American Crossroads hits President Obama for inserting himself in the biographies of other presidents and for the inflated view he has of his own record. Funny stuff.
The first general election ad for Mitt Romney has released.
What will a Romney Presidency be like?
Day one:
- “President Romney immediately approves the Keystone pipeline, creating thousands of jobs that Obama blocked.”
- “President Romney introduces tax cuts and reforms that will reward job creators, not punish them.”
- “President Romney issues order to begin replacing Obamacare with commonsense health care reform.”
That’s what a Romney Presidency will be like.
*** Update ***
What suggestions can you come up with for President Romney for his first day? I’ll get started with one of my own:
New Romney web ad jumps on Biden’s Delphi gaffe. The Romney team has demonstrated they have a ton of video at the ready to attack and counter-attack anything the Obama camp throws at them.
This ad will air in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia over the next two-weeks:
Here is the press release announcing the ad buy:
Crossroads GPS Launches $25 Million TV Ad Initiative Over Next Month to Frame Debate on Economy, ObamaCare, Debt
New ad series to spotlight President Obama’s economic and fiscal policies includes $8 million initial TV ad, “Obama’s Promise,” which airs in 10 states.
WASHINGTON – Today, Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies (Crossroads GPS) announced a new $25 million issue advocacy initiative over the next four weeks to frame the national debate on jobs, the economy, ObamaCare and government debt.
The first phase of the initiative launches Thursday with the airing of a new Crossroads GPS TV ad, “Obama’s Promise,” which details the Obama Administration’s poor results on fixing the troubled economy, cutting the debt, keeping taxes low and other key issues.
The initial television buy includes network affiliates in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
The new spot will start airing Thursday, May 17 and run through May 31 in an $8m initial buy. The spot can be viewed here, and is available for high resolution download upon request.
“President Obama made commitments on core issues to the American people, and this ad holds him to account,” said Steven Law, president of Crossroads GPS. “Our country faces serious economic and fiscal problems which require practical solutions and not just promises. If we don’t hold Washington politicians accountable, we won’t fix these problems that are holding our country back.”
The ad urges citizens to support the “New Majority Agenda.” For more information about the six major policy initiatives detailed in the plan, visit www.newmajorityagenda.org
Since President Obama took office in January 2009, the national debt has increased by more than $5 trillion, 45% more people are on food stamps, gas prices have doubled, and job growth is anemic, leaving record numbers of Americans to simply give up looking for work and leave the workforce. Obama and his advisors promised that the stimulus bill would prevent the unemployment rate from rising above 8%, but it has been above 8% for every month of Obama’s presidency since February 2009, and the real unemployment rate is considered much higher by economists.
Crossroads GPS is a policy and grassroots advocacy organization that is committed to educating, equipping and mobilizing millions of American citizens to take action on the critical economic and legislative issues that will shape our nation’s future in the years ahead.
We wondered this morning how Team Romney would fight back against Obama’s dishonest attack ad highlighting Romney’s time at Bain Capital.
Now we know, and we’ve gotten to see just how good Romney’s rapid response team is in the process. Hey Barry, probably not a good idea to mess with these guys.
First, Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul sent out this statement to the press as well as on the Romney website and social media outlets:
“We welcome the Obama campaign’s attempt to pivot back to jobs and a discussion of their failed record. President Obama has many questions to answer as to why his Administration used the stimulus to reward wealthy campaign donors with taxpayer money for bad ideas like Solyndra, but 23 million Americans are still struggling to find jobs. If the Obama Administration was less concerned with pleasing its wealthy donors and more concerned with creating jobs, America would be much better off.”
