This piece by Blake Zeff at Buzzfeed debunks the “nastiest campaign ever” whining that’s been going on, using a bunch of good examples. I also liked his examination of the press’ notion that lying about issues is somehow less toxic that other lies, using the Romney welfare lie as an example:
[…] Recall during the GOP primary when Michele Bachmann errantly stated that the HPV vaccine caused mental retardation. In this instance, the press was vigilant in correcting her misstatement, and each time she repeated it, her credibility took a hit. This has not happened with Romney on welfare, nor has his deception here generated a fraction of the controversy that has enveloped Harry Reid for speculating about Romney’s tax burden.This is presumably because any discussion of a policy issue — even a dishonest one — is substantive, since it’s talking about policy… or something.
Also, too: Even though Harry Reid is the worst person in the world for repeating an easily disproved rumor about Romney’s taxes, that’s also ultimately about a core campaign issue. It’s an item of faith that cutting taxes on the rich spurs job creation, and Romney-Ryan advocate continuing across-the-board tax cuts.. The question of what rate Romney pays, and how he avoided taxes, is relevant to that discussion, even if it makes the ghost of David Broder shed salty tears.
arguingwithsignposts
Are there non-salty tears?
JPL
The media should just cover Romney when he tells the truth. Of course, that would mean little coverage.
Mudge
Romney pays (he says) no less than 13% in taxes (details not given), yet he and his cohort need a tax cut. Makes sense to me. And what about that 50% who pay no (unspoken word, income)taxes? All those little old ladies on Social Security, all those families of 4 making $25,000 a year. Send them a bill. The freeloaders.
MattF
I don’t think it’s lies about policy that get a pass, it’s lies with numbers in them. Reporters have a problem with number-thingies– it reminds them of that day in fourth grade they were absent, missed the lesson on ‘division’ and then never caught up.
Litlebritdifrnt
I though Gibbs’ retort on Fox News was good when he said that the Obama campaign was not going to be lectured by the Romney campaign on civility when Romney hangs around with RWNJ Birthers like Trump.
WereBear
When what you are selling is Lies, the people who sell it must be shills or stupid, even both.
We get the Media they pay for.
Valdivia
@Litlebritdifrnt:
I loved that clip. He also made a point of saying that Romney himself has been taking a pretty outrageous tone against Obama for a year on trail, saying our President doesn’t believe in America.
Patricia Kayden
The Bot has already admitted to paying less taxes than many middle class Americans. I would think that the media and most voters would love to see how he managed to get such a low rate.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@MattF:
FTFY
Doggie D
It is important to understand that the program is not ‘welfare’. The program is called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and is funded by an additional special $5 billion in stimulus funding to get the economy going again. The program consists of cash benefits AND NON-CASH BENEFITS, and is not designed to have people sit around eating potato chips while watching TV. The program is designed to ‘end dependence of needy parents on government benefits’. Eliminating federal work requirements by assigning those decisions to the states will aid in the economic recovery.
All of this is true. Here is a web-site put out by the government that proves it. Take that, Mitt Romney.
arguingwithsignposts
Yeah, i can’t believe the 13 percent thing doesn’t get more traction.
cmorenc
@MattF:
Most people who wind up in journalism (whether on-camera or print) took as early and easy an exit as they could find from taking any further science, math, statistics, or other course incorporating any deeper math skills than simple regurgitation of figures cited in a history or political science text.
bcinaz
There is no way to have this conversation, since neither side seems willing to state the obvious; CONSUMERS are the actual JOB CREATORS. Without demand, sales, revenue generating activity – employment growth is anemic. Stagnating wages keeps demand suppressed. Punch Line: privately financed campaigns guarantees that no Republican or Democrat will say publicly that there is more than one king of ‘job creator’ in the known universe.
Anoniminous
A graph that says much.
Mostly what it says is the Marginal Tax Rate and Employment aren’t directly linked, but try getting that across to the innumerate slobs in the media.
