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Subscribe to RSSPriorities USA’s ad, attempting to link Mitt Romney to a woman dying of cancer, has been declared out-of-bounds and below-the-belt by independent fact-checkers. And because of it, the Obama campaign and White House has tried to distance itself from it by claiming it didn’t know the man’s story in the ad.
But there was a shift yesterday. Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Air Force One yesterday: “No one is denying that he was in a campaign -- one of our campaign ads. He was on a conference call telling his story.”
The campaign and spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter had earlier suggested they didn’t know his details: “I don't know the facts of when Joe Soptic's wife got sick or when she died,” she said.
Obama adviser Robert Gibbs said on “Morning Joe” Wednesday: “This is an ad by an entity that's not controlled by the campaign. I certainly don't know the specifics of this man's case.”
This once again highlights the phony separation between the campaigns and Super PACs, which BOTH sides are guilty of.
Politico and Yahoo wrap the Priorities flap.
Maggie Haberman writes: “[I]t's worth noting that neither side — either the campaigns themselves or the super PACs — have been known for the high road this cycle. The pro-Mitt Romney super PAC Restore Our Future accused Newt Gingrich of supporting China's brutal one-child policy, for instance — and the pro-Gingrich super PAC was the one that first launched Bain-related attacks. Obama backers and Democrats also demanded Romney renounce ads that a super PAC funded by businessman Joe Ricketts had discussed that would feature the president's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.”
In Wisconsin, Obama leads Romney 50-43% among all voters (50-45% among likelies) in a new Marquette Law School poll. He gets a 50% approval rating. Obama’s favorability rating is 53/42%. Romney, meanwhile, is a net-negative – 36%/48%.
USA Today: "People using Twitter in swing states -- with the heaviest doses of political advertising -- appear to have developed a very negative view of both President Obama and Mitt Romney. In tweets from 12 key battleground states, sentiment toward Romney had been generally more favorable than Obama early this summer, and Romney's Twitter favorability was higher in swing states than nationally. But by mid-July, the Republican presidential candidate's advantage had dropped off, and he and Obama were both mired in swing state tweet doldrums, with bottom-end ratings below their already low national scores. These are the first results of the swing state sampe of the USA Today/Twitter Electino Meter. The meter tracks the daily Twitter Political Index, a measurement of national Twitter sentiment toward Romney and Obama."
MASSACHUSETTS: “The cloud stirred up by a group’s effort to increase voter registration among Massachusetts welfare recipients dovetails with the Democrats’ primary plan for winning this fall’s US Senate race, even if it is not sanctioned by the Patrick administration or state Democratic party,” the Boston Globe’s Johnson writes. “That plan is this: increase turnout among traditional liberal Democratic constituencies by all means possible, swamping Senator Scott Brown and the Republican Party during a presidential year. Brown’s rival, Harvard Law School professor Elizabeth Warren, is doing her part with tough talk about Wall Street, as well as policy proposals including an infrastructure plan aimed at winning votes from lunchbucket Democrats such as labor unions. … And now Brown and the Massachusetts Republican Party are charging that Patrick’s administration itself, as well as an outside group guided by Warren’s own daughter, are trying to do their part by spending public funds to increase turnout among welfare recipients. That’s the kind of downtrodden constituency that usually leans toward the Democrats and their belief in a strong social safety net. The challenge to all that is that by tacking hard to the left, Warren and her party risk alienating unenrolled voters. At 52 percent of all registered voters, they represent the majority of the Massachusetts electorate.” But: “Never mind that such outreach is compelled by the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, also known as the ‘motor voter’ law that has already made registration commonplace at the Registry of Motor Vehicles.”
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Any ad that points to the truth about Willard Romney is fine. Willard's team runs plenty of the "below-the-belt" ads.
Obama - Biden 2012 Forward with the Truth!!!
too bad there was no truth to the ad in question troll.
As for the Priorities USA ad, the GOP won't get much traction by accusing the Democrats of dirty tricks. The GOP wrote the book on those.
agreed, the people that invented "swiftboating" are now complaining when the same tactics are used against them? They need to put on their big boy pants and man up.
