Romney Causes Cancer

[Gaspar]

It goes back farther. In the Nixon-Kennedy race it was Catholicism. I still remember vividly the chant that "the Pope will run the country". Truman was supposed to have been connected to the Kansas City mob and of course Stevenson was a closet Communist. Each of the negative, but low level, negative campaigns were related to fears the general populace held at those times.

The difference now is direct allegation vs inference or subtext. There may have been statements or policy issues back then that could be spun to infer an outcome. Thus, Goldwater's hard right anti-communist views were exploited to create a persona that was not real. The same happened to Kennedy. Johnson, not so much till 1968. 

Now they are flat out manufactured and spread on the internet with impunity. Lies are truth, wrong is right, right is wrong as long as you have enough money and your opponent cannot respond in kind.

It really is sad, because now so much of the population gets their only news from Facebook, or sound-bytes on TV.  That makes accusations like this even worse because the candidates no loner really care if they are true.   Now it turns out that this poor guy, Joe Soptic, was hunted down for the sake of this ad, and the facts he was given to present did not actually occur. 

It turns out that he was layed off in 2001 after Romney left Bain, but his wife was still working and had her own medical insurance.  She continued to work until 2003 when she left due to a rotator-cuff injury.  She wasn't diagnosed with cancer until 2006.

So this campaign had an agenda and a narrative and simply sought out someone they could fit into it.  Now this poor guy Joe is a figurehead for the level of dishonesty, and careless disregard that this administration and their mouthpieces are willing to engage in.  I understand that this was the work of an Obama SuperPAC, but it does not change the fact that the president did not choose to condemn such a vile action on his behalf.

I am happy to see that the liberal media is starting to condemn it, even if it is a bit too late. 

When asked by the media to assess the validity of this ad, Jay Carney's response was: "my assessment will be, I have no assessment."
He's the perfect mouthpiece for President Obama!

Here's how a real president and/or his press secretary would respond to that: "The story of Mr. Soptic is heartbreaking, and wether the facts or timeline in this advertisement are ture or not, that does not change the fact that Mr. Soptic is grieving the loss of his wife.  That said, if the facts and timeline proposed in this ad are indeed false or misleading, and take advantage of Mr. Soptic's grief directly or indirectly to benefit the president's campaign, we will condemn the PAC that created it, and return any money raised by members of that PAC.  The Obama administration will not tolerate dishonesty and false attacks made in it's behalf by any political group or organization.

[Teatownclown]

more ads...but this one's really good.

[Gaspar]

more ads...but this one's really good.

Ahh, old Louie Ludwig, musician, film maker, Occupier, and a guy that just loves the old days. . .just not here in America.

You can get his new album, Nachivo (old Russian slogan that meant "No Worries", or "Do Not Care") on Amazon.  It's got lots of great folky tunes that harken back to better times.

http://loulost.com/loulostcomawebpage/nichevo.html

Odd that he doesn't mention that we were at war with Iraq before George Bush?  Anywhoo, he seems like a top notch guy.

[AquaMan]

It really is sad, because now so much of the population gets their only news from Facebook, or sound-bytes on TV.  That makes accusations like this even worse because the candidates no loner really care if they are true.   Now it turns out that this poor guy, Joe Soptic, was hunted down for the sake of this ad, and the facts he was given to present did not actually occur. 

It turns out that he was layed off in 2001 after Romney left Bain, but his wife was still working and had her own medical insurance.  She continued to work until 2003 when she left due to a rotator-cuff injury.  She wasn't diagnosed with cancer until 2006.

So this campaign had an agenda and a narrative and simply sought out someone they could fit into it.  Now this poor guy Joe is a figurehead for the level of dishonesty, and careless disregard that this administration and their mouthpieces are willing to engage in.  I understand that this was the work of an Obama SuperPAC, but it does not change the fact that the president did not choose to condemn such a vile action on his behalf.

I am happy to see that the liberal media is starting to condemn it, even if it is a bit too late. 

When asked by the media to assess the validity of this ad, Jay Carney's response was: "my assessment will be, I have no assessment."
He's the perfect mouthpiece for President Obama!

