Mitt Romney the bullshitter held a rally yesterday in Ohio where he said this:
Mitt Romney attacked his opponent, President Obama, in this rural and manufacturing city, on education and trade, passing along a report that Chrysler might move all of its Jeep manufacturing to China, which the company has denied.
“I saw a story today that one of the great manufacturers in this state, Jeep, now owned by the Italians, is thinking of moving all production to China. I will fight for every good job in America, I’m going to fight to make sure trade is fair,” Mr. Romney said.
He saw a story. They’re thinking of moving production. Just classic BS, and impossible to pin him down on.
The Obama campaign said the story about Jeep was “totally debunked.”
Chrysler Group LLC issued a statement Thursday that “Jeep has no intention of shifting production of its Jeep models out of North America to China. It’s simply reviewing the opportunities to return Jeep output to China for the world’s largest auto market. U.S. Jeep assembly lines will continue to stay in operation.” It said the story was because of a misreading of a Bloomberg News report.
Update: wonder of wonders, the bullshitter is getting called on this latest round of lies, but as we know Mitt Romney doesn’t respond to questions:
Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney told a rally in northern Ohio on Thursday night that Chrysler was considering moving production of its Jeep vehicles to China, apparently reacting to incorrect reports circulating online.
Romney was apparently responding to reports Thursday on right-leaning blogs that misinterpreted a recent Bloomberg News story earlier this week that said Chrysler, owned by Italian automaker Fiat SpA, is thinking of building Jeeps in China for sale in the Chinese market.
The Bloomberg story, though accurate, “has given birth to a number of stories making readers believe that Chrysler plans to shift all Jeep production to China from North America, and therefore idle assembly lines and U.S. work force. It is a leap that would be difficult even for professional circus acrobats,” Chrysler spokesman Gualberto Ranieri said.
“Let’s set the record straight: Jeep has no intention of shifting production of its Jeep models out of North America to China. It’s simply reviewing the opportunities to return Jeep output to China for the world’s largest auto market. U.S. Jeep assembly lines will continue to stay in operation.”
The Bloomberg story, however, sparked the confusion in the first paragraph of the story, saying Chrysler planned to return Jeep output to China “and may eventually make all of its models in that country.”
But the reporter included Mike Manley, chief operating officer of Fiat and Chrysler in Asia, later in the story referring to adding Jeep production sites rather than shifting output from North America to China.
A Romney representative didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment on his remarks.
“Right-leaning blogs” Of course.
dmsilev
Given his past history of overreacting to insufficient information (e.g. Libya), there’s a chance that Romney might actually have believed the story.
Heavens knows that when shopping for a President, a tendency to scream and leap at even a hint of a news story is high up on the “desirable” list.
Yutsano
Willard knows the auto bailout is killing him in Ohio, so he’s trying to get something to turn that around. The fact that he latched on to a misleading report and ran it into a full-blown lie isn’t surprising.
PreservedKillick
Sun to rise in east, set in west.
Sky blue.
Leaves often found in trees.
Mitt Romney lying.
None of these things is surprising.
TaMara (BHF)
ABCNews this morning: Obama said a bad word we can’t repeat on morning television. But not one word on the JEEP LIE.
I give up.
Southern Beale
They don’t care! The wingnuts won’t run the debunking. Fox News will air the lie, not the correction. We had that assclown Arthur Laffer tell a state House-Senate Fiscal Review Committee that we MUST repeal the inheritance tax because it hurts jobs. As proof he said Fred Smith of FedEx was going to leave the state of Tennessee and move FedEx. Fred Smith had to step up and say “not so fast buckaroo, I have no intention of leaving and I never said any such thing.”
They don’t fucking care. They just say whatever and know that few people will hear the correction. It’s what Colbert said about truthiness. It doesn’t have to be true, it just has to feel true.
Violet
Saw a cover of a magazine today on the news–GQ or Esquire or something. Apparently it has an interview with Obama where he said that kids are a good judge of things and they said “that other guy, he’s a bullshitter.” This was part of a both-sides-do-it piece on the election, where Romney’s side was the Mourdock rape comments and the Sununu “Colin Powell’s only voting for Obama because he’s black” comment.
Sasah and Malia are good judges of character.
Linda Featheringill
Was this the same occasion where they had that great singalong?
Kay
@dmsilev:
It’s worse than that, because the tendency to scream and leap only occurs when it benefits Mitt Romney.
He’s very, very risk averse regarding anything that may personally affect Mitt Romney.
Democrat Partisan Asshole
Mitt Romney apparently can tell us anything with one glaring exception: why anyone should vote for him.
Napoleon
@TaMara (BHF):
I think that is great – I would not be surprised if Obama intentionally used the word knowing places like ABC would repeat it. I hope all of them repeat it every day from now to election day because what people are going to hear is “Romney is a BSer”. Obama has hi personal ratings, he can get away with it.
