The wingnuts and the Romney campaign plan to base their fall campaign on the falsehood that President Obama is ending the work requirement of welfare. It is a complete lie, but it does gin up racist feelings about the President among low-information white voters, so they’re going for it. This morning comes the news that Mitt is releasing his fifth ad in his Welfare Lie series and planning an event in New Hampshire to push the attack.
All of this presents a big problem for the media. How can you report the horse race and your ever-so-predictable process stories without mentioning that Romney’s entire effort is based on telling lies. So far, all signs point to a major media FAIL. The AP story cited above treats it as a he said/he said story.
Yesterday I wrote about how the NY Times decided to deal with the issue. To their credit they called out Mitt’s Welfare Lie as a lie:
The Romney campaign is airing an advertisement falsely charging that Mr. Obama has “quietly announced” plans to eliminate work and job training requirements for welfare beneficiaries, a message Mr. Romney’s aides said resonates with working-class voters who see government as doing nothing for them.
And give the NYTs credit for linking the lie to an effort to gin up the white vote. That’s progress, but it would be better if they called out the effort as the race baiting that it is. Still, in a media environment where a false sense “balance” requires outright lies to be treated as possibly true, this is progress. And there is even more hope with this new story, Making the Election About Race, by Thomas Edsall.
The Wall Street Journal has also published their process story about the Welfare Lie. Not surprisingly, the WSJ fails to mention anything about the truthfulness of the Welfare Lie and instead writes it up as a statement of fact. Then they use it as evidence of how brilliant Rove, Romney and company are to use it:
Swing voters are “resistant” to the idea that Mr. Obama is radical or ideological, although Mr. Law believes that the administration’s relaxation of work requirements in federal welfare rules could change that perception. “You can tell they’re landing punches,” he says of the Romney campaign’s recent effort to raise this issue.
But the punches have to be targeted very carefully. Recent focus groups have convinced Mr. Law that the issue is “definitely resonating now with swing voters, including those who were Obama voters in 2008.” And yet, he adds, “We also picked up conflicting emotions: The economy is so lousy for middle-income Americans that the same people who chafe at the rise of welfare dependency under Obama don’t automatically default to a ‘get-a-job’ attitude—because they know there are no jobs.”
Mr. Law concludes that welfare reform could be a “powerful issue to talk about this fall, but it needs to be done sensitively. Right now it may be more of an economic issue than a values issue: In other words, more people on welfare is another disturbing symptom of Obama’s broken-down economy, rather than an indictment of those who are on welfare or the culture as a whole.”
I love the “needs to be done sensitively” bit. It is great code for we don’t want to be caught calling him a nigger.
And while the WSJ is overtly partisan in the reporting, the prize really needs to go to Alexander Burns over at Politico. He wanted to avoid calling out the welfare lie in his process story about the WSJ article. Burns did not want to offend the Romney Campaign, Team Rove, the WSJ and Wingnutopia by pointing out that the Welfare Lie was a lie. And yet, he still wanted to pretend he had a shred of integrity and so he needed a way to flag that the Welfare Lie might have some problems. The term of art he crafts for “a lie” is something special (emphasis added):
Law emphasizes in the interview that the welfare attack — the substance of which is very shaky — has to be delivered in the most careful of ways if it’s going to work.
That term is Category worthy at the very least. Burns should be celebrated as a star of our Failed Media Experiment. What a chicken shit.
Cheers
Valdivia
You have a tiny typo on the first graph: their should be they’re.
Sorry I am totally neurotic about these.
Geoduck
You’ve also got “and planning to an event in New Hampshire” up there.
Baud
Obama’s no Kerry. I have to believe they’re going with the rope-a-dope strategy here – let them commit themselves with the lie, then hit them hard. Maybe during the Dem convention, when they’ll have a wider audience and less of a media filter.
f space that
Looks like Rmoney might be able to lie his way into office with this one. It can be fact checked all day, but it will become truth forever after it is repeated enough. I see these ads on in VA all day long ad nauseum. I am not sure how Obama counters this directly since a lot of white people are predisposed to believe it. Maybe Obama has some good stuff on Mitt that will nullify this, such as UBS amnesty etc. but he can’t wait too long to use it.
