Obama on Romney: "Sometimes they just make things up"

President Obama speaks at a campaign event, Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2012 in Charlottesville, Va.

/ AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

(CBS News) CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Though the TV was on in his hotel room last night in Colorado, President Obama was watching ESPN, not the Republican convention.

"Watching sports, but not watching the convention," White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters on Air Force One as the president flew here for a campaign rally ending a two-day swing through three swing states.

Carney also said Mr. Obama was otherwise occupied monitoring the path and impact of Hurricane Isaac.

Even so, Mr. Obama urged the 7,500 people at his campaign rally to "pay a little attention to what's happening in Tampa this week."

"Don't boo - vote," he told his audience under the big tent of the Charlottesville Pavillion.

Obama campaign press secretary Jen Psaki dismissed last night's GOP convention theme - critical of Mr. Obama's "you didn't build that" comment last month - as "built on a house of lies."

Mr. Obama said much the same thing about political ads targeting him, portraying them as deliberate distortions of his policies and statements.

"Sometimes they just make things up," the president said of the ads, referring to them as "an avalanche of attack ads and insults and distractions."

He cited a published comment from Romney campaign pollster Neil Newhouse: "We're not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers."

Mr. Obama said he took that to mean the Romney campaign policy is "we will not let the truth get in the way."

The Obama campaign has also been accused of playing fast and loose with the facts in its attacks on Romney-Ryan policies.

The president used his speech today to make yet another outreach to college students, hoping to re-energize them to help him win key swing states such as Iowa, Colorado and Virginia.

"Are you ready to deliver again for our president, Barack Obama," former Virginia Governor and current U.S. Senate candidate Tim Kaine asked the crowd as part of his warm-up speech at the rally.

Citing the passage of "Obamacare", more education grants and lower rates on student loans, Mr. Obama told college kids: "you made it possible, you can't get tired now."

He said there's more work to be done growing the economy, creating more good jobs and strengthening the economy.

"And in November," he told the students, your voice will matter more than ever,

Though he didn't watch the Republican event last night, with tongue-in-cheek, he referred to it as "a pretty entertaining show."

"They got wonderful things to say about me," he said with obvious sarcasm.

Mr. Obama also made a point of stressing his focus on the damage being wrought by Hurricane Isaac.

He said he's receiving regular updates on the situation and has conferred with Gulf Coast governors and the mayor of New Orleans.

He began his rally speech offering the thoughts and prayers of the nation to those in harm's way from Isaac.

"We are gonna make sure we are doing every single thing that we need to do to ensure that the folks down there are taken care of and have the support and the love of the rest of this country."

It did not escape White House notice that it was seven years ago today that Hurricane Katrina unleashed its torrents of damage on the Gulf Coast. Wanting to avoid the mistakes made by President George W. Bush in handling Katrina, the White House wants Mr. Obama to be seen as aggressively overseeing the federal response to Isaac.

[tsigili]

Obama makes things up, daily. He is the biggest liar in Washington.

[RealWorldNow]

Yes and I don't see any fact checking on those lies either ! Bias through omission....

[USisforallraces]

Did Newt the Ging. not call Mitt a liar twice on national TV?

Or maybe Ging. was lying that Mitt is a liar!

[marychgo]

When you or I do it, it's "lying"; when Republicans do it, it's "creative nonfiction"!

[Drumitupyakaheima]

In regards to Katrina it would have been helpful if the New Orleans Mayor and Governor at the time of LA would have done more to evacuate and rebuilt the levees they knew needed long before Katrina. I will say since Katrina was after 9/11 I would have thought Homeland Security would have an impressive emergency plan in place for disaster and shockingly that was obviously not the case.

[marychgo]

New Orleans' levees are (and have been for generations) the responsibility of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, not the state or city....

[JackReeves]

Obama calling out Mitt on lies...Mr. Pot have you met Mr. Kettle?
I'm still waiting for the debt to be cut in half...
Question I would like someone to answer is this, "What has Obama accomplished in 2012? Has he done anything this year? He has put off everything till after the election, when he says he will have more "flexibility".
Obama needs to find a new job...and he should not expect a good recommendation from US

[RollotheNorman]

Mr. President I have to sincerely disagree with you sir. It's not that the RepubliCONs "sometimes" make things up. But its the degree sir. You should have said "Mostly they just make things up."

[nearl451]

I see that the cast of neocon-characters have gone foaming rabid.

Obama must have said something obvious and true, again.

Fact of the matter is that he is understating the bald faced lies that the Romney camp adheres to daily. Funny thing is that there are various legitimate criticisms to lay at Obama's door.....butthey are not as visceral, by half, as the "work out of welfare", "stole money from Medicare","war on religion" touchstones that are automatics for the GOP.

Funny how no one in the GOP (including McCAin tonight) is talking about the corrupting influence of money, the innate right to vote, libertarian causes, and apropriate tax policy in this convention. It's all touchy-feely issues and (Oh yes) Obama has ruined us (sure compared to embroiled in two fiscally unaccounted for wars and a TANKING economy, and a belicose attack all others unilaterally past- OBama has certainly "ruined" our reputation compared tothat!

LOL.

[AlanBeasley]

Obama is not one to talk about making things up!

I received a letter weeks ago warning me about my book. That no one would believe my account of the bin Laden raid.

How dare anyone question the SEAL guys! My book has been in print for a long time and it validates the SEAL account TO THE TEE!

(and was laughed at by the left leaning media - who's laughing now!)

Page 89 -

"...bin Laden had been under a form of house arrest for years in Pakistan - rarely seeing the light of day. His health and mental faculties had deteriorated significantly, and he longer led any terror groups or had anything to do with attacks. He was obsessed with creating his own persona and legacy - and ironically spent most of the day watching U.S. television stations.

He was barely able to walk for more than a few minutes - and certainly wasn't worried about U.S. forces seeing him out in the courtyard. U.S. Forces were hundreds of miles away and were not looking for anyone in the shadow of a large Pakistani Military Base complex and training Facility."

So unless the entire team at Amazon or legacyofsuccessbook website are all part of some conspiracy...

The SEALsare accurate - Obama is not!

[nearl451]

Since a troop of the Obama staff (including SOS Clinton) were watching the operation live.....who really cares.

Seems to me that there is little embarassing about the differences in the accounts.


AND it is still important that Bin Laden is no threat anymore.

What I have read of the Seal account, your book doesn't seem entirely accurate either.

[wfw3536]

Just one example of an Obama lie, he said on a TV interview and the Dems repeated it over and over again that Obamacare was not a tax. Yet, when his government attorneys presented their case to the Supreme Court they provided 11 pages of rational that it was a tax. Oh the hypocrisy of Obama.

[SD92040]

This is rich! Kinda like the pot calling the kettle black. After the Bain lies, tax return hysteria, and blaming Romney for a woman's cancer this whining bit*h starts this sniveling? This pos is an embarrassment. At least lose with dignity.