Press Wakes Up to Romney’s Lies, Says There’s ‘no excuse’ for ‘astonishingly misleading’ Jeep Ad

The Romney campaign has jumped the lie shark with their new ad slyly building on the lie that Chrysler is moving Jeep jobs to China. Romney told this easily disproven falsehood to Ohioans at a rally last week. Chrysler pointed out that a “careful and unbiased” understanding “would have saved unnecessary fantasies and extravagant comments.”

When asked to comment on Romney’s claims, the Romney campaign at first refused to comment and then defended the lie with an already debunked Bloomberg article that everyone knows is wrong. The press is not impressed. It seems they have finally met a lie they can’t excuse.

Here’s a roundup from OFA of the brutal reaction:

Detroit Free Press: “Not only was the story wrong, Romney took criticism for not knowing better and repeating it without questioning it.”

To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.

Toledo Blade: “‘The latest Romney ad, I will grant you, is a clever play on words to avoid saying things that are utterly false,’ Mr. Rattner said, referring to a new Romney ad out today. But he said the implication of the ad is ‘just not true. Chrysler is adding people. It’s made major investments in the Toledo Wrangler plant.'”

Huffington Post: “Where the ad goes from misleading to something more nefarious is in the text it shows. At one point, it displays a line from a Bloomberg story stating that Chrysler “plans to return Jeep output to China,” the implication being that the company is moving operations there as opposed to expanding operations that are already there.”

Wall Street Journal: “So far, the Romney campaign hasn’t issued a public statement on the flap.”

Sam Stein ‏@samsteinhp i asked this morning and am still waiting this evening: anyone have a sound defense of this Romney Jeep ad?

Ron Fournier ‏@ron_fournier Nope “@samsteinhp: i asked this morning and am still waiting this evening: anyone have a sound defense of this Romney Jeep ad?”

Ben White ‏@morningmoneyben Wait, not only did Romney camp not back off the erroneous Jeep to China canard, they made an ad out of it? My god

Ben White ‏@morningmoneyben @davidshepardson it’s astonishingly misleading

David Shepardson ‏@davidshepardson @morningmoneyben I agree many people will assume ad means Jeep sending US jobs to China

Joe Vardon ‏@joevardon Wait, Jeep isn’t considering moving manufacturing to China? But Romney said in Ohio … http://bit.ly/ScsbsY

McKay Coppins ‏@mckaycoppins There’s really no good explanation or excuse for it. Mitt Romney’s Jeep ad is misleading. Full stop.

Tim Dickinson ‏@7im”Jeep has no intention of shifting production of its Jeep models out of North America to China” http://on.freep.com/VRbWVD

Michael Cohen ‏@speechboy71 The mendaciousness of Romney’s new auto ad is breathtaking even for him: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20121028/POLITICS01/210280314 …

ThinkProgress ‏@thinkprogress Is the new Romney ad on the auto bailout the most dishonest one this cycle? http://thkpr.gs/RdUgMh #probably

Travis Waldron ‏@Travis_Waldron Mitt can’t tell the truth about GM/Chrysler, because the truth is simple: At every turn, he was wrong.

Sam Stein ‏@samsteinhp The Romney campaign did defend the Jeep ad to me, by citing the Bloomberg piece that has been called wrong by Jeep http://huff.to/PAZCWY

Blake Hounshell ‏@blakehounshell OK, @CitizenCohn has persuaded me: this is pretty despicable http://www.tnr.com/blog/plank/109256/romney-ohio-chrysler-jeep-china-toledo-obama-gm-rescue# …

Andrew Kaczynski ‏@BuzzFeedAndrew Interestingly, this Romney ad cites the Detroit News, which also debunked the Jeep production moving to China claim. http://youtu.be/kVv6w0EC7Qs

Josh Greenman ‏@joshgreenman Who’s acting desperate now? http://www.tnr.com/blog/plank/109256/romney-ohio-chrysler-jeep-china-toledo-obama-gm-rescue …

Kurt Eichenwald ‏@kurteichenwald Do GOPers believe Romney when he repeatedly says Chrysler’ moving jeep job to china, when company says it’s a lie? He’ll say anything to win

A few headlines:

Detroit News: New Romney ad: ‘Italians’ plan to build Jeeps in China
Detroit Free Press: Romney returns topic to auto industry bailout, his weak spot, in crucial swing state Ohio
Detroit Free Press: Romney camp silent on his Jeep-to-China gaffe
Detroit News: Romney picks up incorrect story about Jeep production moving to China
Detroit Free Press: Romney repeats false claim of Jeep outsourcing to China; Chrysler refutes story
MLive: Romney wrongly claims Chrysler may move all Jeep production to China
NBC 24: Jeep not leaving Toledo for China, Chrysler assures
Toledo Blade: Romney tweaks Jeep production to China claim
CBS: Romney cites incorrect auto manufacturing claim in Ohio
The Hill: Chrysler: Romney is wrong, Jeep not leaving US for China
NBC: Politics of auto bailout haunt Romney in Northwest Ohio
Huffington Post: Mitt Romney Releases Auto Ad That Misleads On Facts
Think Progress: Romney Auto Bailout Ad Tells Four Myths In 30 Seconds
The New Republic: A Desperate, Deceptive Gambit for Romney in Ohio

The truth is that Chrysler is not moving its Jeep production from America to China. In fact they are adding jobs, “Chrysler Group announced that it will invest $500 million at the Toledo Assembly Complex (Ohio) for the production of the next generation Jeep® SUV in 2013. As a result, the Company will add a second shift of production or about 1,100 jobs in the third quarter of 2013.”

The press is confused by Mitt’s mendacity, especially the conservative Detroit News, which endorsed Mitt only to find him lying about their area of expertise — the auto industry. They were shocked when they tried to get the Romney campaign to comment on Romney’s Jeep lies and the campaign blew them off and then continued to tell the lie. Yes, this is the candidate they endorsed for President.

This is hardly Romney’s first go at ignoring facts. Mitt Romney makes his own reality and is outraged if you point to facts because they are not facts in Mitt Romney’s book. Romney is the sole decider of what is a fact and what is not in Mittland.

Is anyone concerned yet?

Here’s the Romney campaign’s desperate attempt to rewrite “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt” in Ohio:

Correction: The Detroit News endorsed Gov. Romney, not the Detroit Free Press.

Sarah Jones

Listen to Sarah on the PoliticusUSA Pod on The Daily newsletter podcast here.

Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.

Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.

Connect with Sarah on Post,  Mastodon @PoliticusSarah@Journa.Host, & Twitter.