Kay
@Violet:
It rings true, because it is true. What’s your reaction when someone uses language like this? “I saw a story” “they’re thinking of…” It’s BS.
PreservedKillick
@Napoleon:
Yep.
And to get under Romney’s skin, in a very big way.
Davis X. Machina
If it works, then it’s true.
Close the sale.
Glengarry/Glen Ross 2012!
Redshift
@dmsilev:
One of the qualities of a successful bullshitter is the ability to sincerely believe whatever he is saying at any given moment.
Kay
@TaMara (BHF):
I think it’s futile to expect them to delve into anything as mysterious and remote as the auto industry. I really do. Luckily, there is local media.
I know national media won’t cover it.
Spankyslappybottom
Just in case anyone thinks Chuck Todd hasn’t become a full-fledged Villager:
On NBC Today’s “news” portion, Chuck reported that BOTH campaigns had hit “speedbumps”:
Romney’s: Campaign chairman Sununu says n*ggers stick together. Romney won’t comment on Mourdock saying women are rape-ready baby vessels.
Obama’s: Children can tell Mitt Romney is a “bullshitter.”
Well done, Mr. Todd. Here’s your Villagers Card.
dmsilev
@Napoleon: It’s a very mild version of the old LBJ “call him a pig-fucker” tactic. Mitt Romney’s campaign is whining that the President used a bad word, and every time someone repeats the story the association “Romney == bullshitter” gets reinforced.
Violet
@Kay: Yep. It is.
It’s a sad commentary on our media that they are so stuck on the both-sides-do-it reporting that even though Republicans are saying women have to keep their rapists baby and a key Romney surrogate describes the former Secretary of State as basing his vote only on race, they have to counter with something–so they find the President using vaguely salty language.
Southern Beale
BTW here’s a roundup of some good news from the world …
Napoleon
@dmsilev:
Funny because that is the first thing I thought of and almost mentioned it.
Kay
@Violet:
I’m with Napoleon on this. I think it’s good to use a one-word description that so completely defines this man. They can complain all they want. It’s true.
JGabriel
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JGabriel
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Links via Terry Pinder @ DKos.
.
LAC
@Spankyslappybottom: Chuck Todd is a fucktard, through and through. I hope his weak chin ass gets the fuck off of my screen soon.
TR
It’s like the episode of the West Wing where Bartlet “accidentally” gets caught calling his opponent dumb. The opponent’s campaign then spends a week howling about the comment, which only focuses everyone’s attention on the fact that the opponent is in fact dumb.
MikeBoyScout
So, when we are knocking doors and making phone calls this weekend let’s be sure we have our examples of Mitt’s Mendacity loaded on our smart phones and tablets so if the issue comes up we can show what we’ve got.
Look, WE know this guy is a lying POS. In the next 11 days we need to bust hump and GOTV.
Ben Franklin
@Davis X. Machina:
Glengarry/Glen Ross 2012!
‘Always be closing…’
Davis X. Machina
@Ben Franklin: @Ben Franklin: Remember — when they say ‘run the government like a business’ the business is ‘aluminum siding’….
cmorenc
@Spankyslappybottom:
Chuck Todd’s calculated move, at some point while Romney was on the rise post-debate #1, was to ingratiate himself with the Romney camp and gain favored access to a Romney Administration, should that come to pass. Todd figured that should Obama still win, his premature Romney-favoring prognostications would quickly be forgotten by everyone but a handful of hard-core progressive politicos, certainly by inauguration of Obama’s second term. It was, in Todd’s mind, a no-lose proposition.
Elmo
@TR:
“That was old school.”
ppcli
Chrysler…. Chrysler. I know I’ve heard that name before….
Oh, yeah! Aren’t they one of the two companies that wouldn’t employ anyone at all if Obama had done what Romney said he should? I believe they are.
Ben Franklin
@Davis X. Machina:
And second place gets you a set of steak-knives.
Lurking Canadian
@dmsilev: The president should offer to do a two-hour press conference defending his claim that Romney’s a bullshitter, by listing times Romney has lied, reversed himself or made shit up on the spot over the past six months. Let’s really get to the bottom of this “bullshitgate” controversy.
This “Jeep’s moving” story is so strange that I am beginning to wonder how Romney managed to be so successful in the shark tank of high finance. He’s dumb. He can’t fact check. He can’t tell good sources from bad. He opens his mouth without knowing what the hell he’s talking about. Can you imagine letting this clown negotiate on your behalf?
He’s the stupid money at the [censored for a bad word] table, is what I’m saying. How could he ever have won that game?