Here's how a real president and/or his press secretary would respond to that: "The story of Mr. Soptic is heartbreaking, and wether the facts or timeline in this advertisement are ture or not, that does not change the fact that Mr. Soptic is grieving the loss of his wife.  That said, if the facts and timeline proposed in this ad are indeed false or misleading, and take advantage of Mr. Soptic's grief directly or indirectly to benefit the president's campaign, we will condemn the PAC that created it, and return any money raised by members of that PAC.  The Obama administration will not tolerate dishonesty and false attacks made in it's behalf by any political group or organization.

You expect way too much from a system that elects based on money derived from PACs. Whether this was a Romney ad or an Obama ad is irrelevant. Both sides do it because if they don't the resulting loss of money means loss. Instead they usually quietly remove themselves from the acts of their supporters.

The problem is not the candidates. Its the money, the lobbyist system and a stupid population that is susceptible to those powers.

[guido911]

You expect way too much from a system that elects based on money derived from PACs. Whether this was a Romney ad or an Obama ad is irrelevant. Both sides do it because if they don't the resulting loss of money means loss. Instead they usually quietly remove themselves from the acts of their supporters.

The problem is not the candidates. Its the money, the lobbyist system and a stupid population that is susceptible to those powers.

Ahem, in case you missed this post earlier.

Well well well...

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/cnn-fact-checks-priorities-usa-ad-blaming-mitt-romney-for-womans-death/

Those damned repubs and terrible ads...

[Townsend]

Ahem, in case you missed this post earlier.

So how'd the fact check go?  They hadn't done it yet when this article was written.

[Red Arrow]

It goes back farther. In the Nixon-Kennedy race it was Catholicism. I still remember vividly the chant that "the Pope will run the country".

I remember the "Pope will run the country" part too.   We aren't Catholic but  I don't remember whether or not dad made a big deal of it.

[AquaMan]

Tulsa in 1960 was John Birch country. I was only 10 but had to listen to the rants of my old neighbors when I mowed their lawns. They could not contain themselves. Since we had neighbors who also attended St Francis church and whose kids I played with, I listened to see what exactly was wrong with them. And who was this Pope guy.

[guido911]

So how'd the fact check go?  They hadn't done it yet when this article was written.

I thought the video at the link showed the fact check showed the ad was to say the least misleading. The wife was dx with cancer on 2006, years after the husband lost his job. Then there is this:

Mr. Soptic said that his wife was receiving health insurance through her employer at the time he lost his job at GST Steel, though she later suffered an injury, left her job and lost her insurance coverage. He could not say precisely when this occurred.

Mr. Soptic said that after he lost his job, he found work as a school custodian about six months later and had the option to put her on his insurance plan. But he opted not to, he said, because he could not afford the more than $350 monthly premium on the $25,000 salary he was making, on top of paying his mortgage and a daughter's college tuition. Ilyona Soptic was diagnosed with cancer in 2006 and died that year.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444900304577577600987192174.html

I am hoping this does not get all JtP. I think this guy got used.

[AquaMan]

So, had the guy not lost his job and stayed with the company for 20-30 years like most in that industry, he would have had insurance when his wife lost hers?

Everyone is using everyone. The one thing for sure is that the people at the bottom get used the most.

[Hoss]

So, had the guy not lost his job and stayed with the company for 20-30 years like most in that industry, he would have had insurance when his wife lost hers?

Everyone is using everyone. The one thing for sure is that the people at the bottom get used the most.

Eat your cake!

[Gaspar]

So. . .this has now turned into a horrible backfire.  It's almost worse then when President Obama makes an economic speech.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-camp-denies-knowledge-cancer-tale-told-may-195237581.html

Oops? President Barack Obama's re-election campaign washed its hands Wednesday of an independent group's vicious (and misleading) ad effectively blaming Mitt Romney for the death of a laid-off steelworker's wife from cancer. Campaign officials flatly denied any knowledge of the facts in the case—but it turns out the widower told the same story on an Obama campaign conference call in mid-May. (The Obama campaign responded late in the day: See update below).