Francis
On a related point, I just watched Chris Matthews epic take down of Reince Prebius. F-ing awesome!
What was instructive, Dennis, wasn’t so much Chris tearing that little chump limb from limb, but all the chair-squirming from all the so-called “serious” people. There weren’t enough fainting chairs to go around. I thought Mika was going to pass out and I think Tom Brokaw may have pissed himself.
The Romney campaign has been the most dishonest (and increasingly racist) campaign I’ve ever seen. What worries me is the “serious” media will again bury their heads in the sand and not call them out on their bullshit.
Chris called a horse a horse, and good on him!
The Red Pen
they’re
Sheesh. I don’t know why I still read this blog. Hannity says it’s a hate site anyway.
eric
@Baud: during the debates. Also, too, look for Obama to start sprinkling some of the apostasy of George Romney into his speeches verbatim or close to verbatim. George had very strong feelings on the sort of party his Son is leading and the sorts of things his Son is saying and doing to win the nomination. Then, when Romney loses his $hit, well, the reposte is quite easy.
Ann Rynd
If Reince Priebus represents power of any sort he just got told some truth by Chris Matthews of all people. Today all political tv will be a waste but those two minutes will be the only thing worth watching. The hill already calling Matthews “unhinged.”
Dennis G.
@Valdivia: Thanks
Valdivia
@Baud:
I agree here. They already did an ad with Clinton, but when this will be all called the lie that it is will be his speech on Prime Time. The Romney team have spent months calling Clinton the ideal Dem, now he will call them out and specifically on the welfare thing I am pretty sure.
@Dennis G.: no problem. Great post as always.
Bruce S
Chris Matthews – of all people – just nailed Reince Prebus’ ass to the wall on Morning Joe, of all shows. Beautiful and rare moment of television cable talk. Of course, the Joe crew couldn’t deal with real confrontation over real lies and racist dogwhistles. But the location audience in a Tampa bar applauded Chris!
Dennis G.
@Geoduck: And Thanks.
eric
@Bruce S: confrontation makes the back slapping evening of cocktails too uncomfortable.
Paddy
@Francis: I just got the vid of it up here. Video- GOP Convention: Chris Matthews hammers Reince Priebus on “Race Card”
Mika should have had his back.
Baud
Chris Matthews hates Romney. And I don’t think it’s politics. I think Matthews still has enough self-respect that he hates being lied to.
Valdivia
@Bruce S:
can you tell those of us without access to a tv what went down, substance wise? pretty please? :)
quannlace
On CNN they had on a director who’s made a documentary on Obama they’re planning to show during the convention. (If this is carried during prime time, wouldn’t this mean the networks are carrying an anti-Obama ad for free?)
Main thing he kept stressing; it featured a lot of people who voted for him in 2008 but now are ‘disappointed’ in Obama. Ugh. These people make me ill. They’re like spoiled children who thought it was gonna be like Christmas morning, and now they’re mad at Daddy cause they didn’t get everything they wanted. When was this docu made? How do they feel about it now after the VP pick? All the anti-woman stuff that the Right’s been outed with lately? Still feel happy about Romney in the White House?
Dennis G.
@Paddy: That is pretty great. Thanks
eric
@Baud: I think it is the race baiting. I think he (and most) can tolerate the lies on medicare and other major issues, but race in America has an ugly and violent legacy. We are beyond dog whistles here, we are hearing air raid sirens. this new ad is a pure lie. pure evil. absolute
flukebucket
@f space that:
This is what baffles me. The Romney campaign keeps targeting an audience that they already have locked up. Maybe they get some kind of weird kick going around and saying “Ni$$er, Ni$$er, Ni$$er,” but I just don’t see how it increases their base vote anymore than it already is.
