New Obama ad: 'Romney's tax plan? He pays less. You pay more.'

[ProSense]

New Obama ad: 'Romney's tax plan? He pays less. You pay more.'

by Jed Lewison

Brutal new ad from the Obama campaign set to air in New Hampshire, Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Ohio, Iowa, Colorado, and Nevada:

You work hard. Stretch every penny. But chances are you pay a higher tax rate than him. Mitt Romney made twenty million dollars in two thousand ten but paid only fourteen percent in taxes, probably less than you. Now he has a plan that would give millionaires another tax break. And raises taxes on middle class families by up to two thousand dollars a year. Mitt Romney’s middle class tax increase. He pays less. You pay more.

You can tell from the script that it's a brutal ad, but the words alone don't do it justice. Take, for example, this image of Mitt Romney deplaning in front of Donald Trump's jet from the 20 second mark:


The message is obvious: Mitt Romney is fighting for guys like Donald Trump and himself, and he'll screw you over in a heartbeat—and his tax plan is a perfect example of that.

With a normal politician, it might be impossible to convince voters that a plan like the one Romney is proposing requires tax hikes on the middle-class to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy. Most voters just won't believe a typical politician would be that dumb, even if their plan actually does exactly that. But Mitt Romney isn't a typical politician, and everything about him—including his refusal to release his tax returns before 2010—makes this line of attack credible. And with a situation like that, the Obama campaign isn't going to back down.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/02/1115995/-New-Obama-ad-Romney-s-tax-plan-He-pays-less-You-pay-more

[Thrill]

1. Ouch Trump plane in the background

Knockout blow

[mopinko]

5. ++

[uponit7771]

2. I love it, hit them on raising middle class taxes and being weak on defense!!

LOVE IT!!!

[EnviroBat]

3. I love it when Obama junk-punches this idiot.

God I hope we can keep this momentum going until November!

[bigtree]

4. I love it.

Perfect phrasing, to the point.

[Spazito]

6. Excellent!

Hard hitting and factual, it doesn't get better than that!

[BeyondGeography]

8. Well, it's all true

Funny how white guys who will never sniff the capital gains rate will vote for Romeny anyway.

[Berlum]

9. Let the RepubliProles put that in their pipe and smoke it

The RepublicProles who listen to Rush and watch Fox and actually believe the corporate crap propaganda spewed at them are going to be sorryass when they see their 'betters' -- the 1% Republicans -- laffing their asses off as under Willard they get MORE MORE MORE tax dodges, while the RepubliProles pay MORE MORE MORE just like regular suckers.

[DallasNE]

10. Bain And Taxes Are Closely Linked

And they are hitting home. Hard.

Romney has now gone out and hired a PR person to attempt to shore up this problem as John Sununu has been a failure in that role. http://www.buzzfeed.com/bensmith/romney-taps-paulson-fannie-mae-vet-for-bain-rehab

[Stuart G]

21. Very very hard..Just Like Romney did to his opponents. and will do to Obama..nt

[RBInMaine]

11. Good ! Keep bashing him HARD ! MORE MORE MORE.

[ProSense]

12. Yup. n/t

[proud patriot]

13. that's a good one

[AtomicKitten]

14. Keep pummeling him!

[DaveJ]

15. Yet Repukes still keep saying the opposite

This is becoming an exercise in seeing just how out of touch with reality cons can get.

They are upset Romney has to pay more, couldn't care less if he's making THEM pay more.

[Quantess]

29. They don't care about percentagess.

More dollars is more dollars.
Maybe some people have a hard time with percentages?

[Cali_Democrat]

16. Very good ad

Nearly as good as the Romney singing ad.

[Tarheel_Dem]

17. Very effective!

[treestar]

18. Great visuals of middle class families

as background, contrasted with Mittens.

[Sienna86]

19. How do you pay less than zero?

Really.

[Stuart G]

20. K and R...thanks for posting..great find...nt

[ecstatic]

22. That really pisses me off!

Assuming he paid no taxes at all in the past 10 years, I paid more income taxes than Romney, a mega-millionaire, since 1999!!! Unfair and wrong on multiple levels!

[Kahuna]

23. Tis a very nice touch.

[Chemisse]

24. Perfect!! I can't wait to see it.

[ProSense]

25. OFA's "Stretch" Ad gets rare Geppetto Checkmark from WaPo

OFA's "Stretch" Ad gets rare Geppetto Checkmark from WaPo

by Jacoby Jonze

<...>

Now this is the guy that called the Bain attacks false simply because Romney claimed that no matter what the SEC papers said, that he left in 1999. As more and more proof came to contradict the Romney claims Mr. Kessler stood firm - but recently he relented and said it is a grey area that neither side could prove or disprove given the current information available (though I don't believe he went back to change his Pinocchio's awarded).

While we hated him for his complete inability to be rational and look at the facts in the Bain case, I believe a lot of that came from the position that he first raised the potential for Romney criminality if he did sign off on the SEC papers and didn't work there. So he sort of really painted himself into a corner and either had to stick to his guns in trusting the Romney campaign or would be calling Romney a liar and criminal. But this episode will also give him credibility with the true undecideds and indies. Which brings me to his findings in the "Stretch ad" -

You can read his deconstruction of the ad here - http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/a-tough-new-obama-ad-that----surprise----is-accurate/2012/08/02/gJQAuigQSX_blog.html

But the jist of it is that Romney by failing to release specifics in his policy ideas leaves himself open to interpretation and given that Kessler holds the non-partisan Tax Policy Center is really high regard (consists of serious tax policy folks from both sides of the political spectrum with veterans of Dem and GOP administrations involved) until Romney Camp releases more details (which they refused when Kessler requested more) to counter the findings, the Tax Policy Center paper will be accepted as fact on this matter.

The Pinocchio Test

This ad is tough, but we cannot fault the accuracy of its key points. To some extent, the Romney campaign has been hoist with its own petard by refusing to provide sufficient detail that shows how the numbers add up in Romney’s tax and budget plans. So we are left with the judgment of a respected and independent third party.

We hold campaign ads to a high standard, particularly attack ads. If Romney releases the missing details, and a new analysis finds that Romney can meet the stated goals of his tax plan, then we can certainly revisit this analysis. But, until then, for the first time in this frequently nasty campaign, we award a rare Geppetto Checkmark for a campaign ad.

What is the Geppetto Checkmark?

Statements and claims that contain “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth” will be recognized with our prized Geppetto checkmark.

- more -

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/03/1116417/-OFA-s-Stretch-Ad-gets-rare-Geppetto-Checkmark-from-WaPo

Mitt is losing friends at lightening speed.

[freshwest]

26. K & R

[David Zephyr]

27. Excellent ad.

Obama didn't wait to hit Romney. I'm so proud of the campaign he's running.

[Skraxx]

28. We're Witnessing One Of The Most Brutal, Effective Pummelings In US Political History

Obama's going for the early knockout. Kudos to him. It opens up so much more possibilities.

[polichick]

30. You have to be brutal with someone who plans to...

...brutalize the country.