RedKitten
He IS a bullshitter. I’ve met men like him before…people with a hugely overinflated ego, who have all of these grand plans and ideas that never seem to come to fruition (and it’s always someone else’s fault when that happens, of course), and who are only too keen to take all of the credit for other peoples’ work.
Higgs Boson's Mate
Romney, may a dozen leeches fasten themselves to his scrotvm, is just pissed because he and his sorry-ass friends at Bain couldn’t afford o buy Jeep and send the jobs to China.
Ben Franklin
@RedKitten:
He IS a bullshitter
And, no flower springs forth.
DALC
Could somebody please write a version of gold digger with a chorus of:
Now I ain’t saying he’s a bullshitter
But he ain’t checking with no factcheckers
pseudonymous in nc
Even that’s bullshitty: it’s about a 60/40 split between Fiat and the UAW VEBA, i.e. the union trust that assumed responsibility for the workers’ benefits.
Everyone probably remembers that Chrysler was under German ownership for a while, but not so many recall who drove Chrysler into bankruptcy: Cerberus, one of those good ol’ private equity groups.
The shitty tail wags the bullshitty dog.
pseudonymous in nc
Even that’s bullshitty: it’s about a 60/40 split between Fiat and the UAW VEBA, i.e. the union trust that assumed responsibility for the workers’ benefits.
Everyone probably remembers that Chrysler was under German ownership for a while, but not so many recall who drove Chrysler into bankruptcy: Cerberus, one of those good ol’ private equity groups.
The shitty tail wags the bullshitty dog.
Hal
Romneyshables is back, baby! Now we know the Mittster is desperate. I’m wondering if his internal polling has hit the shredder?
This is a stupid lie that gives much amo to the Obama campaign only 11 days out from the elections. Stupid mover Rmoney.
Roger Moore
@dmsilev:
Not to mention his history of buying companies that are planning on moving production to China. Romney believed the rumors about Jeep because that’s what he would do.
rlrr
If wasn’t for his father, Mitt Romney would selling insurance or used cars…
Commenting at Balloon Juice since 1937
Mitt should be asked to tell us how Peter Singer’s vulture fund moving Delphi to China benefited American workers. It certainly benefited Mitt Romney’s bank account. This happened even though there was a consortium of other private equity groups willing to buy it from Singer and keep most of it in America. Mitt should have to tell us how his maximizing his profits is good for America.
some guy
wit, the President called Rmoney a bullshitter?
Does he mean Rmoney bullshits his audiences, or is just a bullshitter in general, or is there a specific instance of bullshitting he is referring to? Maybe the media could ask Obama to expound further about how Romney is bullshitting us.
Or they could ask Rmoney how he feels about being called a bullshitter, or ask him about specific lies he has told and determine if they are intentional bullshit or just dumb shit.
I sure hope, with 12 days left, we can get to the bottom of this whole bullshitter meme.
JoyceH
@TR:
Oh, yeah! The famous ‘open mike gaffe’! I loved that!
amk
Tweeted this thread.
Villago Delenda Est
@PreservedKillick:
Which is good, because Rmoney needs to feel pain, in a prolonged, agonizing way.
Z. Mulls
@TR:
First thing I thought of was that WEST WING episode, too.
CJ: “That’s old school, Mr. President.”
patrick
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: well, actually….
IIRC Obama said with regards to the auto bailout in the last debate IIRC, they went to private equity firms, and I believe he actually named Bain as one of them, to help with cash investment in GM and Chrysler, and when every private source basically told them to pound sand, that’s when he used gov’t money to loan the automakers so they could stay in operation while going through chapter 13, vs. not having funding and almost immediately having to go into chapter 7….
Villago Delenda Est
@Roger Moore:
Projection.
It’s what these vile maggots do.
Hal
@patrick:
I remember watching the Rachel Maddow Show on the auto bailout. Private investors were not interested, including Bain. It’s one of Romney’s weasel ways to say “Gosh, I wasn’t opposed to a bail out, I was a opposed to a Government bailout.” He knows private firms were not interested, but he’s got to keep his teabagger credibility intact.
Hill Dweller
Willard jumping on this Jeep internet rumor reinforces Obama’s accurate bullshitter characterization.
PeakVT
IIRC, Steven Rattner and the auto bailout team asked Bain to invest in GM of Europe (Opel/Vauxhall) and Bain said no.
SatanicPanic
Just what the USA needed, a wingnut blog driven presidential campaign.
catclub
I had to listen to NPR excerpts of the bullshitter’s speech.
All kinds of big change, no actual plans for that change.
Obama specifically talks about investing in the future of America. Romney – the confidence fairy will bring about big change, no plans or investments needed.