"We have nothing, no involvement, with any ads that are done by Priorities USA. We don't have any knowledge of the story of the family," Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters aboard Air Force One on Wednesday.

The ad features Joe Soptic, who lost his job and his health benefits after Romney's Bain Capital closed the GST Steel plant in Kansas City, Mo., in 2001. Soptic later told CNN that his wife had health insurance through her own employer from that point to 2002 or 2003, when she left that job because of an injury—a detail that undermines the ad's heartbreaking narrative.

"I don't know the facts about when Mr. Soptic's wife got sick, or the facts about his health insurance," deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter told CNN on Wednesday.

But there's a problem. As Politico first reported, Soptic told essentially the same story in a May 14, 2012, conference call hosted by the Obama campaign.

This is despicable.  Not only is the ad false, but there is now clear evidence that the administration was cooperating with the SuperPAC to promote the story, and now they are simply denying knowledge of it, even though there is plenty of film and audio to the contrary.  Now they're in to the lies so deep that all they can do is deflect or lie more.  This will be another one for the history books!

[AquaMan]

So. . .this has now turned into a horrible backfire.  It's almost worse then when President Obama makes an economic speech.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-camp-denies-knowledge-cancer-tale-told-may-195237581.html

Oops? President Barack Obama's re-election campaign washed its hands Wednesday of an independent group's vicious (and misleading) ad effectively blaming Mitt Romney for the death of a laid-off steelworker's wife from cancer. Campaign officials flatly denied any knowledge of the facts in the case—but it turns out the widower told the same story on an Obama campaign conference call in mid-May. (The Obama campaign responded late in the day: See update below).

"We have nothing, no involvement, with any ads that are done by Priorities USA. We don't have any knowledge of the story of the family," Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters aboard Air Force One on Wednesday.

The ad features Joe Soptic, who lost his job and his health benefits after Romney's Bain Capital closed the GST Steel plant in Kansas City, Mo., in 2001. Soptic later told CNN that his wife had health insurance through her own employer from that point to 2002 or 2003, when she left that job because of an injury—a detail that undermines the ad's heartbreaking narrative.

"I don't know the facts about when Mr. Soptic's wife got sick, or the facts about his health insurance," deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter told CNN on Wednesday.

But there's a problem. As Politico first reported, Soptic told essentially the same story in a May 14, 2012, conference call hosted by the Obama campaign.

This is despicable.  Not only is the ad false, but there is now clear evidence that the administration was cooperating with the SuperPAC to promote the story, and now they are simply denying knowledge of it, even though there is plenty of film and audio to the contrary.  Now they're in to the lies so deep that all they can do is deflect or lie more.  This will be another one for the history books!

Were you this upset when the lies about Kerry and the Swiftboating were paid for, fabricated and spread as truth?

Were you this upset when Romney purposefully cut sentences out of Obama speeches to totally change the meanings and ran the ads even though he was informed by reputable sources that they were in fact lies?

Is this bigger than Watergate?!

[Gaspar]

Were you this upset when the lies about Kerry and the Swiftboating were paid for, fabricated and spread as truth?
Why?  There were as many who claimed that Kerry's service, and medals were "exaggerated" as there were that said he deserved them.  The other captains, his commander, and the doctor that treated him for his injury, as well as his own crew members were part of the attack against him.  They were not fabricating dates and times, or attempting to show that he killed someone.

Were you this upset when Romney purposefully cut sentences out of Obama speeches to totally change the meanings and ran the ads even though he was informed by reputable sources that they were in fact lies?
Pot meet kettle.  "I like firing people."  Again, no one was implicating that President Obama was causing folks to die.

Is this bigger than Watergate?!
No.  We are far too callus to the Chicago way.  I think the President could probably come out and say just about anything, or lie about anything without eroding much support.  If it doesn't hit Comedy Central, MSNBC, or air at the same time as Jersey Shore or Dancing With The Stars, the casual Obama supporter won't hear about it. 

[Townsend]

or air at the same time as Jersey Shore or Dancing With The Stars

I'm sure the Fox news watchers tend to lean more that way.