Tuesday Open Thread [8.7.12]
This is a brutal ad from the pro-Obama Super PAC, Priorities USA. It features Joe Soptic, a former employee of the Bain-owned GST Steel plant who lost his job—and the health insurance that covered his family. Here is the transcript in case you cannot watch the video:
Joe Soptic, former employee at GST Steel in Kansas City, Kansas.
I don’t think Mitt Romney understands what he’s done to people’s lives by closing the plant.
I don’t think he realizes that people’s lives completely changed.
When Mitt Romney and Bain closed the plant, I lost my healthcare, and my family lost their healthcare. And a short time after that my wife became ill.
I don’t know how long she was sick and I think maybe she didn’t say anything because she knew that we couldn’t afford the insurance, and then one day she became ill and I took her up to the Jackson County Hospital and admitted her for pneumonia and that’s when they found the cancer and by then it was stage four. It was, there was nothing they could do for her.
And she passed away in 22 days.
I do not think Mitt Romney realizes what he’s done to anyone, and furthermore I do not think Mitt Romney is concerned.
ANNCR: Priorities USA Action is responsible for the content of this advertising.
He most definitely is not concerned.
Romney and Bain killed his wife. I don’t think that this ad is going to help Romney’s favorability numbers.
And The Onion goes there: Michele Bachmann Thankful No Americans Died In Sikh Shooting
Kovach’s latest email blast titled “Half Way There.”
The man is definitely Livin’ on a Prayer.
I always thought they were killing machines: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/kittycam-study-finds-cats-virtual-killing-machines-214018851.html
here comes the silly season stuff: http://www.vibe.com/Papa-John%27s-price-increase-obamacare
I assume by now that you have seen the news coverage demolishing this ad as totally misleading and false. For example, (1) Bain Capital actually kept the steel company in operation longer than it would have otherwise, (2) the steel company was shut down in 2001 after Romney left Bain Capital and he was not involved in the decision; and, most importantly, the woman who died from cancer died in 2006 even though she had health care through her employer after the steel company was shut down! In a nutshell this has to be the most dishonest ad yet launched by the pro-Obama forces and they’ve put out some doozies. Total absolute BS — made worse because it is knowingly and purposely so. And, by the way, while there have been tough ads against Obama, most of the ones I’ve seen simply compare and contrast his own words and promises versus actual results.
But hey, don’t take my word for it, even CNN agrees:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMkmxJ3P9Tw&feature=youtu.be
No matter how partisan one may be, I would hope all could agree that this ad is shameful and reflects very poorly on those who created it.
Obama can’t escape his dirty Chicago style politics. He’s slimy little punk.
Did you mean to write “He’s a* slimy little punk.” or “He’s slimy, little punk.”
Either way, the internet thanks you for your enlightening thoughts.
Conservatives move to dump Romney during convention.
I’m loving it. Romney = Worst candidate ever!
It’s distressing to see both campaigns using this kind of nonsense. If this is how we decide who is elected ,we deserve the bad government we have.
“I would hope all could agree that this ad is shameful and reflects very poorly on those who created it.”
Granted, Bain Capital did not kill the guy’s wife. But since when were emotionally charged, misleading ads out of bounds in a political race? Michael Dukakis had literally nothing to do with Willie Horton beyond governing the state he was paroled in — while a governor can pardon a criminal, he can’t say, “Hey, wait a second — we can’t let this guy go even if the guidelines say we must.”
By the way, the bullshit that Mitt wasn’t responsible for Bain’s actions that enriched him just because he claims — without evidence, I might note — that he wasn’t involved certainly sets a marvelous tone for a Romney presidency. From the evidence of his behavior — taking credit for “turning around” the Mormon olympics when it was actually $1.5 billion in federal grants that did the trick, his refusal to take responsibility for anything he’s ever done — it’s pretty certain the buck will stop anywhere except Mitt’s desk.
“I would hope all could agree that this ad is shameful and reflects very poorly on those who created it.”
Fuck that.
This ad taps into what Mitt Romney says about Mitt Romney.
I like firing people
Corporations are people, my friend
Let foreclosures run their course
No auto industry bail-out
And on and on and on.
That’s the reason this ad resonates. It fits in with how Mitt has portrayed himself.
You know how I know it works? It brought out the centrist concern trolls.
I listened to the man in the ad explain what he meant and he said that when this company went under they were told that they would be able to keep their health insurance and that they were lied to. That is what he is basing his ad on. If they had not lied then he would have had health insurance to fall back upon when his wife got sick since she had none at the time.
And he didn’t really even fight back against the add. I almost feel bad for Mittens but..well..nope. As much as I cannot stand Ann, she has a point.lol.
http://foxnewsinsider.com/2012/08/08/ann-coulter-says-romney-spokesperson-andrea-saul-should-be-fired-for-citing-massachusetts-health-care-in-response-to-super-pac-ad/
Ann Coulter joined Hannity to discuss the latest in this heated campaign season. She said, “I think the bigger issue is how repulsive this ad is. This man, his wife didn’t even have health insurance through his job. She had health insurance through her job […] Obama is a liar, this is a repulsive despicable ad, it shows the true colors of the man that oh we thought was hope and change.”
She saved some of her criticism for the Romney campaign spokeswoman, Andrea Saul. Instead of calling out the ad for being despicable or pointing out that Romney had already left Bain or even that the woman had died five years after the plant closed, Saul’s response in Coulter’s words was, “well if she had lived in Massachusetts with Mitt Romney’s health care plan, she would’ve had health insurance.”
Coulter charged, “Anyone who donates to Mitt Romney, and I mean the big donors, ought to call Mitt Romney and say if Andrea Saul isn’t fired and off the campaign tomorrow, they are not giving another dime because it is not worth fighting for this man if this is the kind of spokesman he has.”
Heatedly, she went on to say, “There is no point in us going to a convention and pushing for this man if he’s employing morons like this.”
That’s the most amazing part of the conservative freak-out over Andrea Saul — they think her acknowledgement of a world beyond the conservative bubble is a firing offense.
It’s one thing for your party to have a big tent. It’s quite another for it to have a big bubble.
The health care ad is well deserved payback for the GOP death panel hysteria. Revenge is a dish best eaten cold. Even sweeter when it is true.