The republicans don't have any big boy pants Detroit-Storm. Willard has his mama jeans, will that work. If the republicans couldn't whine and cry like a bunch of babies they wouldn't have any reason to get out of bed in the morning. Their like the little boy (republicans) on the play ground who keeps running to the teacher (country) and whining their picking on me. The teacher (country) knows he's a tattle tale so we ignore him (them), kind of like the majority of the country ignore the republicans. As I said earlier, you need to start looking toward 2016. Maybe given 4 years you can rid yourselves of the tea people for good. Nah you had four years this time and look what you chose for you candidate.
Voters find negative attack ads useful, not so much for their content, but as a means of judging the attacked candidate's reaction.
In 2008 Obama was attacked for his minister's fiery rhetoric. Did he cry foul? No, he gave a great speech about race in America.
That reaction turned out to be a good predicter for his approach as President. You can see it in his approach on foreign policy and in domestic policy. He is always trying to turn problems into opportuities. Always saying "we will come out stronger for facing this crisis." Romney's reaction is more like Bush - very pessimistic and heavy on self-righteous outrage. If any one has reason for self pity, in the face of personal attacks, it's Obama, but he just brushes it off (famously)
Job 1
I know your in love with the President. But even Tina Turner got rid of Ike. When are you going to see this man is horrible for the Country. That he has done nothing to improve the nation and has saddled my Grand Kids with debt that they had no say in creating just so a man could buy votes.
Wake up for once.
Actually, the President is doing a Great Job! If you are worried about your Grand Kids, then don't vote for Willard Romney.
What amazes so many, is the fact that this foolish man, Willard Mitt-Wit Romney the talking lying buffoon, is the Republican choice for President of the United States. You people really sit your bar low.
rukidding47
jobs lost in 2008 - 2.6 million
jobs lost Jan-March 2009 - another 2 million
Jobs gained in 2012 - 1,059,000
jobs gained in 2011 - 1,840,000
Jan of 2009 (Bush) - 818,000 jobs lost while Jan of 2012 (Obama) - 275,000 jobs gained.
that would be considered improvement.
If you want to pay down the debt, tell your Republican Congressmen to go back to the Clinton tax rates.
Great points Bayllie - and that is probably why the President is leading in every poll today, we all remember how bad it really was in 2008 and 2009, and most of us still remember what a hard time the working/middle class had in the late 80's and early 90's. Trickle down never works, never had, never will, time to put that debunked theory in the grave and move on to something that worked very well in the 50's & 60's - paying the working class a good wage with good benefits. Happier workers (well paid with good benefits and caring bosses) always are more productive than under paid, under benefits, and not well treated workers, which makes for a more productive and prosprous economy. That came from one of my college exams a couple of years ago as I beefed up my business communications degree and as I have lived both wasy, I totally agree. My priorites for 2012 - vote out and agains every republican in any race.
Hope and change have worked exceedingly well for me and my working/middle class family, thanks for asking! (my favorite bummper sticker of this election).
Obama - Biden 2012 Forward with the Truth!!!
Obama and truth - oxymoron.
Oxymoron - Limbaugh will bring the oxy, Palin brings the moron
Haha, still laughing at that one Detroit Storm - classic, thanks!
Maybe I am naive--just as naive as the Supreme Court pretended to be--but the article mentions "coordinating" between the campaigns and the ads--but they are talking about superpac ads, and wasn't the SCOTUS gentlemen's agreement that no "coordinating" would ever, my goodness, take place?
Union Baby, Tennessee
Thanks, Union Baby. I guess according to the righties, "jobs lost" is better than "jobs gained."
