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The Romney campaign admission on health care also leaves the media to twist in the wind
Obama's Ruthless Politics vs. Romney's Ruthless Management
By Michael Kinsley
Mitt Romney's people are trying a little jiu jitsu on an Obama ad implying that Romney is responsible for the death of a Kansas City woman who lacked health insurance. They want to turn the ad against President Barack Obama and tar him as the bad guy -- the ruthless politician -- of this campaign.
And they seem to have persuaded the gullible media that the ad is a lie. CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, badgering an Obama spokeswoman for a quote, said bluntly today on the air that the story told in the ad “just isn’t so.” So is it?
Leave aside the fact that the ad comes from a so-called "super-PAC,” which by law is supposed to be totally unconnected from the campaign. Although there is a lot of wink-wink about super-PACs in both parties, and the widower featured in this ad has previously appeared in an official Obama campaign ad, there is no evidence that anyone violated the rules in this case.
The ad is certainly tough and effective, but is it dishonest? It does not accuse Romney of murder. It does accuse him of indirect responsibility for a woman’s death. It says that because the woman’s husband, Joe Soptic, lost his job and his health insurance when Bain Capital bought his company and closed his plant, his wife, Ranae, was slow to get medical care when she started feeling ill, and as a result was diagnosed with Stage Four cancer -- terminal -- when she finally sought help. She died shortly thereafter.
-more -
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-08/obama-s-ruthless-politics-vs-romney-s-ruthless-management.html
By Michael Kinsley
Mitt Romney's people are trying a little jiu jitsu on an Obama ad implying that Romney is responsible for the death of a Kansas City woman who lacked health insurance. They want to turn the ad against President Barack Obama and tar him as the bad guy -- the ruthless politician -- of this campaign.
And they seem to have persuaded the gullible media that the ad is a lie. CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, badgering an Obama spokeswoman for a quote, said bluntly today on the air that the story told in the ad “just isn’t so.” So is it?
Leave aside the fact that the ad comes from a so-called "super-PAC,” which by law is supposed to be totally unconnected from the campaign. Although there is a lot of wink-wink about super-PACs in both parties, and the widower featured in this ad has previously appeared in an official Obama campaign ad, there is no evidence that anyone violated the rules in this case.
The ad is certainly tough and effective, but is it dishonest? It does not accuse Romney of murder. It does accuse him of indirect responsibility for a woman’s death. It says that because the woman’s husband, Joe Soptic, lost his job and his health insurance when Bain Capital bought his company and closed his plant, his wife, Ranae, was slow to get medical care when she started feeling ill, and as a result was diagnosed with Stage Four cancer -- terminal -- when she finally sought help. She died shortly thereafter.
-more -
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-08/obama-s-ruthless-politics-vs-romney-s-ruthless-management.html
Greg Sargent:
<...>
The larger story here is this: Even if this ad makes unsupportable charges — and even if you think there’s nothing objectionable about Bain’s conduct — the ad dramatizes a larger story about what has happened to the middle class in this country. There is a straightfoward difference of opinion between the two candidates over how to respond to this — over the degree to which the federal government should intervene to protect people like Ms. Soptic. Obama believes in aggressive federal action to cushion the blow of market outcomes like the one that hit families like the Soptics with such force. Romney — even though his campaign has now said universal health care is the right answer in cases like hers — is promising to roll back government protections for families like theirs. Whatever you think of the ad, that's the more important larger argument to be having here — and it has been clarified this week.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/debate-over-dead-woman-is-clarifying-moment-in-prez-race/2012/08/08/e24e67f6-e188-11e1-98e7-89d659f9c106_blog.html
The larger story here is this: Even if this ad makes unsupportable charges — and even if you think there’s nothing objectionable about Bain’s conduct — the ad dramatizes a larger story about what has happened to the middle class in this country. There is a straightfoward difference of opinion between the two candidates over how to respond to this — over the degree to which the federal government should intervene to protect people like Ms. Soptic. Obama believes in aggressive federal action to cushion the blow of market outcomes like the one that hit families like the Soptics with such force. Romney — even though his campaign has now said universal health care is the right answer in cases like hers — is promising to roll back government protections for families like theirs. Whatever you think of the ad, that's the more important larger argument to be having here — and it has been clarified this week.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/debate-over-dead-woman-is-clarifying-moment-in-prez-race/2012/08/08/e24e67f6-e188-11e1-98e7-89d659f9c106_blog.html
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