Just Some Fuckhead
You’re pretty hung up on this notion of the press as the arbiters of truth. We’re in the post-truth era. 50% of Republicans believe Obama wasn’t born in this country. Even if all yer so-called liberal media outlets decided to report the truth, people aren’t going to believe it and certainly not the type that would ever vote for Obama.
eric
@flukebucket: they need a certain percentage of the white vote to actually vote to counter all the other demographic gaps. there are not enough true undecideds in the key states to get him to victory. He needs every sheet to vote once, if not twice.
eric
@Just Some Fuckhead: more the 50% of the GOP believes the earth is no older than 6000 years old. given that data point, good luck with the pinochios.
Rhoda
In one week, POTUS will have his convention stepping all over any bounce Mittens may have gotten. Then the real campaigning will start and I’m bettting the big rallies make a come back. Then the debates will begin. And soon enough, we’ll be voting.
Heading into the RNC convention; POTUS is winning. And I’m pretty sure with his convention bounce; POTUS will be winning heading out of the DNC Convention. That is not good for Romney. The race has been baked for a while now; he went overseas the last time he has an opportunity to press an economic issue and frame the race around that “we didn’t build it flap.” Now, he’s got to hope for really crappy job reports that sink in and a contracting economy to have hope of a second look IMO.
From my sense of it; people aren’t ready to fire the President yet and Romney hasn’t given them any confidence.
We’ll see what the massive money he’s raised gets him this fall. I don’t think we’re prepared for the deluge of ads coming our way between now and November. (ETA I mean we in the collective sense; not the Obama campaign. I think they realize what’s about to go down and are more than prepared.)
Jim Kakalios
@eric: Debates in October may be too late. I also expect a major pushback, likely during Clinton’s speech, at the DNC. Would not be surprised if a speaker uses the “lie” word. They could then run the tape of Newt calling Romney a lier.
Steve M.
Hey, Mr. President: just rescind the goddamn waivers.
They were purely an attempt to provide some flexibility, right? To Republican governors as well as Democratic? Well, fuck ’em. Go back to the old rules and let them grumble about paperwork and red tape. They can turn around and attack you for that, but it’d be a lot harder to race-bait you.
4tehlulz
@flukebucket: iirc, his strategy requires over 70% of the white vote, so he need to convince the racists to actually go outside, hold their noses, and vote for the Mormon robot to save the country from That One.
I will laugh my ass off if he falls juuuuust short and loses.
Cassidy
@flukebucket: It’s the Southern superiority complex. While Zombie and Robot aren’t southerners, they’re following the strategy. Whites in the South like feeling better than someone; there is a very defined social hierarchy. If you really want to see it, go to a Southern Church, even an Episcopalian one, and you will see the big fish in the little pond.
As far as their strategy, they’ve locked themselves in an echo chamber. Saying ni-(clang) makes them feel better and superior and they are hoping that the veneer of confidence it gives them will translate in undecided whites voting for the confident white guys with nice smiles.
Joseph Nobles
@quannlace: That documentary is the contribution by Citizens United to the 2012 election cycle. I’m sure it will be in theaters soon.
Elizabelle
@Paddy:
Thank you.
That’s the segment I heard.
Didn’t listen carefully first time around, and good on Matthews for pointing out to Priebus “you’re doing it again” with trying to link Obama to European style healthcare and foreign influences.
Tom Brokaw jawboning that Americans are turned off politics because both sides do it.
And Mika and Joe sitting there like their parents put them in a corner and told them to shut up.
Paul
If the winning candidate is the one who manages to lie the most, then what’s point of even having a democracy?
dan
You have to give the Matthews thing it’s own thread. It was that mind-blowing. I saw it live this morning and almost woke up the house screaming “Yeah!”
And I loved the fact that the crowd was cheering for Matthews.
Paul
I get so sick of every time these useless pundits do their “both sides do it” garbage. If they are so scared of offending anybody (usually the people on the extreme right), then they should get into a different profession. This especially applies to Mr. Brokaw who simply has no insight other than claiming “both sides do it”.
flukebucket
@Cassidy:
I can remember a commenter that used to say all of the time that Romney would need 65% of the white vote and that Reagan only got 60% so it was quite a mountain to climb.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@flukebucket:
Apparently the assumption is this election is like 2010; only the bases are interested and Romney has an issue with his base.
