Romney campaign swings back at Priorities USA ad

(CBS News) A new TV ad out Friday by the Mitt Romney campaign calls intoquestion the president's character and intentions after a recent spot by a pro-Obama super PAC appeared to suggest the presumptive GOP presidential nominee is responsible for a woman's death by cancer.

"What does it say about a president's character when his campaign tries to use the tragedy of a woman's death for political gain?" a voice in the Romney ad says while news headlines such as "Scraping bottom" flash across the screen. "What does it say about a president's character when he had his campaign raise money for the ad then stood by as his top aides were caught lying about it?"

The original ad, by Priorities USA Action - a super PAC President Obama cleared for his top donors earlier this year - has drawn fire from both sides of the aisle. It features Joe Soptic, a former Kansas City steelworker whose wife passed away from cancer not long after Soptic lost his health insurance when Romney's company, Bain Capital, shut down his plant.

While the Obama campaign initially denied knowing "the specifics" of Soptic's story, spokeswoman Jen Psaki admitted Thursday that Soptic has appeared before in an ad produced directly by the Obama campaign, but questioned why reporters were focusing on work "done by an outside group."

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney voiced similar concerns during Friday's daily briefing. He argued the ad by Priorities USA, a third party "that we obviously have no control over and with people we don't have contact with," is "qualitatively different" from a another controversial ad out recently by the Romney campaign, which accuses Mr. Obama of removing the work requirement from welfare - a claim Carney called "categorically false and blatantly dishonest."

Carney said he didn't know about another ad from the conservative American Crossroads, which calls on the president to denounce the suggestion that Romney contributed to the death of Soptic's wife, but called it "rich with irony."

"I'm wondering - there's so many different groups out there - if that particular Republican super PAC is urging itself or the Republican candidate or some other Republican leader to denounce the other third-party Republican super PAC ad that questions whether the president is an American citizen." Carney was referring to an ad called "Shady Past" by the Conservative Majority Fund.

[fiddlestickawshucks]

Choosing Ryan might not be so bad if he were not such an extremist.~

As it stands, Ryan seems to represent everything Americans fear will happen if Romney is elected.

I don't think there has ever been a time in US history that our choices for President have been between two such poor candidates.

We are going to be damned if we do ( the poor, the elderly, Medicare and other such programs Repugnant canditates think of as entitlements are going to disappear); and will literally be damned if we don't vote for Romney after the collosol failure of Obama as President.

The answer to the question at the head of this article is "Yes, we absolutely deserve better".!!

Problem is; neither of these candidates are going to deliver better.

Romney says Ryan is a man of integrity.

If that were true; instead of running around and supporting the goverment (Repugnicants and Democrooks alike) he would be trying to restore the country to the people who actually built it and from whom the government literally stole the fund they had set aside to secure the future of all Americans.

In case Ryan, Romney, Boehner and every other politician in Washington don't remember what it was; it was the Social Security Trusr Fund.

We trusted the President and Congress for years to do what was best for the people of the United States.!

Had they not stolen these funds for their own benefit, there would be $220 TRILLION in that fund; more than enough to take care of everybody.

"We the People" need to get people in Congress, the Senate and the Presidency who are not a bunch of self-centered, lying, backdoor-dealing, thieving leeches in office.

Does anybody see anyone currently running for office who is going to work for "We the People".

I don't think so.!!!

[KPeters_from_UK]

nohater,
Have you no concern about a Presidential candidate who seems to avoid doing his patriotic duty in paying taxes. How can you support a man who lack loyalty to his country? When people avoid taxes they lack loyalty. As I see it, taxes are like a club membership dues..you pay or you forfeit all the benefits.

Although, I have lived for 14 years in the UK I have never hid my income and American investments. I have always filed and paid my share of American taxes and I vote! I have done more to support America than Romney!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[KPeters_from_UK]

ad_iudicium,

There was some one who put together a brief but poignant list of "say anything" Romney:

Abortion:
"abortion should be safe and legal"
"I will preserve and protect a woman's right to choose"
FLIP-FLOP
"I am pro-life"
------------------------
Health care law with personal mandates:
"If Massachusetts succeeds in implementing it, then that will be a model for the nation. I Like mandates"
FLIP-FLOP
"I will repeal Obamacare."
------------------------
Minimum wage:
"I think the minimum wage ought to keep pace with inflation."
FLIP-FLOP
"There's no question raising the minimum wage excessively causes a loss of jobs."
-------------------------
Campaign finance limits:
"I would like to have campaign spending limits."
FLIP-FLOP
"The American people should be free to advocate for their candidates and their positions without burdensome limitations."
----------------------
Auto industry bailout:
"I'm going to take burdens off the back of the auto industry."
FLIP-FLOP
"Let Detroit go bankrupt. Detroit needs a turnaround, not a check."
-------------------
The bank bailout:
"The TARP program... was nevertheless necessary to keep banks from collapsing in a cascade of failures."
FLIP-FLOP
"When government is... bailing out banks... we have every good reason to be alarmed."

[Rafterman11]

can't be all that bad. the IRS apparently approved of romney's returns and there is no reports that romney has ever been audited. if the mighty IRS approved of his returns, then what's the beef? we all do what we can to minimize our taxes by taking every deduction known right up to the minute. the IRS has approved of romney's tax returns.
------------by nohater August 11, 2012 2:36 AM EDT

It doesn't have to be illegal - just embarrassing. For example, a bunch of offshore accounts and small tax payments because of it. Its not a coincidence that Romney only releases tax returns that go back to when he knew he was running for president - plenty of time to move things around and have a more respectable tax profile for someone running for president.