Then, Team Romney followed that up with a press release blast that followed that same line of defend and attack — using Solyndra as their foil of choice:
President Obama’s Idea Of The Free Market Is “Crony Capitalism” That Showers Federal Dollars On His Friends And Allies, While Leaving Taxpayers On The Hook For Losses:
The Washington Post: “You Can Call It Crony Capitalism Or Venture Socialism — But By Whatever Name, The Energy Department’s Loan Guarantee Program Privatizes Profits And Socializes Losses.” (Editorial, “The Energy Department’s Loan Guarantee Program Is The Real Solyndra Scandal,” The Washington Post, 11/17/11)
The Washington Post: “The Problem Is That Bureaucrats Are More Likely To Bet Wrong Because They Are Generally Not Full-Time Investment Experts And Have No Skin In The Game Themselves.” (Editorial, “Solyndra: A Bad Bet Obama Should Regret,” The Washington Post, 10/6/11)
Obama Bundlers Worked In His Department Of Energy “As It Showered Billions In Taxpayer-Backed Stimulus Money On Alternative Energy Firms.” “Several of Barack Obama’s top campaign supporters went from soliciting political contributions to working from within the Energy Department as it showered billions in taxpayer-backed stimulus money on alternative energy firms, iWatch News and ABC News have learned.” (Ronnie Green And Matthew Mosk, “Bundlers On The Inside,” iWatch, 9/29/11)
…
The Energy Department’s Inspector General Found That Contracts Were Steered To “Friends And Family.” “The Department of Energy’s inspector general, Gregory Friedman, who was not a political appointee, chastised the alternative-energy loan and grant programs for their absence of ‘sufficient transparency and accountability.’ He has testified that contracts have been steered to ‘friends and family.’” (Peter Schweizer, “Obama Campaign Backers And Bundlers Rewarded With Green Grants And Loans,” Newsweek, 11/12/11)
“$3.9 Billion In Federal Grants And Financing Flowed To 21 Companies Backed By Firms With Connections To Five Obama Administration Staffers And Advisers.” (Carol D. Leonnig and Joe Stephens, “Venture Capitalists Play Key Role In Obama’s Energy Department,” The Washington Post, 2/14/12)
And The Result Of Those Taxpayer Giveaways To Obama Allies? Lost Jobs And Bankrupt Businesses:
The Obama Administration Loaned Over Half A Billion Dollars To Solyndra – Which Later Went Bankrupt – And Engaged In A “Risky Investment Strategy” With Other Similar Projects. “Solar panel maker Solyndra received a $528 million Energy Department loan in 2009 – and went bankrupt last year. The government’s risky investment strategy didn’t stop there, as a CBS News investigation has uncovered a pattern of cases of the government pouring your tax dollars into clean energy.” (Sharyl Attkisson, “Tax Dollars Backing Some “Risky” Energy Projects,” CBS, 1/13/12)
Solyndra’s Bankruptcy And 1,100 Layoffs Represented “A Blow To The Obama Administration’s Efforts To Create Green Jobs.” “In a blow to the Obama administration’s efforts to create green jobs, solar-cell maker Solyndra announced Wednesday that it will close its remaining Fremont factory, lay off its 1,100 employees and file for bankruptcy. The news marked an abrupt end for a company once considered among the most innovative in a fast-changing industry. The bankruptcy also represents a high-profile failure for a federal stimulus program that gives loan guarantees to green-tech manufacturers.” (David R. Baker and Carolyn Said, “Solyndra Closes Fremont Plant – Stimulus Hopes Dim,” San Francisco Chronicle, 9/1/11)
…
After that, the Romney campaign organized a conference call for reporters, where Ed Gillespie continued the counter-attack on Obama, continuing to use Solyndra as an example of “crony capitalism”.
Then, Romney press department shot off a shorter memo which counter-punched Obama for mentioning this morning that Bain Capital added debt to GST:
In the short time since this morning when the Obama campaign attacked Mitt Romney’s business record, the President has added more debt to our national debt than he accuses GS Industries of having two years after Mitt Romney left Bain. (Note: $500M is .01% of Obama’s new debt since taking office; Obama has been in office 1210 days; .01% of his time in office is .12 days, or slightly less than 3 hours.)
The Debt That Barack Obama Attributes To GS Industries, At A Time When Romney Was No Longer At Bain, Would Pay For Less Than 3 Hours Of The New Debt Of Obama’s Presidency.
And now to end the day, Team Romney has cut their own one minute ad, highlighting the story of another steel company Bain Capital invested in — one that became highly successful and went on to create more than 6,000 jobs:
If Obama expected Romney to roll over and play nice like John McCain did in 2008, he’s going to continue to be surprised like he was today. We will see how many times the Obama campaign can try and fire the Bain bullet throughout the remainder of the campaign, but I have a feeling their failure to keep their powder dry until later in the game is going to come back to haunt them.
We knew they were coming, but I don’t know if we expected them to come this early. This morning, Team Obama is showing signs of nervousness and launching a full frontal assault on Romney’s time at Bain Capital – and they are doing it just as Republican strategists thought they would: by using interviews of people who were laid off when Bain bought their employers.
Today, the Obama campaign begins airing a two-minute attack ad in five swing states (Ohio, Iowa, Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Virginia) and also launches a new website named RomneyEconomics.com. The ad and the website features a couple stories from laid-off workers, and the campaign is hosting a conference call with one of those workers this morning as well. It has the potential to be quite poignant, especially among low-information voters.
There are three things worth noting, however, as Obama rolls out these attacks. First, this is still incredibly early in the campaign to be launching an attack of this magnitude. It’s the middle of May. It’s about to be summer vacation. The old axiom is that no one pays attention to politics in the summer, and that the race will truly begin after Labor Day weekend. That may not be as true as it used to be with social media and 24/7 access now, but it’s still true at some level. This was one of the highest cards the Obama campaign held in their hands – and for them to play it now would seem to indicate that they are playing out of a position of weakness rather than strength.
Secondly, it’s impossible to imagine the Romney campaign didn’t see these attacks coming. It will be interesting to see how Romney counters. His campaign’s rapid-response team has been incredibly strong thus far, capitalizing swiftly on Obama missteps and gaffes. Now we’ll get to see how they respond to the bigger attacks.