Tom65
MD Governor Martin O’Malley had a great line about the Romney campaign, saying they were like the guy you DON’T want on your pickup basketball team – always fouling and then screaming “foul” every time he gets touched.
paradox
I would think the 13% would get a vast amount of traction, except the Obama campaign never says a word about it. The implications are vastly disquieting, yet I don’t empirically know why the fuck they’re so quiet, so I just uncomfortably wonder.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@paradox: Because it’s not September/October.
1badbaba3
@bcinaz: Yes indeedy, both sides do it…. Oy vey.
Kane
The “nastiest campaign ever” meme fits perfectly with the ongoing media narrative that negative campaigning on the part of the Democrats is the primary reason why Romney is behind in the polls.
I have no doubt that the ads have been effective and have had a role in building on President Obama’s lead over Romney, but I think it’s an exaggeration to claim that the ads are the primary factor in the continued growth of Romney’s unfavorables. Most of that credit should go to Romney for being a flawed candidate and for the poor campaign that he has been running.
Boots Day
QFT. Putting a few extra million in the pockets of Mitt Romney and Jamie Dimon and Tiger Woods is going to do precisely squat for the economy. Putting a few extra hundreds in the pockets of people who are going to go buy flat-screen TVs and have dinner at the Olive Garden is going to help a lot.
Years from now, people are going to marvel that we had an election in which one side claimed in all seriousness that the role of the government should be to help the uber-wealthy amass more money.
catclub
@arguingwithsignposts: I figure the tears from Salt-water crocodiles are non-salty.
I remember learning about salmon. In fresh water, they have to keep fresh water out of their cells. In salt water they have to keep salt out of their cells and keep water in.
Ipso facto, salt water crocodiles must have freshwater tears.
Citizen_X
@arguingwithsignposts: Romney’s occular lubricant is a glycerin-based polymer, so yes, if you want to call those “tears.”
wenchacha
I would like to know what the highest rate Rmoney paid on all those years. The 13% maybe hasn’t percolated enough, yet. It took a while for Bain to get traction.
Alex S.
I don’t know. I think that the tax return stuff is pretty much a standard of political campaigns. The Obama campaign isn’t excessively harsh when they tackle this issue.
Frankensteinbeck
Let me reiterate: Every anchor, pundit, or director who decides what is reported on the news nationally is rich. They are just smart enough to realize Obama is kicking out the foundations that support their insanely low tax rates – and that Romney is helping him. You don’t need a conspiracy, it is in ALL of their interests simultaneously to make Obama’s attacks on Romney’s taxes out of bounds. Alas, they’re not bright enough to realize that the only way to do that is to bury the story entirely. The Village Punditry tend to think they define what America believes, which is far from true.
LanceThruster
I truly hope the response to this is, “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”
I have been thinking that I would make a proposition to my Republican friends… that if they will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them. ~ Adlai E. Stevenson
FlipYrWhig
Has any candidate in the history of campaigning ever gotten elected on the strength of complaining about the opponent’s mean, nasty words?
I know media people like to do stories about ads, and then stories about whether the ads are effective (not, of course, whether they’re true or false), but it amounts to nothing and yields no information about, you know, the election and who’s going to win.
SiubhanDuinne
@Doggie D:
Yeah, but it’s put out by the government so it doesn’t prove a damn thing.
/wingnut
El Cid
Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed on Meet the Press goes to town on this bullshit notion that Paul Ryan is “serious”.
It’s awesome. Even Chuck Todd looks pretty nauseous when Reed first tears at it.
Video on YouTube here.
Transcript here.
Several of the stammer / interjections from original edited out as annoying, and paragraphing added in a few times.
This really, really deserves front page status.
danielx
@Frankensteinbeck:
This.
Yeah, we’ve come a long way from the H.L. Mencken line about how the only way a reporter should look at a politician is down. A great many (though not all) reporters on the national level are called reporters only by courtesy, they’re courtiers. And yes, most if not all Villager-type reporters/columnists/propagandists are members of the 1%.
See Woodward, Bob; Brooks, David; Will, George; Mitchell, Andrea; etc…etc…etc.