[sspunout]

Embarrassing by whose standards? Do you have the slightest idea of the number of politicians and celebrities who maintain offshore accounts and shelters? My definition of embarrassing would apply to the members of congress who, until recently, had no qualms about using insider trading information to substantially feather their own nests.

[nearl451]

by deoppressoliber1964 August 11, 2012 6:45 AM EDT
Your stupid story has nothing to do with the Romney tax return issue. Your story does however illustrate that you're an idiot and should not be allowed to vote.
---------------------------------------------------------

I don't know why CBS doesn't ban you for life. You can't seem to post anything without calling someone stupid or some other name.

There is no such category as "not smart enough to vote" in our definition of REGISTERED VOTER. That you disagree with a person
should deprive them of theright to vote?!? What type of a democratic/representative system is that.....not the USA.

You should be ashamed.

[KPeters_from_UK]

deoppressoliber pretends he was part of United States Army Special Forces but he is extremely racist, selfish and completely ignorant. He is also distrustful of Americans who do not follow his strict Far Right ideology. He also hates any American who dares live outside of its borders.

[robert1129]

I automatically disregard any ad that does not have the words, "I am XXXXX, and I approve this message". Anything else is trash.

[cubscout09]

Romney owns Bain. Bain owns Clear Channel, Clear Channel snydicates Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.

Talk about glass houses.

[Jaylah54200]

Reminds me of the time, many years ago, when I got pulled over for having passed a stopped school bus.

I didn't really do it. I was behind the bus at a four-way stop. The bus went straight and then turned on its lights. I stopped at the stop-sign and then turned right.

However, when I got stopped, I also knew that I was driving on an expired license that had been expired for over a year. When the officer that stopped me came back to my car with my license and registration, he also had a ticket for passing a school bus. The fine for that was a lot smaller than it would have been for driving on an expired license. So I just shut up and took the ticket, paid it and forgot about it.

A couple of years later, my husband forgot to pay our vehicle insurance premium, and our policy got cancelled. We called our agent and got it reinstated, but that required a new license check for both of us, and our insurance went up sky-high. Seems that passing a stopped school bus counts for just about as much on your license and a DWI conviction does.

Had I know that at the time it happened, I'd have fought the passing a stopped school bus ticket. I wouldn't have gotten a ticket for the expired license because I went and got a new license the day after the whole thing happened, and the police couldn't give me a ticket retroactively.

So Mittens has got something in those past returns that he really, really doesn't want the voters to know about. Whatever it is, he knows it's SO bad that he'd rather allow the damaging speculation to continue than come clean about it.

Which is actually kind of funny because now, just his continued refusal to make those returns public tells me all I need to know.

[nohater]

can't be all that bad. the IRS apparently approved of romney's returns and there is no reports that romney has ever been audited. if the mighty IRS approved of his returns, then what's the beef? we all do what we can to minimize our taxes by taking every deduction known right up to the minute. the IRS has approved of romney's tax returns.

[tmittelstaed]

What is bad is that he didn't pay any taxes at all yet he made billions of dollars. Yes it's legal and yes I understand the argument that tax shelters are setup by the government to make people spend money where the government want them to spend money, but the intracies of tax law are lost on the blubbering rednecks that make up Romney's base of support. All they will know is that they paid taxes and Romney didn't and Romney made a lot more money than they did.

[Jaylah54200]

by jgg000010 August 10, 2012 10:31 PM EDT
seriously, do you not believe that the IRS - which operates under the auspices of the obama administration - wouldn't have been all over romney if there was a problem with ANY of his, or Bain Capital's, tax returns? That is what the IRS does. That is their raison d etre. What do you think you are going to find that the IRS hasn't? That romney is successful, wealthy and hasn't broken any laws?

________________

Missing the point here, fella.

It's not that Romney has done anything "illegal." He has stated that he "paid all taxes I legally had to, and no more." And I have no reason to doubt him on that.

But what I DO want to know is if he took advantage of the 2009 amnesty provision to report a bunch of past earnings that he'd been hiding off shore and not paid taxes on previously. Or any other "legal" but highly unethical things like that.

I'm also interested to see what percentage of his earnings he paid in taxes over the years. I might be a lot more able to understand his desire to lower taxes on "the wealthy" if I knew that he was paying at least the same tax rate as I am. And not something like 5%.

Just the fact that people have been pressing him to show the returns (even quite a few Republicans) and he still refuses, tells me that he's got something in those returns that he thinks will be much more detrimental to his campaign than continuing to refuse. Seriously, if he has nothing to hide, why is he continuing to hide them?

[Jaylah54200]

Still missing the point, I see.

This has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE IRS.

Ah well, you've already admitted that your IQ is .000010, so I guess I'm not surprised.

[nearl451]

Sure. We are interested in how much Mitt Romney "Believe[s] in America" with his money.

If you are goingto pretend you are all for the welfare of the country, but hide your profits from any benefit that the US may garner, then the court of public opinion will judge.

It has little to do with legality.

Glad to see your liberal candidate has your dander up.

[Robby33383]

It's now time for Romney to find out how many people Died as a result of Obama closing hundreds of GM dealerships across America when he took over GM. I know a family near my hometown where their dealership was closed after 41 years in business and 47 workers lost everything. Let's go CBS, NBC, ABC and CNN, let's look into this!!!

[nearl451]

No one but you righties claimed that Obama is claiming Romney is repsonsible forthewoman'sdeath.

Not even her husband.

On the other hand....go ahead and run that ad. Then we can calculate HOW MANY WOULD HAVE DIED if GM had gone belly up.

You win the award for most bitter nonsense of the night.

[rharrin1]

Joe Soptic is ONLY one example.