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As Ohio has become almost a must-win state for Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, he has sought to blur distinctions between himself and President Barack Obama on the issue of the 2009 auto bailouts.
A new TV ad playing to erroneous fears that Jeep might move its manufacturing from Ohio to China caps a prolonged effort by Romney to recast his opposition to Obama's actions to prop up an industry that employs one in eight of Ohio's voters.
Romney has sought to reframe his criticism of Obama's handling of the 2009 rescue of General Motors and Chrysler in an effort to combat the president's usage of the bailout to court swing voters in the Buckeye State. The GOP nominee has argued it was Obama who took the companies bankrupt, and has argued that he would be a better president for beleaguered autoworkers.
Mitt Romney campaigns in the critical battleground state of Ohio as a poll shows a dead heat between the governor and President Obama. Watch the entire speech.
And a new television ad airing in Toledo and Youngstown, Ohio, the Romney campaign raises the specter of production of Jeeps moving from the U.S. to China, an assertion which Jeep's Italian parent company has said is blatantly false.
Related: Ohio governor says Romney will carry Buckeye State
The GOP candidate's new tack represents an effort to play offense on the issue of auto bailouts in the final eight days of the campaign. Obama has used Romney's opposition to the 2008-09 rescue to great effect in Ohio and other Midwestern states, where the former Massachusetts governor must perform well if he's to have any hope of being elected president.
"You saw in the debates that Barack Obama said a few things that were, as he said, whoppers," Ohio Sen. Rob Portman said at a Romney rally on Monday in Cleveland. "He turned to Mitt Romney and said, 'You wanted to take those companies through bankruptcy and not provide them any federal aid.' Let me tell you, I supported a rescue package for the autos, but what Barack Obama said was simply not true. And by the way, it was Barack Obama who took GM and Chrysler through bankruptcy."
Ohio Gov. John Kasich tells David Gregory that the job creators deserve the credit for helping raise Ohio's economic growth.
Ohio's Republican governor, John Kasich, also suggested Sunday on "Meet the Press" that the bailout hadn't been as great as Obama might suggest.
"We are thrilled that we have a strong auto industry," he argued, "but it doesn't account for the growth of 112,000 jobs in our state."
But it was the Jeep ad in particular that marked the culmination of an effort by Romney over the past 18 months to reframe the auto debate on friendlier terms.
"Obama took GM and Chrylser into bankruptcy and sold Chrysler to Italians, who are going to build Jeeps in China," the narrator of the ad says as a clip of a disputed Bloomberg News report appears onscreen, saying Chrysler "plans to return Jeep output to China."
The original Bloomberg report became fodder for conservatives, including Romney, who said last week in Ohio that Jeep "is thinking of moving all production to China." But Jeep's ownership has said it isn't planning to move any U.S. production to China; rather, the automaker is establishing new capacity in China to build vehicles that will be sold in China.
But the ad plays to those ill-founded fears. A fair viewing of the ad might leave that impression with a voter, though the language in the ad is so narrowly tailored that it can't be directly disputed.
That could make a difference in a battleground territory like northwest Ohio, the home to a major Jeep plant that employs thousands of Toledoans and almost left the area in the late 1990s until the city stepped forward to offer hundreds of millions in tax credits.
The Obama campaign responded with a TV ad of its own, accusing the GOP nominee of being "wrong then" and "dishonest now."
"It reeks of desperation, because that's what it is," Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said Monday on a conference call.
But the Jeep ad is just one component of Romney's months-long effort to better couch his opposition to the bailout.
FIRST READ: Romney's chances in Ohio tied to softening bailout stance
Romney, whose father was an auto executive before becoming governor of Michigan, penned an op-ed shortly after the 2008 election, infamously titled, "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt." The piece for the New York Times opposed the loans for the companies that then-outgoing President George W. Bush and some Republicans (including Paul Ryan, the Wisconsin congressman who would become Romney's vice presidential nominee) had favored, calling instead for a managed bankruptcy for GM and Chrysler with government support for the companies' warranties and for post-bankruptcy financing offered by private lenders.
