The Obama campaign defended its use of Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney singing in a new ad, saying that it doesn’t paint the former Massachusetts governor as unpatriotic but is a legitimate way to display his record.
“The ad pokes fun, a little bit, tries to have some fun with it, but then it walks through exactly what Mitt Romney’s record is,” said Obama campaign adviser Stephanie Cutter this morning on CBS’ Face the Nation.
“It’s a purely negative stump speech that Mitt Romney is saying,” Cutter continued. “Now, let’s remember, part of this stump speech is to talk about how the president doesn’t understand freedom, doesn’t feel the passion of freedom and doesn’t understand America. What about that gives you any sense of where Mitt Romney’s going to take this country?”
The ad features Romney singing “America the Beautiful” at a Florida campaign stop in January, while flashing cards about Romney’s wealth and allegations of outsourcing.
Romney’s longtime adviser Kevin Madden fought back against the ad, but didn’t quite get the song right in his Face the Nation rebuttal.
“I think it is troubling that they would mock somebody who was singing ‘God Bless America,’” Madden said.
“President Obama, who at this time of very tough economic struggles, is telling the American public that the one thing that they need to be worried about — the two things that they need to be worried about, the three things they need to be worried about — are what’s in Governor Romney’s financial disclosures,” he added. “And I think that’s a very troubling place for the country to be when we have our president right now who’s not willing to talk about what he’s going to do to fix the economy and is only — only interested in attacking Governor Romney.”
Madden also defended Romney against charges that he signed SEC documents as CEO of Bain Capital after he said he’d left the company.
“Fact check after fact check, investigative journalist after investigative journalist has shown that Governor Romney left Bain in 1999,” Madden said. “The reason that there is a document that had — in 2002 — that had his signature is because, during that transition from 1999 to 2002, where there was transfer of ownership over to the new partners of Bain, that there was a duty to sign those documents.”
“The simple point is, if you’re telling the SEC that you’re in charge but you’re telling the American people that you bear no responsibility, one of those things is not true,” Cutter said.
Watch the Obama ad with singing Romney on the next page.
Surely it’s all just smoke, but I’m reading a lot of cooing from progs about how this is supposedly the most effective attack ad since LBJ’s “Daisy” ad. Romney should answer this ad quickly and effectively. Hit back harder.
N.B. There is of course footage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4FD-j_Dqq8
of Obama not holding his hand over his heart during the pledge.
You do have to wonder what Mitt’s potential VP choices are thinking this weekend? Would you even answer the phone? No wonder Condi was running away from the suggestion like a scalded cat the other day. Not that Mittens would have a lesbian on his ticket anyway. Let alone a closeted black lesbian.
Myth’s in real big trouble, if he doesn’t release those taxes. Even conservatives are curious what’s in them. Maybe Steven Schmidt who vetted Romney as McCain’s VP has something to say since he saw them. lol …
F..ckin OLD LADY, gossiping over the backyard fence. Grow a pair.
“If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”
Inside Obama’s head, apparently, n one accomplishes anything without the federal government somehow, some way in the picture.
Desperate times call for desperately stupid statements.
Romney’s determined to play defense right up to the 6th of November when the last vote is cast for Obama, the attacker.
If Mitt McCain doesn’t start attacking Obama soon, and on a multitude of fronts, his campaign can pack it in.
Mitt, your counter punching days are over because they’re killing you.
Good lookin’, get cooking.
Open fire.
Obama the vulnerables’ lies, corruption, tax money thievery, open border policies, and national defense secret stealing, for the survival of the nation, have gotta end. The anointed one needs to be beaten like a drum.
Attack. Attack. Attack.
The alternative is for the Romney campaign to be driven into the sea; and go down in history as the campaign with the organization and results of the Bay of Pigs invasion.
Obama is the pig that needs to be slaughtered.
Mitt Romney must pick up the sword of an Avenging Angel, or fail himself and his nation if he does not. To be successful in this Holy Crusade to save the Republic and Western Civilization, Mitt Romney must be the quintessential American like George Patton and Joe DiMaggio. He must attack boldly on all fronts and at all times and at this he must not flag nor fail. He must never succumb to the siren call of the regime’s propaganda ministers that will permeate the television waves. You can not bargain with this tyrant and his propaganda ministers. You can not reason with them. They will feel no pity for you and if they can, they will destroy you and your family without pity or remorse. You must follow the tyrant Hussein Louie Obama to the inmost recesses of his mind and make him fear and dread the very sight and sound of you. You must never let up and you must make the Child Emperor’s fear of you permeate his thoughts from when he rises in the morning until he retires at night, where he will be allowed only a brief respite in between his nightmares.
Clearly, you spend far too much time in front of the TV
Clearly, The Totalitarian Wonder is quite the intellectual. Strong!
