Election 2012

Karl Rove's New Anti-Obama Ad is Predictably Deceptive

The new Crossroads GPS ad could be the most lie-packed thing to be produced by the Rove team since the justifications for invading Iraq. Seriously. Benen enumerated the lies and cynicism:

It talks about bailouts, assuming voters won't know it was Bush/Cheney that rescued Wall Street before Obama took office.

It talks about debt, assuming voters don't know Mitt Romney's agenda would raise the debt far more than Obama's agenda would.

It talks about student loans, assuming voters don't know that Obama expanded Pell Grants and Romney wants to scrap student loans altogether.

It talks about "job-killing debt," which as a policy matter, is just idiocy.

It lies about the stimulus; it lies about spending; it lies about health care.

If Obama were such a terrible failure, shouldn't his Republican critics rely on truths for their attack ads? Why make stuff up if the facts are supposed to be so damning?

Check out this piece of work for yourself. And while you're watching, imagine you're an undecided moderate voter who's not as connected to these issues as you and me.

Again, this confuses the deficit and the debt. Since when did rising debt have anything to do with jobs? Every modern president since Reagan has presided over a remarkable increase in the debt. The difference is in the federal budget deficit where President Obama has trimmed the deficit by $312 billion. The president has cut taxes, cut spending and cut the deficit. He's also created jobs and the healthcare reform bill will curb increases in costs. The stimulus rescued the economy from another Great Depression. The economy is steadily growing, jobs are being added and the Dow has doubled.

I mean, it's a total brain-scrambling lie from beginning to end. And people will believe it. They're suckers.