At least they are consistent at one thing: attempting to make President Obama a one term president even if it means sacrificing the country. Instead, they want a D- governor who failed at jobs growth in a teeny weeny Massachusetts.
bayllie The left (dems) will not let the tax rates go back to the Clinton rates!!! The middle class would scream! With the Bush tax cuts the bottom rate went from 15% to 10%, a decrease of 33%, the # paying no federal income taxes went from 25% to 47% and even those who paid no federal income taxes got refunds (refundable tax credits)!!! Even with this the Dems call the Bush tax cuts "tax breaks for the wealthy" and "tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires". This is because it fosters their class warfare (buys votes from the other 98%) and promotes redistribution of the wealth ("spread the wealth" as proposed by your president).
rukidding you need to put your hate down, quite listening to liar Limbaugh and lying Fox and get some real facts. Your republican daily rant is getting old. And most of the country also see's the hate of the right is disgusting. You are wondering why Willard is sinking in the polls? It's mostly conservative republicans like you with your daily hate rant against President Obama. Also, a majority of the country doesn't like liars and that's all you republicans have is lies.
LIARS??????? how about Stephanie Cutter? HArry Senile Reid? Gibbs, Axelrod? CArney?? Get a clue.
First priority should be to get out and vote come this November. This country can not afford to have a republican president, with majorities in the House which they already have and a shift in majority in the Senate. For if that would to happen, Can the people of this country afford to lose their jobs, their homes and possibly end homeless, if the republican party continues the Bush policies? How much will it cost the people of this country in lost benefits?
Well, since it was gonna become ugly anyway (remember what Willard did to Newt) this is the outcome of letting things get this way. Now because the Obama team is drawing more blood than the champions of blood letting. Those involved are crying foul. If the dirt tactics of the budget debacle didn't cause anyone to stop the bleeding. Then why stop now.
The wealthy s priorities are to get even more welfare from the Government. See to them a multimillion dollar income is not enough to live on, they need to get a welfare check from the government to survive. The republicans and the wealthy like to call it deductions, but it's plain and simple welfare for the rich. Lets analyze welfare. If the government gives money or food stamps to the poor it's welfare and that's bad. If on the other hand the government gives money or subsidies to the rich that's deductions that's good. Wake up American you been fooled long enough. Quite subsidizing the rich.
All I can say is Obama needs to focus more on this country's needs in the present time instead of worrying about getting reelected! If he would do that then he wouldn't have to worry about attacking people because we are all smart enough to see when some one is doing a good job and right now he is not that person!
Save the country - Retire Obama!!! Spending out of control equals economic disaster!!!
From comments coming from the Olympics to Australia trying to decide whether to be more of an ally to China or keep its allegiance strong to America, we see our nation declining in the world. The last 3 and 1/2 years have been the worst. No matter what the media says, the job market is NOT getting better, the dems are raising our (the little peoples) taxes and pushing us into a socialistic society!!!! How far are we from getting to a dictatorship? I am terrified to think of 4 more years of the evil Obamas in the White House leading us to no where!
14% of $20 million dollars is $2.8 million. That's quite a bit of money to pay on taxes. Do the Obamas pay their fair share? Do all the Hollywood Obama supporters pay their fair share? Do all the music stars who support the evil Obamas pay their fair share? Seems like I see something reported by the media all the time about them in trouble for NOT paying taxes. Do all the illegals who are taking all of the Social Security money or welfare money pay any taxes or have they ever? Can anyone but lifetime welfare recipients or illegals get help from welfare? We do need change and we need change from the Obamas.
If Oblamo gets re elected out debt will go to 26 Trillion. If you think thats sustainable you need to go to Greece and see how it worked out for them. They gave up cars for bikes.
Well Oblamobots, your hero gave another 235 million to another green company that went belly up, but gets better. The Chinese are going to buy the company, might as well just written a check to the Chinese. NOBAMA 2012.
