How do these things happen?

Listen to Dave’s commentary: How do these things happen?

Mitt Romney’s latest campaign ad has earned a Pants on Fire rating from Politifact.com. Pants on Fire is reserved for when a campaign ad doesn’t just attempt to mislead voters but actually tells a lie. Shocking, I know.

Here’s the clip, which criticizes Barack Obama by using excerpts of his own campaign speeches:

“It’s going to take a new direction. If we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.”- Obama
“I’m going to do something to government. I call it the smaller, simpler, smarter approach to government.”- Romney

OK… you heard this phrase, right?

“If we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.”- Obama

Now here’s the original Obama speech, without the sound processing and with the previous line included:

“Senator McCain’s campaign actually said, and I quote ‘If we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.'”

He was quoting John McCain.

Now, we all understand the temptation: you want to highlight that moment when the candidate incriminates himself. But there ought to be a few ground rules, right? Even in campaigns. And especially when Barack Obama has given his opponents so many accurate quotes that might serve just was well, including this one:

“If I don’t have this done in three years, then there’s going to be a one term proposition.”

It’s accurate and he wasn’t quoting anyone else. He was saying “hold me responsible.”

And that’s exactly how it should be; hold the incumbents responsible for their performance and hold the challengers responsible for their ads. And we know Romney agrees because he told us so.

“I’m Mitt Romney and I approve this message.”