Cynical Wonder
“…whomever you people genuflect and spread your rear cheeks for to follow up on that one. Weak …”
July 14, 2012 – 9:45 pm
Hmmm… “You people”. Could it be the dumbed down version of…?
Isn’t it obvious? The ruling class republicans only deigns to attack their enemies.
That would be us.
“Obama is the pig that needs to be slaughtered.”
And the GOP is the great whore whose cup overflows with abominations. We know how that ended …
I have been paying at the Entry Level for some time now. I have not yet upgraded for 2 reasons:
1) I work in Real Estate, in rentals, and the market has been sucking for a while
2) I come to PJ Media, and literally have to stay away from certain articles because, dollars’ll get you donuts, I will find CANCEROUSLY IGNORANT POTTY-MOUTH PUSTULES like Cynical Wonder and now BostonLib “gracing” us with the foulest-smelling emanations from anybody’s (and I do mean the entire human population, living and dead, dating back to the rise of Homo Sapiens, and quite possibly extending out as far as Homo Sapiens is a living, extant species) nether blowholes
Is there a CoC? Please enforce it.
So, I guess an ad depicting a young Obama look alike sitting down to a nice dinner of puppy dog would be taken all in good fun as well?
Or a Saturday Night Live type skit with Obama sticking his fingers in his ears while Reverend Wright cursed the United States. All in good fun after all. And all taken from historical fact.
Romney should pony up his tax records for the last ten years or so. And to be fair Mr. Obama should make public his entry status and school records for his time at Columbia and Harvard.
And every time I hear yet another attack on Romney as a rich white Mormon I will write it off as more racist attacks by the Obama campaign.
He’s so rich, he must not be honest, critics charge. Where were they when JFK ran on his dad’s money and John Kerry on his wife’s money? And did any Democrat candidates give their inherited riches from dad to charity, as Romney did? Hmmm?
Well, the Chicago democrats are right, Romney needs to quit whining an get with the musical character assassination program: how about one of his pacs getting Crazy Yankovich to do Barack the Magic Negro with that rich black antisemitic Reverend Wright ranting in the background? Hey, monkey see monkey do, but I can just see those democrats having a major emotional meltdown in full drama queen mode. Just because Ed Rendell, a white male democrat,can publish a well received book “A Nation of Wusses…” doesn’t mean the republicans have to be band aids and cream puffs too.
Well, if we’re going to start throwing mud like this and it isn’t even Labor Day, I would hate to see what the commercials are going to be like in October! This is going to get ugly real fast. Perhaps Romney can make an ad with Obama “slow-jammin” with Jimmy Fallon and show all the jobs that were lost over the last four years? While Obama was singing, real jobs were being lost by real people, in the thousands. I guess that’s something for Obama to sing about.
This is going to get ugly real fast.
It already has. I don’t think that a presidential candidate has been accused of a felony by his opponent in at least 100 years.
Perhaps Romney can make an ad with Obama “slow-jammin” with Jimmy Fallon and show all the jobs that were lost over the last four years?
I like it.
Obama slow-jamming while the economy crumbles.
Once one cuts through all the crap that has washed ashore, one will hopefully end voting for the next President of the USA by not the color his/her skin but by the content of his character.IMOH
I think that’s great. “I have a DREAM”. “I have a DREEAM of the day when AALLL those who vote in the presidential election, whether black or white, make their choice by the content of the candidate’s character NOT by the color of his SKIIN.” “I HAVE A DREAM.”
This in black and white by some one who kinda looks and sounds like MLK and delivered from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
Remember all those strutting Romney Republicans who defended disreputable attacks on fellow Republicans during the debates/primaries? The superPacs (especially) were accused by many of acting like schoolyard bullies. How accurate. Just look around you now.
Precious little evidence the Romney camp can cope with Obama’s well-funded and well-oiled professional smear machine. Pouting and waffle about a bloody nose won’t do it: “I think it is troubling that they would mock somebody who was singing ‘God Bless America’ ”. Troubling? God help us, the rest of us think it is troubling any senior Romney drone would sign off as ‘troubled’.
So much dirt exists on Obama, the simple effective tactic is: 1/ up the ante every time a smear is launched; 2/ scream and shout like a liberal until the noise starts to die down; 3/ then emphasize the positive, if possible.
Is it possible? Many of us committed to defeating Obama see little positive in Romney, just an empty suit with a sense of entitlement. What the hell does he believe? Where does he want to take the country and why?
Surely, most voters want to know too, and soon.
Says who…? The MSM (Ministry of Socialist Mindwashing)?? Maybe you need to start getting your source of news from the REAL media.
