So it’s worth taking a look at how the battle over Mitt Romney’s latest falsehood — that the auto bailout will result in American Jeep jobs getting shipped to China — is playing in the Ohio media, since this claim represents Romney’s last chance to turn things around in the state.
Here’s the headline in today’s Toledo Blade:
Clinton, Biden call Jeep ad deceptive
Another in the Toledo Blade:
Obama campaign accuses Romney of dishonesty on Jeep issue
The Blade has been covering this story pretty aggressively, noting that Romney — who now claims Obama followed his approach on the auto-bailout — previously derided the rescue effort as “crony capitalism.”
The Cleveland Plain Dealer, meanwhile, published a scorching editorial with this headline:
Flailing in Ohio, Romney rolls out Jeep ploy
The editorial flatly noted that Romney is now trying to sow “confusion” among Ohioans, to obscure his opposition to a policy that has helped save an industry linked to one in eight Ohio jobs. “It won’t work,” it concluded. “Ohio voters know who stepped up when the auto industry was at the abyss — and it wasn’t Romney.”
And the Columbus Dispatch has been running with headlines like: “Jeep/Romney question lingers.” The Dispatch extensively fact-checked Romney’s claims about the auto-bailout, clearly demonstrating that he did in fact oppose the rescue of the industry Obama ended up pursuing.
This is hardly a comprehensive look at the local coverage, but it does suggest the possibility that Romney’s Jeep-to-China gamble may be backfiring. Polls have shown that large numbers of Ohioans don’t think Romney cares about their needs and problems. And the Obama campaign views the auto bailout, and Romney’s dishonesty about it, as central to their closing case against Romney’s character, integrity, and true priorities. So these are exactly the headlines the Obama team wants.
* Romney’s Jeep-to-China lie scared workers: Check out this nugget in the New York Times overview of the escalating battle over Romney’s falsehood:
Bruce Baumhower, the president of the United Auto Workers local that oversees the major Jeep plant here, said Mr. Romney’s initial comments on moving production to China drew a rash of calls from members concerned about their jobs. When he informed them Chrysler was, in fact, is expanding its Jeep operation here, he said in an interview, “The response has been, ‘That’s pretty pitiful.’ ”
Amazing. It isn’t just that Romney is willing to lie brazenly to the people whose votes he wants; he’s also willing to play directly on their fears for their livelihoods.
* Romney’s auto-bailout ad takes a beating: Glenn Kessler thoroughly dismantles Romney’s new ad claiming the auto-bailout will result in American Jeep jobs getting shipped to China. A Romney spokesperson defended the assertion this way:
“The larger point that the governor made is that rather than creating jobs here, the foreign owner, handpicked by President Obama, is planning to add jobs overseas.”
Just wow. As Kessler notes, production is being planned in China to serve the Chinese market. And not only that, Chrysler is in fact adding Jeep production in the U.S.