Romney’s New Radio Ad Reaches Surreal Level of Desperation and Fail

Last updated on February 7th, 2013 at 09:30 pm

Instead of killing his Jeep ad lie, Romney expanded it to a radio ad. Buckle up, because this ad is much, much worse than the TV ad. It’s so bad that it pains me to have to report that a candidate for president stooped this low. Mind you, I had the Palin beat for 3 years. I’ve seen low.

The new Romney ad claims that Obama saved the auto industry for China, not for America. Then he claims that Chrysler will be moving Jeep production to China, a charge he danced around in his TV ad by implying it rather than saying it as he did at a rally in Defiance. Then he claims that when the Detroit News endorsed him they did it because they approved his “understanding” of the auto industry, followed by a claim that Romney would stand up for the auto industry. In reality the Detroit News praised Obama’s leadership for the auto bailout and I suspect they are currently trying to find a way to remove the Romney egg from their editorial board.

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Here we go. Listen here:

Scary, scary transcript of lies from Greg Sargent:

Barack Obama says he saved the auto industry. But for who? Ohio, or China? Under President Obama, GM cut 15,000 American jobs. But they are planning to double the number of cars built in China — which means 15,000 more jobs for China.

And now comes word that Chrysler plans to start making Jeeps in — you guessed it — China. What happened to the promises made to autoworkers in Toledo and throughout Ohio — the same hard-working men and women who were told that Obama’s auto bailout would help them?

Mitt Romney grew up in the Auto Industry. Maybe that’s why the Detroit News endorsed him, saying: “Romney understands the industry and will shield it from regulators who never tire of churning out new layers of mandates.” Mitt Romney. He’ll stand up for the auto industry. In Ohio, not China.

It’s hard not to laugh. Mitt Romney, who sends jobs to China as a course of business, is telling folks he will stand up for the auto industry here, not in China — as Sensata workers at Bainport beg him to meet with them about the jobs Bain is moving to China. Deception? This is the big bad wolf disguising himself as grandma to Little Red Riding Hood.

Yes, the radio ad is worse than the TV ad that the The Cleveland Plain Dealer slammed as a ‘masterpiece of misdirection.’ PolitFact was even compelled toRomney’s TV ad “Pants on Fire” (sadly leaving no room for this new level of fail):

“The Romney campaign ad says Obama ‘sold Chrysler to Italians who are going to build Jeeps in China’ at the cost of American jobs. The ad leaves the clear impression that Jeeps built in China come at the expense of American workers. The ad miscasts the government’s role in Fiat’s acquisition of Chrysler, and it misrepresents the outcome. Chrysler’s owners had been trying to sell to Italy-based Fiat before Obama took office. The ad ignores the return of American jobs to Chrysler Jeep plants in the United States, and it presents the manufacture of Jeeps in China as a threat, rather than an opportunity to sell cars made in China to Chinese consumers. It strings together facts in a way that presents an wholly inaccurate picture. We rate the statement Pants on Fire!”

Wholly inaccurate and pants on fire, you say? Well, by gosh, Romney figured he better turn that into a radio ad and build on the Ro-mentum, ‘cuz nothing says Mitt Romney like plumbing the depths of deception and trickery.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer says, “It won’t work. Ohio voters know who stepped up when the auto industry was at the abyss — and it wasn’t Romney.”

Romney keeps campaigning in Ohio even as Obama is off dealing with the Superstorm. Sure, Romney said he wasn’t going to, and he’s calling his rally a relief rally, but according to reporters who were there, it is the same campaign rally complete with same video and songs as he always does. Also, the press badges read, “Victory Rally.” They didn’t have time to get the whole new show on apparently, but they can’t stop campaigning because Romney is losing Ohio in early voting.

Also, 1 in 8 Ohio jobs are tied to the auto industry. Let Detroit Go Bankrupt….

Obama campaign spokesman Danny Kanner responded by calling out Romney’s desperation, “Mitt Romney is losing Ohio and he knows it. There’s no other excuse for why he’d run a radio ad that’s even worse than the false TV ad that the Cleveland Plain Dealer slammed as a ‘masterpiece of misdirection.’ These are the facts: Mitt Romney turned his back on the American auto industry and its workers when they were on their knees, led investments in companies that were pioneers in outsourcing to low-wage countries like China, and proposed a tax plan that could create 800,000 jobs overseas, including in China. Ohioans know the truth – President Obama saved an industry that supports one in eight jobs in the state – and they won’t be fooled by these desperate tactics. We’ve always known Mitt Romney would say absolutely anything to win this election, but as he sees it slipping away in the final week, the American people simply cannot trust a word he says.”

The wolf hiding in the Jeep lies is not your friend. He’s just looking for something to harvest, “The better to eat you with!”

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.

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