Obama eventually embarked upon a different course. His administration negotiated a managed bankruptcy with bondholders, autoworkers' unions and the companies' leadership, while occasionally injecting the companies with capital drawn from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) in order to stave off a more drastic bankruptcy, and possible liquidation.
Democrats contend that no private financing was available to the auto companies during the bailout, and the government was the only actor equipped to provide the companies with a lifeline while simultaneously negotiating their bankruptcy, from which GM and Chrysler immediately emerged.
The Daily Rundown's Chuck Todd reports with the latest.
The bailout was unpopular at the time, derided by Republicans as a favor for unions, since autoworkers' pensions — in conservatives' view — were favored over dealers and other secured bondholders. Indeed, the Indiana State Police Pension Fund sued to prevent the deal from going forward, but it was rejected by the Supreme Court.
RELATED: Auto politics haunt Romney in NW Ohio
GM and Chrysler both rebounded in the months following the bailout to improve sales and profits, allowing the companies to pay off their loans from the government more quickly than expected. Their success has been heralded ever since by Democrats as a gutsy and successful example of Obama's leadership at the height of the Great Recession.
And since that time, Romney has — at alternating moments — both embraced and rejected central elements of Obama's decision making.
The Republican nominee has argued that it was his original idea, rather than Obama's, to put the auto companies through bankruptcy, though Romney's proposed process would have differed immensely. (Romney's plan wouldn't have necessarily forced GM and Chrysler into liquidation, nor was that what the governor had advocated — contrary to the president's suggestion during this month's debate.)
Romney was most pointedly forced to confront his opposition to the bailout during the Michigan and Ohio primaries in late February and early March. The Michigan native repeatedly called himself a "car guy" while campaigning near the Motor City, and appeared driving a Chrysler in a TV ad.
And Romney took to the editorial page of the Detroit News, where he accused Obama of "crony capitalism" in the bailout and said the companies would have been better off without Obama's intervention.
"Instead of doing the right thing and standing up to union bosses, Obama rewarded them," Romney wrote.
FLASHBACK: How much support would Romney have given to automakers?
As with a number of other issues since the primary, Romney, the Republican standard-bearer, has tried to soften the edges of some of his harder-charging rhetoric during the primaries.
"I’m a son of Detroit. I was born in Detroit. My dad was head of a car company. I like American cars. And I would do nothing to hurt the U.S. auto industry. My plan to get the industry on its feet when it was in real trouble was not to start writing checks," Romney said at the third and final debate a week ago against Obama.
The GOP nominee's claim prompted the president to accuse Romney of trying to "airbrush history."
Speaking Monday in Youngstown, Ohio, former President Bill Clinton got in on the action. He said Chrysler "put out a statement sayin' it was the biggest load of bull in the world" in reference of the Jeep-to-China rumors.
"He ties himself in more knots than a Boy Scout does in a knot-tying contest," Clinton said of Romney.
Reuters, Getty Images
In the final push in the 2012 presidential election, candidates Mitt Romney and Barack Obama make their last appeals to voters.
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I have never seen a liar like Mitt Romney. This man will say or do anything to be president. I hope the people of Ohio see this man for the true liar that he represents. Romney has no integrity or morals. The audacity to put fear in the hearts of the Ohio citizens is absolutely wrong and heartless. This man will do anything or say anything to get a vote. This is a sign of desperation. I hope this is the last straw for the people of Ohio. This man cannot be trusted to tell the truth. Therefore, how can the American people trust him to be in control of our government?
Obama/Biden 2012
This man will say or do anything to be president. I hope the people of Ohio see this man for the true liar that he represents.
Yea, that's how Charles Woods feels about Obummer who has his son's blood on his hands.