Well, I think the majority of you, it seems, are wrong. Romney’s ads seem pretty straight-foward, to the point, and effective. If he made more aggressive or insulting ads the only purpose would be to placate all the fuming conservatives out there. And that will do what? Conservatives are not looking for a political messiah. Romney is all he needs to be. Tempered, showing resolve, and with a record of actual job creation. This election is about putting Obama out of the White House and getting someone in who is at least competent, and who isn’t about redistributing wealth. Independents will probably once again decide this election, and they are not simply going to become fuming conservatives if Romnyy were to be more aggressive and try to match Obama’s ridiculous tactics. They need to see someone who is professional and mature.
The only ones who are sticking with these Bain attacks and Swiss bank accounts are people already in the bag for Obama. His attacks so far are a joke. Most people do not begrudge Romney for his wealth. I say, let the Obama take their gamble to the hilt. Let them let it ride, because it’s obvious they simply assumed that there must be someone with Romney’s business record only BECAUSE he was very succesful. The people in the Obama administration and many of his supporters automatically assume anyone with such wealth has cheated. The ones at the top probably feel they even know this, because they probably witness it all the time. Things that probably happen all the time, and in this case they are gambling that Romney has things too, and they simply have assumed that they are going to find that something.
This is why they keep picking away at the tax returns. They know something is there. They believe this. Romney doesn’t need to appease them, because it is just accusation. Just like when Obama ignored how many Senators and thousands of citizens, some prominent, most not, about his birth certificate. Again, anyone who holds Romney to these accusations is already an Obama-certified voter.
If you give a mouse a cookie…
Well said!
Independents will probably once again decide this election, and they are not simply going to become fuming conservatives if Romnyy were to be more aggressive and try to match Obama’s ridiculous tactics.
No, ‘fuming conservative’ is a crude label stuck on anyone who isn’t Romney’s poodle. Independents — conservative, moderate and in-between — will certainly decide this election. Why would it be otherwise? — there’s no evidence of any urgency to fly the Stupid Party’s flag, nor will there be. The goal is to get rid of a dreadful president. Most country-club Republicans wouldn’t recognize an Independent if bitten on the ass by one, which is probably why the criticism is so feeble.
[Independents] need to see someone who is professional and mature.
Well, they need and want to see rather more than that, as you surely know. Forget where I read it so can’t give credit where it’s due, but the Romney/GOP slogan might as well be WE SUCK LESS! Many of us are…er…troubled to the point of finding it troubling, as Madden might say. Apparently, that comes as a surprise.
Romney has every right to run his campaign as he sees fit. Right now, he makes John McCain look good.
yep, it got McCain within about 13% of obama. Just ignore all of the insane frothing attacks.
Should work just as well for Romney. I predict the landslide will be in the high single digits this time.
But don’t worry, the nice guys will make their billions in the next four years, as planned.
This is all the Bamster and his minions have going for them and Romney should be prepared for more of the same. The news media is going to pretend that O’s attacks are ‘serious questions.’ Well, they can also add their careers to what will eventually be the bonfire of liberalism once O’s reign of error gets four more.
My advice to the demoids is that it’s better for them to take their medicine now, as in lose this election rather than support this monstrous misfire. The general consensus now is that O isn’t just incompetent; rather, he’s shooting for a Cloward-Piven hole-in-one to bring down the US and build it back up again in the lefty image. The miscalculation behind this is absolutely mindboggling—it could only have been dreamed up in a faculty lounge the day they were serving LSD flavored tea and marijuana brownies. The other big problem with this genius gameplan is that a majority of the electorate will be so enraged four years from now that they will be strongly motivated to take it out on the dem party for a long time to come.
Had it not been for RINO 41 making a deal with those ‘gentlemen’ across the aisle Reagan-Bush would have lasted sixteen years instead of twelve. O will do infinitely worse than just piss-off some independents. But he isn’t likely to get a second term; after all, how many times can O get out the druggie vote?—last time around they thought he was talking about free drugs not free healthcare.
– brag about your master’s record.
Romney did this to Newt and Santorum and now Romney is whining just like Newt. At least Rick took it like a man. Now Republicans like Will, two Southern Gov’s (Bentley and Barbour), and Bill Kristol are begging Mitt to release his tax returns. However Mitt knows he can’t or he’s toast. Mitt during the summer will die a thousand cuts.
What we are witnessing is story telling starting when Mitt was young and got kids to help him cut the hair of a gay person in his private school and force him to tell everyone “I remember nothing” like he’s some Col Klink. Of course everyone knew he didn’t have the backbone to say he remembered it. They are saying this was a sheltered person who is out of touch and it’s working and it’s going to get worse.
No one likes Mitt and that’s a big problem.
You do realize, Boston Liberal, that Romney has indeed released the tax returns for the past two calendar years, right? Those returns showed a man that engaged in no nefarious tax schemes and donated a sizable portion of his investment income to charity.
Your argument is false. Your comment is not germane to the article. Your desperation is showing.
