Using Technology to Deepen Democracy, Using Democracy to Ensure Technology Benefits Us All

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Voicegate Offers Deceptive and Dishonorable Official Start to Romney's 2012 Campaign

At a campaign event one month before he was elected in 2008, Obama told voters, “Senator McCain’s campaign actually said, and I quote, ‘If we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.’” In Mitt Romney’s very first official television ad of the 2012 campaign he features only this part of the quote: “If we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.” It is, of course, an egregiously, flamboyantly deceptive and dishonorable ad. That it is also a preview of coming attractions is implied by the defense of the ad provided by the Romney campaign, according to CBS News:
Romney senior New Hampshire adviser Tom Rath tells CBS News the ad is “exactly what we want.” … Pressed on whether it was unfair to lop off the top of Mr. Obama’s comments -- which would show the president was quoting the McCain camp -- Rath said, “He did say the words. That’s his voice.”
"That's his voice"? If we get Obama's voice on tape reading Genesis will the Romney campaign credit Obama with creating the Universe? If we get Obama's voice on tape reading the Constitution will the Romney campaign credit Obama with being a Founding Father? Or, applying the same standards to Romney as ThinkProgress wryly has done, will we soon see ads as informative as this on the air?

1 comment:

jollyspaniard said...

It'll get worse, there's going to be extra helpings of sleaze thrown around during this election.