I would say that all the folks in attendance that came out in support of Romney at the same rally also fell for the promise of FREE MEATLOAF, after all red state voters are the largest recpeipents of free Gov't stuff, as contrary to their own beleif that the libs are the welfare Queens. Here is some facts on taxes paid by state per payments back to the states, what do you see, you red state welfare Queens are really the one on the Gov,t Dole.
Federal Tax Dollars Received Per Tax Dollars Paid Per State
New Jersey receives 0.61 for each tax dollar paid. Nevada receives 0.65 per tax dollar paid. Connecticut receives 0.69 for each tax dollar paid New Hampshire receives 0.71 for each tax dollar it pays. Minnesota receives 0.72 per tax dollar paid. Illinois receives 0.75 for each tax dollar it pays. Delaware receives 0.77 per tax dollar paid. California receives 0.78 per tax dollar paid.
New York receives 0.79 per tax dollar paid. Colorado receives 0.81 per tax dollar paid. Massachusetts receives 0.82 for each tax dollar it pays. Wisconsin receives 0.86 per tax dollar paid. Washington receives 0.88 per tax dollar paid. Michigan receives 0.92 per tax dollar paid. Texas receives 0.94 per tax dollar paid. Florida receives 0.97 for each tax dollar it pays. Oregon receives 0.98 per tax dollar paid. Rhode Island receives 1.00 per tax dollar paid. Georgia receives 1.01 per tax dollar paid.
Indiana receives 1.05 for each tax dollar it pays. Ohio receives 1.05 per tax dollar paid. Pennsylvania receives 1.07 per tax dollar paid. Utah receives 1.07 per tax dollar paid. North Carolina receives 1.08 per tax dollar paid. Vermont receives 1.08 for each tax dollar it pays. Iowa receives 1.10 per tax dollar paid. Nebraska receives 1.10 per tax dollar paid. Wyoming receives 1.11 per tax dollar paid. Kansas receives 1.12 for each tax dollar it pays.
Arizona receives 1.19 per tax dollar paid. Idaho receives 1.21 per tax dollar paid. Tennessee receives 1.27 per tax dollar paid. Maryland receives 1.30 for each tax dollar it pays. Missouri receives 1.32 per tax dollar paid. South Carolina receives 1.35 per tax dollar paid. Oklahoma receives 1.36 per tax dollar paid. Arkansas receives 1.41 per tax dollar paid. Maine receives 1.41 per tax dollar paid. Hawaii receives 1.44 per tax dollar paid. Montana receives 1.47 per tax dollar paid.
Kentucky receives 1.51 per tax dollar paid. Virginia receives 1.51 per tax dollar paid. South Dakota receives 1.53 per tax dollar paid. Alabama receives 1.66 per tax dollar paid. North Dakota receives 1.68 per tax dollar paid. West Virginia receives 1.76 per tax dollar paid. Louisiana receives 1.78 per tax dollar paid. Alaska receives 1.84 per tax dollar paid. Mississippi receives 2.02 per tax dollar paid. New Mexico receives 2.03 per tax dollar paid.
But, but, but what about California the light house for the welfare queens.
Mitty boy is so full of it. Now he is trying to rewrite history, change what he said earlier when he really screwed himself badly. Sorry Mitty Boy, you put your foot, ankle, knee and hip in your mouth, now live with your failures. If my grandfather were alive today I know exactly what he would say about Mitty Boy, "Man looks and acts like a suck egg mule, hasn't got a lick of sense, should have been neutered a long, long time ago." Enough said.
It used to be Mitt the Witt,
Now he is openly known as a MITT THE LIAR, with facts to back it, often his own words, depending on what speech he is giving today and to whom is in attendance.
As my Dad used to say, " SON IF IT LOOKS LIKE BULLSh!T, SMELLS LIKE BULL SH!T, FEELS LIKE BULL SH!T, MY BET IS, IT IS BULL SH!T. NEVER TRUST A LIAR 'CAUSE HE WILL STEAL FROM YOU TOO SON"!