Cassidy
@flukebucket: It goes deeper than that. You see it when AA managers or supervisors are treated like shit by their underlings. I saw it in the military. Hell, you see it restraunts, gas stations, and retail stores. Mitt may not be a mental giant, but he’s smart enough to know that pending something catastrophic, this is already over. But, he gets to tell the leader of the free world that no matter what, when this is all over, he’s the ni(clang) and that he can do it with impunity and no one will say a damn thing about it.
SenyorDave
I want to see ads calling Mitt Romney a liar. He is, so call it like they see it. Then the media can fact-check the liar statement.
MattF
The Romney campaign has been blatantly lying since Day One, and they’ve gotten away with it. Remember that ‘selective editing’ a couple of months ago that sent everyone to their fainting couches? Remember when none other than Noot flatly called Romney a liar? Those were all trial runs– they got the desired reception from the winger base and that’s what mattered.
zzyzx
@Joseph Nobles: I’m sure tons and tons of people will pay $8 to see that.
Elizabelle
@dan:
Seconded.
This was as close as a “Have you no shame” moment as I’ve seen from our buckraking media.
Matthews deserves his own thread and wide dissemination.
rickstershierpa
Meanwhile on CNBC, Kerrigan is all upset still about the ad where worker lost health insurance at company bankrupted by Bain, and then wife dies of cancer 5-years later. And screaming about CNN’s “bias.” Oy vey!
Meanwhile, I recommend Mr. Michael Higgins, current President of the Irish Republic, for lessons on how to deal with Wingnuts.
rickstershierpa
@rickstershierpa: Whoops, forgot the link. http://www.emptywheel.net/2012/08/25/with-a-neck-like-a-jockeys-bollocks-trash-talk/
Randy P
@4tehlulz: I’d rather see an electoral college crushing along the lines of Reagan’s 1984 win.
Swampyankee
@Francis: Sadly that moment of truth will lead MSNBC to push Matthews off all further coverage of the convention. The NBC news division gets very uncomfortable when anyone connected with its coverage asks a republican a tough or antagonistic question. Too many complaints from wingnuts. Tough questions are typically limited to democrats, who are expected to just STFU and answer any questions they get.
Just Some Fuckhead
I’d like to see a blatantly dishonest campaign ad about Romney (or Ryan) from the Obama campaign, something not even remotely connected to reality. I’m curious as to how far this whole post-truth thing goes. I think the closest we came to this so far was the Harry Reid/Romney taxes flap, and if you recall, that was was incredibly successful for Democrats.
Bruce S
The most disheartening – and predictable – part of the Chris Matthews moment of truth with the RNC Weasel was Tom Brokaw kind-of-sort-of agreeing “in fairness” but contextualized by “both sides do it”, and the unseemly squirming by the hosts when, in fact, Matthews’ confrontation as a journalist insulted by Preibus’ assumption that he could say anything and get away with it, brought some news value to their lame “inside bullshit” show. They should have been thanking Chris for raising their bar jsut a bit.
SenyorDave
@Bruce S: I kind of wish Matthews had asked Reince Preibus (I think it should be required to use his full name everytime)specifically about the truthfulness of the welfare ads, but I understand his anger. Tom Brokaw is a complete tool. He can take his greatest generation and shove it up his ass.
Cacti
@flukebucket:
As I mentioned yesterday, I’m not really understanding the end game for the GOP here.
Given the voting blocs that Willard has alienated, there aren’t enough racist white dudes left to give him a majority.
Women are the single biggest group of voters, and he trails with them by 10 points. He’s at sub-McCain levels with hispanic voters, and even Dubya’s 11% of black voters looks unattainable for him.
Palli
HULU.com plays that damn ad incessantly. Last week there was a Obama ad as well but not recently. Sometimes it actually let you choose one ad over the other.
Raven
What I liked best is what a whip-ass motherfucker Priebus is. Thought he was going to cry like the little bitch that he is.
