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Scraping bottom
Chicago Tribune - ("Scraping Bottom"? Hmmmmm! This, from Obama's Hometown Newspaper!)
8/10/2012
Excerpts:
"A pro-Obama super PAC’s ad essentially blames Mitt Romney for a woman’s cancer death, truth notwithstanding. (YouTube image / August 10, 2012)
The television ad opens on a grim Joe Soptic, a 62-year-old former Kansas City steelworker. In 2001, he lost his job when the GST Steel plant — owned by Bain Capital and other investors — closed.
"When Mitt Romney and Bain closed the plant, I lost my health care, and my family lost their health care," Soptic says. "And a short time after that, my wife became ill. ..." She died of cancer in 2006.
What's implied: Romney, who led Bain in the 1990s, is partly to blame for her death.
.................................................. ........
It didn't take long for truth-squadding journalists to show the gross deception in this ad.
Soptic's wife was receiving health insurance through her employer — not her husband's — at the time Soptic lost his job at GST Steel.
She didn't lose her coverage until 2002 or 2003, Soptic told CNN. By then, Soptic had found a job as a school custodian. He could have added her to his health insurance plan, but he declined for financial reasons. It wasn't until 2006 that Soptic's wife was diagnosed with cancer, five years after the plant closed.
Romney's role in the GST plant closing? None. The plant was closed two years after Romney left Bain.
What a vicious, shameful ad.
The Obama administration has tried to keep its distance from this. White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters, "I speak for the president. I do not speak for a third-party organization." Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, "We don't have any knowledge of the story of the family." (Turns out, Soptic told the same story in a May conference call hosted by the Obama campaign. But we digress.)
A shrug and a stonewall. Hey, we can't control these super PACs. They're independent operations. That's the law. Go talk to them. What about those deceptive Republican ads?
That's not good enough. Priorities USA Action was founded by Bill Burton, a former White House deputy press secretary, and Sean Sweeney, who was chief of staff to White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel. The PAC, like all super PACs, is supposed to operate independently of the campaign. But the PAC has one purpose: the president's re-election.
The right tactical decision by the White House might be to keep its distance. But the right ethical decision would be to call out the people working on the president's behalf for this dishonorable message.
Mr. President, lift the campaign. Call this ad what it is: a disgrace."
View the complete article at:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/o...,1928245.story
Chicago Tribune - ("Scraping Bottom"? Hmmmmm! This, from Obama's Hometown Newspaper!)
8/10/2012
Excerpts:
"A pro-Obama super PAC’s ad essentially blames Mitt Romney for a woman’s cancer death, truth notwithstanding. (YouTube image / August 10, 2012)
The television ad opens on a grim Joe Soptic, a 62-year-old former Kansas City steelworker. In 2001, he lost his job when the GST Steel plant — owned by Bain Capital and other investors — closed.
"When Mitt Romney and Bain closed the plant, I lost my health care, and my family lost their health care," Soptic says. "And a short time after that, my wife became ill. ..." She died of cancer in 2006.
What's implied: Romney, who led Bain in the 1990s, is partly to blame for her death.
.................................................. ........
It didn't take long for truth-squadding journalists to show the gross deception in this ad.
Soptic's wife was receiving health insurance through her employer — not her husband's — at the time Soptic lost his job at GST Steel.
She didn't lose her coverage until 2002 or 2003, Soptic told CNN. By then, Soptic had found a job as a school custodian. He could have added her to his health insurance plan, but he declined for financial reasons. It wasn't until 2006 that Soptic's wife was diagnosed with cancer, five years after the plant closed.
Romney's role in the GST plant closing? None. The plant was closed two years after Romney left Bain.
What a vicious, shameful ad.
The Obama administration has tried to keep its distance from this. White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters, "I speak for the president. I do not speak for a third-party organization." Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, "We don't have any knowledge of the story of the family." (Turns out, Soptic told the same story in a May conference call hosted by the Obama campaign. But we digress.)
A shrug and a stonewall. Hey, we can't control these super PACs. They're independent operations. That's the law. Go talk to them. What about those deceptive Republican ads?
That's not good enough. Priorities USA Action was founded by Bill Burton, a former White House deputy press secretary, and Sean Sweeney, who was chief of staff to White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel. The PAC, like all super PACs, is supposed to operate independently of the campaign. But the PAC has one purpose: the president's re-election.
The right tactical decision by the White House might be to keep its distance. But the right ethical decision would be to call out the people working on the president's behalf for this dishonorable message.
Mr. President, lift the campaign. Call this ad what it is: a disgrace."
View the complete article at:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/o...,1928245.story