OBAMA'S ROLLING STONE QOUTE APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN ANOTHER TRUTH SAID.
"KIDS ARE SMART, THEY USUALLY KNOW A BULLSH!TTER" are you adult RepubliCONS smarter than a 5th grader evidently not!
Kids are not good judges of character. If you make any effort to fool them it's easy to do.
Kids are usually ignorant about peoples character and its easy to take advantage of them. To think otherwise is naive.
Obama can bullsh!t them almost as easy as he does his disciples.
Jeep quickly released a statement denying the charge saying it had no intentions of closing its U.S. operations in fact, it is adding 1,1000 jobs at one facility in Michigan and spending $500 million to refurbish and expand its Toledo, Ohio plant. The union gave up the right to strike through 2015 and ended automatic pay raises. Back in 2007, it had agreed to a two-tiered wage scale that allowed the companies to hire new workers at much lower pay. Between the new wage rates and the savings from taking over retiree health costs, labor costs fell by about a third and are now on par with those of the foreign car makers.
There is no national minimum wage in China. Typical provincial minimum wages over there are about 200 dollars per month. Building jeeps here and selling them in China helps decrease our trade deficit. Building jeeps in China does not help our trade deficit. Once Fiat sees how cheaply they can build jeeps in China instead of the United States they will be forced to eliminate the much more expensive production here unless the federal government does something to protect American manufacturers from cheap labor overseas.
All citizen's should demand a law, that all politicians be held accountable for the consequence's of there 1st Amendment Rights..
Has Romney no sense of decency? To spread out and out lies like these tells us way too much about his character and confirms how ill-suited he is to become the Presdeint of the United States. I'm appalled that the republicans can do no better than him.
After Benghazi, you want to lecture anyone about lying?
The whistleblowers are coming out, and so is the disgusting truth about your wonderboy!
Bill Clinton accuses Romney of misleading the people.
Well Billy Boy, I guess it depends on what your definition of a "lying piece of crap" is, and you sir meet that definition to a tee!
Anyone with an ounce of common sense knows better than select someone that lost their license to practicwe law for lying as their character witness!
They called Clinton "Slick Willie".
When I look at Romney, the words that come to mind are "greasy" and "oily".
Hey, Bob,
First of all, this election is not about Clinton, he's past history... But you can bet your RWNJ ass that if it were possible for him to ever run again, he'd be elected in a heartbeat. By the way, here's my definition of a "lying piece of crap"... It's called MITT ROMNEY!
"Fuggetabouit"
Ditto to Fuggetabouit!!!!
Yeah Mitt, who needs facts when you're pulling out all the stops to win! Now you support the auto bailout? Does anyone believe this guy anymore? If he wins, he'll need to pull a major Etch-a-Sketch...
Unhealthy Narcissists are not in touch with their true self, instead becoming a chameleon type of personality who seek to project an idealized image to others, and then seduce and control all others that have some value or utility for them, until that persons utility value is exhausted, and then they are dumped and abandoned without remorse by the narcissist. ( I would LOVE to talk with people who have worked around or with Mitt)
Denial of the True Self, narcissists share many common traits with bullies, but due to their ability to project a compelling false, idealised self image, and high intelligence, are more likely to “get away with it”, and escape accountability.
In a narcissist’s world, It’s all about them, as Narcissists possess no real empathy, they feign or act empathic, while they delude themselves that they are entitled to special treatment, and to not having to bother with detail or drudgery. These narcissists often gather a following of helpers or “sidekicks” to manipulate into doing any effort based work for them. Instead they spent their time managing their “image”, being a “visionary”, being “strategic”, establishing key “contacts”, that they argue only they are able to successfully do.