And thirdly, there needs to be some clarification about Romney’s time at Bain. Liberals, who generally hate the free-market principles that companies such as Bain are built on, will always demonize these sorts of businesses as heartless and cruel, putting profit over people. The Obama ad even uses some of that exact language to tap into that leftist angst. But Romney’s record deserves to be looked at honestly, not through the lens of capitalist hatred. It’s true: while Romney ran Bain they had several companies they invested in close their doors. People were laid off. It would be pretty easy, I would imagine, to find one or two or three folks out of the hundreds of thousands Bain interacted with who would like to be paid to cut an anti-Romney ad. However, there were many more significant success stories at Bain than there were failures, and those are the stories Romney needs to get out in front with.
There is no full list of companies that Bain Capital invested in or worked with during Romney’s tenure – it’s not public records, and the company will not release such a list, citing privacy concerns. However, there is a public list of 77 companies that Bain invested in which has been floating around since 2000. The Wall Street Journal looked at those 77 companies and found that a total of 17 of them filed for bankruptcy. However, two things must be considered here as well: first, filing for bankruptcy does not mean that a company fails (despite what unknowledgeable liberals might believe — take GM as a high profile example, for instance); and secondly, only five of those 17 companies filed for bankruptcy while they were owned by Bain. The other twelve filed for bankruptcy when Bain had shifted to minority ownership or was not in any ownership of the company any longer. So even if you use bankruptcy as a bottom line determinent of failed companies (which it is not), Bain still comes out looking good.
This attack campaign against Mitt Romney, in the middle of May with the election still six months down the road, is clearly an attempt to cement voters’ views of Romney as rich, out of touch, and heartless. However, by bringing out their big guns so early, it’s difficult to know what they will have left when people really begin paying attention to the campaign.
Well, that didn’t take long:
Hopefully this will be the first of many ads using the President’s own words against him between now and November. I love the imagery of the recession on one half of the screen contrasted with Obama’s lavish lifestyle as President on the other half… but overall this does have the look of something thrown together very quickly. Given some more time, the RNC and the Romney campaign can create some very powerful imagery with these sorts of ads.
Coming soon to an attack ad near you:
It does beg the question, though: Obama would have to know there was a recession in order to forget about it, right?
UPDATE: The Romney campaign is running with this one, trying to get the hashtag #ObamaForgot trending on Twitter. So far, they’ve come up with some doozies, and other folks are joining in the fun:
Not surprising president who forgot 2 create jobs, cut debt & 2 change Wash, admitted forgotten about recession #ObamaForgot
— Andrea Saul (@andreamsaul) May 10, 2012
.@BarackObama has forgotten he’s been in office for last 3 1/2 years #ObamaForgot
— Andrea Saul (@andreamsaul) May 10, 2012
#ObamaForgot he has a RECORD
— Andrea Saul (@andreamsaul) May 10, 2012
#ObamaForgot (or would like to) that women account for more than 99% of jobs lost under @BarackObama
— Andrea Saul (@andreamsaul) May 10, 2012
#ObamaForgot He wasn’t going to allow lobbyists to work in his WhiteHouse
— Nick Rizzuto (@Nick_Rizzuto) May 11, 2012
#ObamaForgot US presidents don’t bow.
— Phineas Fahrquar (@irishspy) May 11, 2012
#ObamaForgot that the US Constitution limits HIS power, not ours.
— Gregory Smith (@LibertyJustice) May 11, 2012
#ObamaForgot twenty years of Rev. Wright’s sermons <cough>
— Dr. Jason B. Whitman (@JasonBWhitman) May 11, 2012
First, #ObamaForgot Michelle on the airplane. Now, he forgets how much Americans are hurting? Nice.
— Teri Christoph (@TeriChristoph) May 10, 2012
Add your own in the comments, and then go throw them on Twitter.
“What does it say about a president’s policies when he has to use a cartoon character rather than real people to justify his record?”
Obama’s shameless polarization of the Osama bin Laden raid is beginning to draw loud criticisms from military veterans, Navy SEALs in particular. Here is the latest ad from a group called Veterans for a Strong America that has gone viral.
Keith Price pointed to this ad for Obama:
If you changed the last little bit to an appeal for funds from the Romney Campaign, it would work just as well for a Romney ad. How many political ads can you say that about?
Rick Santorum had suspended his campaign so he could be in the hospital with his sick child. Out of respect of that, the Romney campaign suspended an anti-Santorum ad set to run in Pennsylvania.
Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign is pulling its negative ads in Pennsylvania as Rick Santorum took Monday off from campaigning to spend the day with his young daughter, who is in the hospital.
“We have done this out of deference to Sen. Santorum’s decision to suspend his campaign for personal family reasons,” Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said in an email.
Mr. Santorum’s three-year-old daughter Bella, who has a genetic condition, was hospitalized Friday.
The negative spot has been pulled until further notice, Romney aides said Monday morning. Mr. Santorum’s campaign has said the candidate plans to return to the campaign trail Tuesday.
…
Referencing Mr. Santorum’s 2006 defeat at the hands of Democratic Sen. Bob Casey, the negative ad asks Pennsylvania voters, “We fired him as senator. Why promote him to president?”
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Good for Mr. Romney, and may little Bella Santorum get better real soon.