Also OT: http://www.propublica.org/article/why-freddie-mac-resisted-refis
“In closed door meetings, two Republican-leaning board members and at least one executive resisted a mass refi policy for an additional reason, according to the interviews: They regarded it as a backdoor economic stimulus.”
hueyplong
Someone should forward his/her crazy uncle’s spammy chain emails to the Romney campaign so we can have Mitt on a stage talking about a shocking video of Obama’s Kenyan hospital birth or the thousands of missing Confederate re-enactors who are currently locked up in FEMA trailers.
catclub
@PeakVT: I think it was Southern Beale who pointed out how Romney is actually making a ton of money through a vulture capitalist who bought up
cheap bonds from Delco? ( or some other parts supplier)
that was going bust as well, if GM went down.
Extremely depressing. But Romney has made a killing off of it.
Tonal Crow
@Redshift:
No. It is, rather, to portray that he sincerely believes whatever he’s spewing at any given moment.
Xecky Gilchrist
“Right-leaning blogs” Of course.
Yup, the Dubya handling of Iraq showed what you get when you try to run a country with Heritage Foundation interns. Romney would show what you get when you try to run a country with Ace O’Spades and Red State and Powerline.
scav
OT hee hee Silvio has to start his inevitable appeal against his gathering public record. Only a possible four years but initial cracks in the dam can be smallish.
scav
Editted for duplication as I would rather use my duplication of prison on local jerks with more money and ego than sense or morals. We live in a target rich age.
JoyfulA
@amk: Retweeted
gene108
@Violet:
Murdouck believes a rape can be a gift from God, because you get pregnant.
Akins believes getting pregnant from your run-of-the-mill not-legit-rape can’t produce a baby.
Combine these two “theorems” and you basically have a conclusion that is, “if a woman says she was raped and she gets pregnant it is (1) not a legitimate rape and (2) the whole thing is a gift from God”.
Why people take these Republicans seriously is beyond me. I’d think the female MSM’ers would be able to deduce what I did from these “theorems” or maybe they think they’ll never have to get back into the kitchen to cook and clean for their man, while leaving their TeeVee jobs to men.
catclub
@Hal: It is already hard to remember that during just that time, there was palpable fear from investors, so THERE WAS NO PRIVATE MONEY AVAILABLE TO FUND (sorry to yell) the bankruptcy that Romney was suggesting. Nobody but the US Government was able and willing to put up $25-75B to conduct a re-organization of GM.
Thus Romney was suggesting a plan that starts with:
“ok, lets invent a perpetual motion machine….”
Litlebritdifrnt
I know you guys all hate Chuck Todd here but I thought this tweet was spot on
arguingwithsignposts
So is this one of those things where everyone in the media acts like there’s never been a hurricane before because ZOMG! New York City!?
Southern Beale
@catclub:
Yes the Romney family personally profited to the tune of $13 million over the auto bailout. Can’t remember where I saw that but Google it….
PeakVT
@arguingwithsignposts: Yes. SATSQ.
Unfortunately, it’s potentially an important news story beyond that, as it could affect turnout in Virginia, where the POTUS race is a tossup. If it’s really bad, Pennsylvania, too.
jurassicpork
Mike Flannigan nails Willard’s black soul to the wall for all to see in “The Man Who Fell to Earth, Redux.” An absolute must-read.
JustRuss
While the national press probably won’t pick up on Willard’s stupid, I expect it will get a lot of play in states like Ohio, where moving auto jobs to China is big deal. Way to go, Mittens!
PsiFighter37
You should post Chrysler’s response, because it (in a few more words) basically calls out Romney for being a bullshit artist. It’s pretty glorious.
SatanicPanic
@scav: Aw too bad, no more bunga bunga parties for Silvio
Tractarian
Anyone who says something like “Syria is Iran’s route to the sea” in a nationally-televised debate is a bullshi++er.
It’s lying for the sake of lying. More precisely, it’s lying for the sake of sounding intelligent and informed, when you are neither.
Pretty much the dictionary definition of bullshi++er.
Ruckus
mittshit.
Encompasses the entire mitt persona and everything that comes out of his mouth. Never capitalized by the way, no ideas that small and fatal should be given that much respect.
Jamie
the philosophic roots of the Romney operating system
http://www.amazon.com/On-Bullshit-Harry-G-Frankfurt/dp/0691122946/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1351273811&sr=8-1&keywords=on+bullshit
Another Halocene Human
@PeakVT: To be fair, it was Vauxhall.
Another Halocene Human
@SatanicPanic: Just what the USA needed, a wingnut blog driven presidential campaign.
Rmoney is your weird wingnut uncle!
ETA: @hueyplong: beat me to it.
Patricia Kayden
Is there anything that Romneybot 2.0 doesn’t lie about? I’m beginning to wonder about his sanity. I couldn’t tell so many lies and be happy with myself.