a lie (if they ever knew). As for reporters, calling out lies can become burdensome if they aren’t willing to follow the media prescription of they-all-do-it. Thus, most lies get a pass from the media where most Americans get their political views—which ain’t blogs and watchdog sites.
Repeatedly debunked lies still front and center in Romney campaign ad blasting Obama stimulus
Like I said the ad is false and the information has been debunked long before the ad aired.
That means that Mitt Romney endorses lying. He can’t challenge the President on actual issues so he has to make shit up.