Some narcissistic personalities have an obsessive base in the personality where they micro-manage their own life, from work tasks to how they groom and dress, as they do not trust others or their standards of work. Other less rigid types are more focused on positioning themselves as indispensable, yet at the same time try to be unaccountable, being hard to track down, hard to get them to put things in writing, and they will avoid team roles where they are not the leader.
Where possible they will delegate the work to a co-worker or “sidekick”. Narcissists hate mundane jobs and tasks that are “beneath them” and avoid them by manipulating others where possible to do such jobs on their behalf. Narcissists necessarily include others in their life so as to get the other person to do what they are unable to do, do not want to do, or what they feel is beneath them to do.
These people often tell what should be emotional stories about events or the past in a emotionally detached way as a result. Their face may also have a broad chin/jaw muscular structure that can have a set, determined look. The jaw serves as a last line of defense in holding back a persons rage.
As a result it is quite often the narcissistic person will show a face that is literally a mask of controlled self expression, which often relates to tight muscles on the face and neck. The frozen body is mirrored in the rigid and emotionally frozen personality.
The follower will also self-delude themselves that they are privileged and “seen” and “wanted” by being hard working “special” persons of interest to the narcissist. The sidekick is essentially co-dependent with the narcissist, often having a “caretaker” or low self-image personality disorder themselves. This starts to create the basis of a cult dynamic.
Narcissists often are cult leaders or start groups that elevate them alone to a “special” status. In organizations the “special” end game is to get to the top, get on the Board of Directors, and/or be the CEO where money, power, publicity, status and greatness all lie in wait for them.
They are ruthless and exploitative in business and personal relationships, and paranoid of betrayal by others. They claim more than what is their actual entitlement without remorse, do not feel a need to justify themselves, and believe that as special, unique rules should operate in their favor. (Can you say taxes?)
In organizations while impatiently “climbing the ladder” they often try to claim their special status by demanding bonuses and recognition awards for others work, or for projects or initiatives that are not yet delivered or proven.
There are pages and pages of this information and if this doesn't scare the wits out of you in electing someone like Mitt Romney to be president.....WOW.
How long before Chrysler sues Mitt for possible damages this will incur if people stop buying their cars?
What a example of the Bush/Cheney years. Lies and deceit.
Romney,just another serial liar. He can't help himself.
You have things mixed up. It is Obama who says things that sound good at the time but turn out to be nothing but bs. That is why he has failed to keep his promises. For example, I am still waiting for the President to go over the health care bill, "line by line", with my congressman on C-SPAN as he promised that he would.
I can no longer blame Romney for all his lies. It has become very apparent that this is the only way he knows how to exist. This is so very obviously a mental health condition that he can not control. He needs help from specialist in the field of mental wellness. How ever, I do have a huge problem with those who continue to support this mans bid for the Presidency. How stupid, blind and and irresponsible can you get? There has been an abundance of evidence made available for all to see regarding this man's condition. Voting for this man is a thousand times worse than handing the car keys to a drunk. Even his wife has expressed concern for his mental health. This man is dangerous and irresponsible. He is not a Patriot. He is not even close and neither is any one that votes for America to go down that path again.
Mitt Romney is no George Romney. His father, while a successful businessman, was at least a man of moderate principles and integrity. Mitt Romney has neither. He should be ashamed of himself. God help us if this man gets elected to the most powerful office in the world. He is not kidding when he says he would change things - to the US in the early 1900's.
timshelbp-1===You mean to tell me that you think Obama would be the better choice for this country? Gee man, please don't type stuff like that on this site. You had me laughing so much I fell out of my chair with tears in my eyes. Re-electing Obama would be another 4 years of nothing at all, all over again. So the Government in controlling these decisions and/or approving them and you are OK with that? What about the jobs we and industry built in This country to export. So Romney wasn't lying about this at all?
Please go to bed it's past your bedtime!!
timshelbp-1===Romney is not lying about this. Go back and try reading any article by Romney and Obama's Church list. Check your facts baby.