Jill you do realize he only released 1 years tax returns so far as his 2011 returns have not been finished as he will wait until Oct 16th probably before releasing them. As for what the tax returns did show was many foreign accounts that somehow his federal disclosure never disclosed. Like his father said one years tax returns can be fixed up to show anything the person wants. I know Mitt is hiding something most Americans would not like.
I’m excited because there will be some more new items today pinning him to being active at Bain after 1999.
The conservatives are now stuck with someone nobody likes and it’s only going to get worse.
A Mitt ad that simpy says, “I’ll release my tax returns when Obama releases the ast & furious documents in full unredacted condition.”
That will put the tax return issue to rest.
If you think that then you’re not very bright. Most people will not understand all the fuss about fast and furious as I suspect you don’t know much about it but what you hear at Fox. People understand not wanting to show taxes and what someone might be hiding. Fast and Furious – who cares they will think as that’s just politics.
How’s about a Latma-like parody of the notorious secret party videotape for Obama’s old PLO pal Rashid Khalidi — the tape the Los Angeles Times refused to release in 2008, and still keeps locked up to this very day?
Rather than Kate Smith singing “God Bless America,” Jeremiah Wright opens up singing “God Damn America” instead.
Rashid and Barack do a nostalgic duet of the children’s ditty, “Wipe With Your Left, Eat With Your Right.”
Then, as William Ayers tramples on the flag to “The Star-Spangled Banner,” Obama stands up cupping his balls.
If Saturday Night Live had the balls, they could follow your script. Do you think the LA Times still has the tape or have they burned it. Come the second revolution, remember the enemies responsible for covering up Obama’s background, the liberal media.
Snap Quiz: Who paid BO’s Harvard Law Tuition? Hint: the Saudi Prince who also funded C.A.I.R.
Who wrote Dreams From My Father? Hint: an unrepentant terrorist.
Which state issued BO’s most used social security card? Hint: a New England state close to NY.
Which of these are sealed? BO’s Hawaian school records, his passport records, his Occidental College records, his Columbia College records, his Harvard Law records, his law firm records. No Hints. Do your own homework.
Meanwhile, in other news, Obama sings as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIajeW6xPnI
Goose, gander, makes no difference.
“The simple point is, if you’re telling the SEC that you’re in charge but you’re telling the American people that you bear no responsibility, one of those things is not true,” Cutter said.”
The simple point is, Cutter:
If your guy lieas about sitting in a pew wek afer week with an USA and whitey hater, if your guy claims he has not phoned or emailed a terrorist — but fails to disclose he visits with him (Ayers) at BBQs and starts his political career at a party hosted by Ayers, if your guy has joined the socialist New Party (as financial records show), and if your guy has ACORN scrub the picture of him working with them, etc, etc, (lots more to write here by me and others Cutter), then your guy is a liar and not fit to head any high office in America. In Russia or China, yes. Here? no.
You know something? I *like* unfair, disgusting attack ads.
Especially against a candidate I tend to prefer.
Why?
Simple.
You’re running to be the friggin’ PRESIDENT of the friggin’ UNITED STATED OF AMERICA.
If you can’t fight — and win — because of an unfair and disgusting political TV commercial, what are your chances of getting anything done while dealing with a hostile congress, let alone a hostile Iran?
What Romney should do is attack back. Not defend and make excuses and demand apologies (not that he is, I’m speaking in general).
Candidates getting all huffy about unfair ads always seem — to me — to be saying: “dammit, why didn’t anybody tell me life is unfair and I will meet frustration BEFORE I ran for president!”. You really want someone like that as president?
I think dealing with unfair ads is one of the way we get to see the true character of the candidate, which always comes out for all of us when we deal with frustration and unfairness.
If the Cutter quote at the end is really what they believe – then how about this very similar statement -
“The simple point is, if you’re telling the (American People) that you’re in charge but you’re telling the American people that you bear no responsibility (for the results), one of those things is not true.”
For as the President keeps telling us all, he’s in charge, and as he takes credit for everything, yet if it doesn’t work out, it’s someone else’s fault.
Alternatively, if being accused of being a felon (for following legal and regulatory requirements) is supposedly a character flaw and a reason not to support someone for high office, then wouldn’t admitting in your biography that you engaged in activities that actually are felonies (smoking pot and trying cocaine) be even more of a flaw and a disqualification for high office?
Do these people ever think through the ramifications of their arguments?
I did’nt see anything objectionable in this add! They want him to appear Hokey and unsophisticated, (OK?) This Hokey unsophisticated guy has accomplished outsourcing? We should’nt vote for him because he will never be a reccording star? The Democratic Base is either clued in to the dirty tricks os ignorant of them, clued in is always voting left. Ignorant? Did’nt even see the flash cards. Sides they aint flipping, Obama fones for every pocket!