Just Some Fuckhead
@SenyorDave:
You mean Reinhold Reince Preibus so people know just how European-influenced he is?
Napoleon
@Cacti:
It is this:
http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/08/2012-or-never-for-gops-white-base.html
NancyDarling
@rickstershierpa:
Higgins’ final sentence in his glorious can of whup-ass.
Elizabelle
@SenyorDave:
It won’t fit.
Too much NBC money stuck up there.
I used to really, really like Tom Brokaw. He was my favorite anchor.
Ann Rynd
@dan: John must be at the vets, but, yes, this needs to be up on the front page. Chris Matthews said in three minutes what all of the comments here have been saying for a year. And someone should do a video just of Reince’s face with Mika saying “No, no, no, no.”
Joseph Nobles
@zzyzx: D’Souza’s anti-Obama doc in theaters right now has grossed almost $10 million. It’s been out for seven weeks, but this weekend went much wider (into over 1,000 theaters). Its per-theater take was $5700, but I feel like it’s going to drop down much more significantly than average. If it had done a Saturday bounce like every other film out there, it would have been in the top four instead of hitting #8.
I’ll bet that at least the same people who saw D’Souza’s thing will pony up for the Citizens United flick. Maybe not, though.
Kristin
Romney will continue to lie so long as he knows he’ll more or less get away with it. This is what’s so great about Chris Matthews’ going off on Preibus, but what’s also so wrong with guys like Brokaw. He tried to erase it all by saying, “now, now, Chris. It’s not polite to point out race baiting and lying. Let’s pretend the real problem is BOTH SIDES DO IT.”
I, stupidly, expected better from the likes of Brokaw, but he might as well go write for Politico. Pathetic villager weaksauce.
Ann Rynd
RE: Priebus on Obama looking to Europe for ideas. What about Ryan and his fucking Austrian Economics?
wrb
@flukebucket:
Unfortunately there are a bunch of white swing voters that are vulnerable to the approach. Note that they aren’t simply saying that Obama is black, but that he’s sending money for which you worked to people who don’t work (possibly because they are “his” people, and everyone is a little biased, aren’t they?)”
Dangerous ad imo.
Hopefully the blatantness of the lie will cause it to backfire.
feebog
The first two minutes of the segment are the best, but the part toward the end where Preibus completely caves is priceless. I don’t normally have much use for Matthews, but he nailed Preibus to the wall and skinned him on this one.
mainmati
@4tehlulz: 70%? Even in the targeted swing states, that pretty much implies that there are almost no white Democrats/Liberals. I really don’t think that’s true. The bigger problem will be getting younger voters of any ethnicity or gender to actually get out and vote.
Paul
@Elizabelle:
I agree. He was a great news anchor. However, as a pundit he is completely useless. He never adds anything of value. Nothing of any insight. And today’s “both sides do it” comment is just insulting to anybody’s intelligence.
Elizabelle
@Paul:
It either suggests Brokaw’s mental map is decades out of date, or that he was sucking up to his corporate masters. Or both.
Neither is a flattering explanation.
grandpa john
@Kristin: While he was at it, Mattlhews should have got into Brokows face about his smarmy shit of both sides do it
Quaker in a Basement
Wake me up when a national level reporter works up the courage to confront Romney about it to his face.
flukebucket
Neal Boortz just told a listener how hard Dubya tried to keep the housing crash from happening but Barney Frank wouldn’t let him.
Boortz was also interviewing John Bolton this morning and it was both sad, scary and laughable all at the same time.
The Republican party is just crazy. There is no other way to put it.
Brachiator
Really no such thing as a low information voter.
The wingnut media, often abetted by the mainstream press, provides easy to digest propaganda for ravenous fools. And they love it. There is this, for example, from the weekend box office results.
Some people just want to be fooled.
shep
If we should survive a Romney/Ryan White House long enough to pitch the forks and light the torches, I suggest that the first things to go up are NBC headquarters, The Washington Post Building and Time/Warner. After all, they’ve been fucking the Republic almost every generation since Nixon was elected, they’ve got it coming.