Super PAC uses Olympic 'opening ceremony' to hit Romney in ad
(CNN) - The super PAC backing President Barack Obama uses the Olympic "parade of nations" to mock Mitt Romney's reported overseas investment accounts in a television ad released Wednesday.
The minute-long ad from Priorities USA is set to air in Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia during broadcasts of the London Olympics, the group said. The games begin Friday.
An official with the group said the ad was part of a larger $20 million television and Internet push "to educate voters about Mitt Romney's business record and policies that hurt middle class families."
The spot features an announcer detailing Romney's accounts as video rolls of past Olympic opening ceremonies.
"Welcome to the Olympics!" the announcer says. "There’s Mitt Romney, who ran the Salt Lake City Games, waving to China – home to a billion people. Thousands owe their jobs to Mitt Romney’s companies."
Romney, who will attend the London opening ceremony as part of a three-nation foreign tour, was the president and CEO of the Salt Lake City Winter Games in 2002.
His campaign frequently cites his experience there by saying he turned around a failing operation into one of the most successful games in history.
The spot latches onto a now-familiar attack line from Obama's team, which has hit its rival for reportedly shipping jobs overseas during his time as chief executive of Bain Capital.
Romney's team counters that he left Bain before the firm invested in companies that outsourced jobs, though some records indicate he was still listed as the firm's CEO.
The Romney campaign has also pointed to a nonpartisan fact-check from FactCheck.Org, which poked holes in the "outsourcer" claims, and recently launched a new offensive accusing the president of outsourcing jobs through his administration's trade policies and loan guarantee program.
The Priorities ad ticks off a host of foreign countries as footage rolls of delegates entering an Olympic stadium.
"India, which also gained jobs thanks to Romney, an outsourcing pioneer. And Burma, where Romney had the uniforms made for the 2002 games," the announcer says, before moving on to countries that are regarded as offshore tax havens.
"We know the Swiss have a special place in Mitt Romney's wallet – er – heart," the announcer says. "He kept millions in Swiss banks – those Swiss sure know how to keep a secret. Speaking of secrets, there's Bermuda. Home to a secretive corporation set up by Romney. No one knows why. And Romney won’t tell. And the Cayman Islands. Where Romney keeps millions to avoid U.S. taxes."
The ad concludes: "You gotta say this about Mitt Romney. He sure knows how to go for the gold - for himself."
Democrats have also used this line of attack on Romney in the past, claiming the presumptive GOP nominee isn't being transparent enough in only disclosing two years of personal income tax information. Romney has released his income tax return from 2010, and has vowed to release his 2011 return when his accountant completes it. He did release an estimate of his 2011 taxes.
Romney's campaign says that level of disclosure is beyond what is legally required of presidential candidates, and is plenty of information for voters to decide between Romney and Obama.
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Is the flip flopper using his contribution money from those corporations are people to get a free trip to the Olympics? I wouldn't put it past him.
That union busting lying cheating bully.
hey all mitt does is outsource, it's ironic that he had success with the Olympics by using government money,, yet they bash government 24 hours a day I wonder what it will be like if government was cut down to nothing, and out whole financial system is rest upon the volitility of the stock market. I wonder if our government will be fast or strong enough to bail out our economy, if a no name country falls off the cliff, or a big international bank takes dive, I.wonder if!!!
Wrong, the information in 2010 will not be the same in 2011. Situation can change. That is why it is important to
know what he did in 1999-2009 in the tax return.
But again it is American people, least knowledgeable people. It took Bush 8 good years to destroy the
economy, don't they know that but they want the president to fix it 3 years. That is what I am talking about
knowledge. To destroy is easy than to fix it. Remember this.
but obama allowed the costumes to be made in china, so who is more disrespectful to America, you guessed it its obama.
Mannequin Mitt has shredded all records of his doings in MA, destroyed all his records of his SLOC, refuses to release tax records, outsourced jobs to India while governor, evaded taxes, raided corporations, got richer by using government money for his bailouts, and laundered money overseas. That makes him the perfect republican candidate for president.
Dressage, its more than a sport, its a tax write off.
It's about time someone had the nerve to tell what a corrupt individual Romney is. He's all spit and polish on the outside, but an ugly vulture on the inside that has cost many Americans their futures.
The first time I saw this ad on the news, I thought that they were showing something from a late night comedian.
@Out of Touch with Reality...
I couldn't have said it better!!!
Wire Palladin, S. F.
Mannequin Mitt has shredded all records of his doings in MA, destroyed all his records of his SLOC, refuses to release tax records, outsourced jobs to India while governor, evaded taxes, raided corporations, got richer by using government money for his bailouts, and laundered money overseas. That makes him the perfect republican candidate for president.
