Karl Rove and his cohorts used to lie about Bill Clinton. Now Rove’s attack operation, Crossroads GPS, is using Bill Clinton to lie about President Obama.
A new ad from a Republican advocacy group attacks President Barack Obama’s jobs bill by contrasting his statements with those of former Democratic President Bill Clinton.
The spot released Wednesday from Crossroads GPS plays clips of Clinton saying now is not the time to raise taxes and of Obama promoting increased tax rates on higher income earners as part of his jobs plan.
The ad is a lie; Rove’s operation knows it’s a lie; and yet they’re pushing the lie anyway.
Several weeks ago, Clinton said, “I personally don’t believe we ought to be raising taxes or cutting spending until we get this economy off the ground.” Republicans — and a few too many reporters — took out the part of the comment about spending cuts and suggested Clinton was breaking with the Obama White House on tax policy.
He wasn’t. Both Obama and Clinton share an identical policy — Clinton wants tax increases delayed until the economy is stronger and so does Obama. The White House plan is unambiguous: the president calls for increased sacrifices from millionaires and billionaires to lower the deficit, but not until 2013. In the short term, Obama wants to cut taxes, not raise them.
The Rove/Crossroads ad argues the exact opposite of the truth, telling viewers Obama wants to raise taxes and that Clinton disagrees with the president’s agenda. When Rove first started pushing this line, Clinton issued a statement explaining the facts, and making clear that he and Obama are on the exact same page.
Crossroads GPS decided to ignore this and blatantly lie to the public anyway. Indeed, the attack operation is spending $2.6 million over the next two weeks to repeat this lie in Colorado, Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, counting on stations to overlook the dishonesty, and on the public to not know the difference.
If Republicans had the facts on their side, such deception wouldn’t be necessary. The fact that Rove and his little gang have been reduced so such shameless dishonesty speaks volumes about their personal integrity and the integrity of their policy argument.
