Vandalia, Ohio (CNN) – Mitt Romney defended his campaign's television ads Tuesday, saying they've been "absolutely spot on," including ads deemed false by independent fact checkers.
"Anytime there's been anything that's amiss we correct it or remove it," Romney told CNN.
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Ads from Romney's campaign have hammered President Barack Obama for supposedly "gutting welfare" by removing the work requirement from the federal assistance program.
An independent and non-partisan fact-checking organization, PolitiFact, rated the ad's claim as "Pants on Fire." CNN also rated the ad 'false." And the Obama campaign, the White House and former President Bill Clinton, who signed the original legislation into law, all attacked the Romney spot, saying the claims were false and misleading.
On Tuesday, Romney said those analyses were flawed.
"It has been shown time and again that the president's effort to take work requirement out of welfare is a calculated move, the same thing that he did in regard to food stamps," Romney said.
Pushed on the fact checks that claim Romney's ads are false, the GOP nominee maintained that Obama's administration was making a concerted move to remove work requirements from welfare.
"You look at the facts," Romney said. "Did he take the work requirement out of welfare?"
The Obama administration directive, issued July 12, allows individual states to experiment with changes to their welfare-to-work programs, which are federally funded. The intent, according to the directive, is to "challenge states to engage in a new round of innovation that seeks to find more effective mechanisms for helping families succeed in employment."
The welfare-to-work program affected by the directive – the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) – was created by the welfare reform law signed by Clinton in 1996. That measure was considered a win for conservatives, who long pushed for a provision that required work training for Americans receiving government assistance.
The Obama administration argues the potential changes would help people move quickly from welfare rolls to paying jobs by reducing burdensome requirements, including excessive paperwork.
Romney said Tuesday that argument was bogus.
"You always have the capacity to add work," Romney said. "There's never been a requirement that you can't have more work. The requirement that they're waiving was saying that people don't have to work to get welfare. That's the change that they proposed. I disagree with that direction."
"Taking work requirements out of government assistance is a very bad course to take and creates a culture of dependency," the Republican nominee concluded. "We help people who need help, we want to help people who need help, but the idea of removing work requirements I think is a mistake."
In Tuesday's interview, Romney also hammered Obama again for suggesting that recent events in the Middle East, including the killing of the American ambassador to Libya, were merely "bumps in the road."
"I'm not sure what developments in the Middle East he would consider bumps in the road," Romney said. "I consider the developments in the Middle East a very troubling course."
The GOP candidate also said Obama's wasn't treating Iran "like the pariah that they are," saying more could be done to prevent the nation from developing nuclear weapons.
From CNN Politics
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I guess his sidekick, Lying Ryan is wear on him with the amount of lies coming out of Mitts's mouth! This guy and his money would do anything and say anything to win. 6 more weeks to the end of Willard Mitt Romney political career.
Seriously, you used PolitiFact? They're so far up Obama's rear they wouldn't know the truth if it slapped them in the face! Romney uses Obama's own words – no chance for lying there.
Just more Romney lies! Does the Mormon doctrine embrace liars? I think not!
""Anytime there's been anything that's amiss we correct it or remove it," Romney told CNN."
Liar. He's been repeating the welfare wivers lies and Medicare "cuts" lies ad nauseum, unabashedly and shamelessly to this day.
desperation has a pungent smell to it doesnt it Gov?
Republicans had a real chance of winning this election ... until they nominated this guy
Obama: "Yes, sometimes we all go overboard and I acknowledge that applies to me and mine just as much as the other guys."
Mittens: "DO YOU NOT SEE MY HALO!!!!????"
""You look at the facts," Romney said. "Did he take the work requirement out of welfare?""
FACT: NO, HE DID NOT.
Your move, Chessbot 2000.
I would say these is some of the 47% = The Obama administration argues the potential changes would help people move quickly from welfare rolls to paying jobs by reducing burdensome requirements, including excessive paperwork.
I agree ""Taking work requirements out of government assistance is a very bad course to take and creates a culture of dependency".
Romney is correct.
This guy is delusional.
Like his campaign, SPOT ON!
This is a man who says that disabled Veterans are not worth his time and energy. The man who thinks a child would be better off dead from cancer than have a chance at life. A man who thinks it is OK for disabled Seniors to sleep in it's own urine
No Mittens, they have not and you are a liar.
I wish this empty suit would just retreat to one of his many compounds and let the leadership of this country be left in the hands of grown ups. Romney is simply not Presidential material; he's a spoiled frat boy at heart. And his lying sidekick is almost worse! No thanks.
Romney follows part one of the Goebbels/Rove propaganda strategy- lie repeatedly, until the lie is said so often it is accepted as fact. But he forgot part two- the lie can't be so blatant or easily disproved that even a simpleton sees through it. It leaves him twisting in the wind.
Well, who cares whether or not Mitt is right. "Spot on" is just so hip it makes you want to vote for him
Your fanny is on fire! You're toast!
The scariest thing of all is that Romney really seems to believe what he's saying.
This guy romny will lie at evry other interview.he looks desperate now .those wild eyes
Wow, Romney even lies about his lies.
When Politifact gave Romney "Pants On Fire" for his welfare nonsense, Mitt immorally chose to double-down on the lie. Not presidential material.
Romney ran an ad where he shows Obama speaking and Obama was quoting someone he didn't agree with. But Romney's ad said it was what Obama believed. When the Obama people requested that the ad be pulled, Romney refused. So here's another lie.
I am sure that Romney like all candidates bends the truth but there has never been an out right liar like Obama .
OMG.... Etch-A-Sketch sure has some nerve.
He is a liar. He has been proven to be a liar. His own people say he lied.
It must be wonderful to live in Romneyland, where facts don't matter and you can retroactively change anything you like.
Romney is unreal....he was one of the governors that requested what Obama gave these states, every fact checker in the nation says the ad is false. Yet Romney still tells America it's true. He is nothing but a blatant liar. Sickening!!
"Anytime there's been anything that's amiss we correct it or remove it," Romney told CNN."
And CNN allows Romney to get away these falsehoods by continuing to repeat them, time and again. Fairly sick of both Romney and CNN journalists.