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One would think that somewhere along that broken paper trail an egregious violation of Sarbanes-Oxley should have occurred. The law says that certain types of financial documents, communications and other records must kept. The law was a result of the Enron and Tyco scandals.
Out Of Touch with reality
but obama allowed the costumes to be made in china, so who is more disrespectful to America, you guessed it its obama
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Do you seriously think that President Obama had anything to do with where the U.S.Olympic uniforms were made, if so, you are seriously delusional.
America pioneered the middle class. This was possible because of our small government. We spend 6 billion hours and 400 billion dollars just trying to comply with our tax code. 9 out of 10 people have to hire a professional to do their taxes.
The problem in this country is government. The fact that Obama, the president of the UNITED STATES has said that capitialism doesnt work is insane. He said that we tried it in the 1920s and that led to the great depression. Tried it in the 1920s? We had it since 1776. What happened to the entire 19th century?
If you really want more government, do it right. Tax the middle class at 60-70% and tax the rich at 90-93% That way the government will decide who deserves money and who doesnt. Then well have a utopia.
@Out of touch: did Obama get put in charge of the Olympics committee and nobody reported it? The government has no control over where the USOC has the uniforms made, which makes small government, limited-power government folks happy, right?
Meanwhile, Romney had every bit of control in the companies he shut down, the jobs he sent overseas, the cordons he put up in the state capitol when he was Governor to keep the people away from him.
I really like this ad. I have watched it several times. It was well put by someone who did think through what to come with. Well done Obama campaign and its Super PACs supporters. Keep it up!
The government doesn't pay one dime for the Olympic Team you people are really stupid if you didn't know this so Reid and Nancy just shut up you have no right to try and tell them what they need to do. The donations will dry up.
tibs – purely unbridled capitalism does not work. Look at Somalia.
Pure socialism (call it communism) does not work either. Look at the former USSR.
It takes a combination of policies – it is not simply black and white.
@Out of touch with reality – you really ARE out of touch!!! Obama has absolutely no say where the Olympic costumes are made. Obama is not the chair of the Olympic organizing committee and the US Government does not run the Olympics. Romney, on the other hand, WAS chair of the organizing committee in 2002 and had the direct ability to veto outsourcing of the outfits if he had any inclination to do so.
Milton..... Right, Pres.Bush done it, we as a nation done pretty good the first 6 years then the democrats took over and what happened? Everything went downhill from there, then came the big savior, HOPE AND CHANGE, more people on welfare more people unemployed, guess that's what you been waiting for.
@out of touch with reality – gotta hand it to you . . . you realy do live up to your name
The GOP continues to destroy the middle class while extending tax subsidies to the very wealthy class.
For example Romoney's tax break on his dancing horse that is competeing in the Olympics.
@Wire – as an equestrienne I must point out to you that very few of us actually get to write off ANY of our horse expenses. Mittens apparently has finagled a way to do so. I sure wish I could get a deduction for my horses. I suppose I'd have to fabricate a business around them and then claim them as business losses. Ethically I just can't see myself doing this, though. The operative word in all this being "ethics."
@Out Of Touch:
1. The USOC is an organization that is independent of Wash. DC.
2. Mitt Romney was in charge of SLOC and they purchased their US uniforms from Burma, better known as Myanmar.
"If you really want more government, do it right. Tax the middle class at 60-70% and tax the rich at 90-93% That way the government will decide who deserves money and who doesnt. Then well have a utopia.
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To which I reply:
"A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship."
I'm sure the Democrats are prepared to have their convention be a China-free zone, with absolutley everything American made and NOTHING made from overseas, especially China. Yeah, right. The Democrats are sooo lame with these inane attacks. Jobs have been going to China for decades, still do and will continue to. Government cannot stop it and encourage it with free trade. Democrats think they can turn the clock back to the 1950s when the USA was the only country left standing after WWII. Ridiculous.
The way to create more jobs in the USA is to make it worth it for companies to do business here. It is a global market place for EVERYTHING, get over it and adapt. Democrats just think you can use the same old union thug techniques on companies to get them to do what they want. Dead wrong. Companies have alternatives.
tibs wrote:
America pioneered the middle class. This was possible because of our small government.
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Pioneered? Really? Why is it the middle class didn't emerge until after World War 2? Small government had nothing to do with it all.
One consequence of the post war recovery, was the United States was the only major industrialized nation that was not war torn. America became the bread basket and manufacturing base for the most of the industrialized world until they could rebuild their infrastructure.