I'm very disturbed by the comments attacking Romney's Mormom religion. I'm not a Mormom, and disagree with many tenets of their faith. However, my late aunt was a Mormom, and she was a decent woman who was neither weak nor subservient to her husband. D Morgan comments that "the GOP wants to elect a Mormom cultist." Such vitriolic anti- religious views are as unfair and ridiculous as when people accuse Obama as secretly being a Muslim. I'm a former life-long Democrat, now a registered Independent, since neither party fully reflects my views. I support gun control, war only as a last resort, and government assistance to the poor, elderly ,disabled and other vulnerable persons, without creating a culture of dependency. I also oppose the death penalty, and legal abortion (except in the rare instances to save the mother's life). Any standard biology text will confirm that a new human being comes into existence at fertilization: after all, each one of us was once an embryo. The anti-abortion movement is broad based. It includes not only Catholics, but Orthodox Christians, evangelical Christians, and many Orthodox Jews. Even journalist Nat Hentoff, who is a self-described Jewish atheist and former Board Member of the NY chapter of the ACLU, opposes legal abortion. It's tragic that some women used to die from illegal abortions. But consider this. The late Dr. Bernard Nathanson, ex-abortionist and co-founder of "Pro-Choice America," admitted in his book "Aborting America" that he and his fellow pro-choice activists deliberately falsely exaggerated such maternal deaths. I might add that thousands of Americans die annually from cocaine and heroin overdoses. Yet, would it be wise to legalize these drugs? The early feminists were against legal abortion (though they supported contraception, as I do). Susan B. Anthony, who helped win women the right to vote, opposed legal abortion. Quaker Alice Paul, author of the original E.R.A., in 1921 called abortion "the ultimate exploitation of women." Polls today indicate that many women favor abortion restrictions. These include support for parental consent laws for minor teen girls, opposition to partial-birth abortions, and federally funded-abortion-on-demand. Some 3000 pro-life agencies provide women with compassionate care for themselves and their developing babies; most are not government funded. Although Obama has done some good, and Romney is too conservative for me, I will reluctantly vote for him. The President's HHS regulations will force Catholic and other religious hospitals to provide employee health insurance that will require them to dispense abortion drugs. According to a June 2012 Associated Press report, one out of six Americans receive healthcare from Catholic hospitals. When these and other religious hospitals close-and sadly they will- think of the resulting misery. Remaining hospitals will be overwhelmed by patients. With respect, it's a myth that there's an absolute separation of church and state. The abolitionists-people of both races and various creeds-were largely motivated by moral principles, and their beliefs were enshrined in our Constitution. Rev. Martin Luther King of the commendable civil rights movement was joined by people of many races and creeds. There's also the Rev. Daniel Berrigan, noted anti-war and anti-abortion leader. Incidentally, Rev. King also opposed legal abortion-on-demand, as confirmed by his niece, Rev. Alveda King, a woman who has had, and regretted, several abortions. The Peace center of Delaware County , PA (where I live) is heavily involved in partisan politica, and is located in a Quaker Meeting House. My former Congressman, Bob Edgar, is a Methodist minister. During aa failed U.S. Senate bid in 1990, he preached from the pulpit, soliciting votes. Both liberal Rev. Al Sharpton and conservative Rev. Pat Robertson have run for President. Mrs. Obama recently made a speech before black pastors. She said words to the effect that there wwas no better palce to discuss moral/political issues than in church. Seems to me that it's only fair that ALL Americans-regardless of party, class, gender, faith, or lackthereof-should have the right to speak out in the public square. I'm neither rich nor ignorant (the typical stereotype of a Romney voter). Without being prideful, I have a degree in Special Education, and have for 25 years worked with disabled persons in various capacities. I'm now partly disabled myself, and work part-time with a young man with severe muscular dystrophy. Hardly a high paying job, but I enjoy the work. Yes, it's true that Romney flip-flopped from being pro-choice to pro-life. But the same is true for Rev. Jesse Jackson. (See his speech published in the 1977 issue of the National Right to Life News). As Senator, our Vice President also voted for a ban on partial-birth abortions, and usually voted against federally funded abortion-on-demand. When Robert Bork was nominated to the Supreme Court, Biden praised him as being a fine jurist, and pledged to vote for him. Obviously, he now simply tows the Democratic line. Both major parties have hypocrisy and corruption within their ranks. But , no party is perfect (as none of us are). We simply need to simply vote for whichever candidate we think is best, and stop the bitter name-calling.