Smokie,
I do not personally care about religion or any of that. It should be a non-starter for any realistic individual. Who cares if someone is a Muslim, or a Mormon, or a Catholic, or whatever. Religion is not the birthplace of morals, just a dynamo for stealing credit from the real source of morals; phiolsophy. Just as they stole the rights to Marriage; it is a claim that is false as marriage has existed long before Christianity was even a sparkle in Jesus' eye.
But on to your other stuff. Romney in fact is lying about Jeep. On the auto bailout he is not factually incorrect but he needs a heavy dose or reality as you apparently do. GM would not have found the capital it required from the private sector. Bain even told GM to take a hike; no one would touch them. If they went through bankruptcy without Government help in the process they would, in fact, have been liquidated.
They required capital to stay afloat through the process and the only place they got any glimmer of mercy from was Obama. Those are the actual facts.
You libs wouldn't know the facts if they hit you up side the head.
You just talk about nothing as usual.
In the early 1900's taxes and our debt were much lower than they are today. We were much greener in our energy use. Yes takes us back to the days of low unemployment and balanced budgets.
Obama's been campaigning a lot to the only base he has left. 6 to 12 years olds.
Obama is in a free fall. Ha! Ha! Ha!
Ol' Mittens must be getting real desperate in Ohio. Does he actually think voters are that stupid to believe such a blatant lie, specially after Chrysler itself called his BS out?...
With Biteme and slick Willey on the trail together it must be like a dumb & dumber rally.. Both of them together can't draw a crowd of 1,000 people.
It says Ohioians are much smarter than Obama.
Poll Gives Romney Edge in Ohio
Obama is getting a break this week acting like he gives a shix about American's.
New Flash: he should of done that starting 4 years ago Oliar.
The media is trying to make him look Presidential. To little to late.
He should have done that when the American's in Libya ask for help and he did nothing.
The storm on the east coast is nothing comparied to the hurricane in the WH Cover Up. Obama is finished.
America's choice is Romney/Ryan.
So instead of building jeeps here and selling them to China they are simply building them there. That does nothing to help our trade deficit. Of course it is much less expensive to build them over there because wages are only a fraction of what they are here. I can only imagine that soon they will find it is much more profitable to sell Chinese made jeeps here and go ahead and close down our domestic production. China does not have a national minimum wage. Provincial minimum wages in China are about $200 per month.
Hey, lucky1087191 - You libs wouldn't know the facts if they hit you up side the head.
You must obviously be talking about yourself... Romney does not have the edge in Ohio... it's Obama 49, Romney 46. You and your repubbies are delusional, because you can't face the fat that Obama has a 277 electoral vote advantage over Rumnuts.
If you want to look at reality, go and look at some facts here:
"Fuggetabouit"
This is the reality of Obama's economic policies in his own words. If you can't trust these Obama words when they proved to be accurate, then how can you support him because he's either lying to you now or he lied when he made this speech and in either case that makes him nothing but a political whore that is incapable of leadership.
The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can't pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance
from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies.
And the cost of our debt is one of the fastest growing expenses in the Federal budget. This rising debt is a hidden domestic enemy, robbing our cities and States of critical investments in infrastructure like bridges, ports, and levees; robbing our families and our children of critical investments in education and health care reform; robbing our seniors of the retirement and health security they have counted on.
Every dollar we pay in interest is a dollar that is not going to investment in America's priorities. Instead,
interest payments are a significant tax on all Americans–a debt tax that Washington doesn't want to talk
about. If Washington were serious about honest tax relief in this country, we would see an effort to reduce our national debt by returning to responsible fiscal policies.
Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that "the buck stops here. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better.
I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America's debt limit.
Sen. Barack Hussein Obama, Jr., (Senate – March 16, 2006)
Everybody in Ohio will know about this ad--and that Romney lied. That ad was not a career move. Done.
Mitt says an 87% Democratic Congress gets things done.
Let's make it happen.