CNN 2012-08-14

 A factually bogus ad from the leading pro-Obama super PAC is expected to run in battleground states across the country. It features the laid-off Steel worker named, Joe Soptic. 

 
 
When Mitt 1 Romney and Bain closed the plant, I lost my health care. And my family lost their health care. And a short time after that, my wife became ill. I don’t know how long she was sick, and I think maybe she didn’t say anything because she knew that we couldn’t afford the insurance. And then one day she became ill and I took her up to the Jackson County Hospital and admit her for pneumonia 2 and that’s when they found the cancer. And by then it was stage four. There was nothing they could do for her. And she passed away in 22 days. 
 
 
That’s obviously a very sad story, Keeping Them Honest, as heart wrenching 3 as the lost of the job and the death of a spouse 4 obviously is, virtually nothing else about the story fits either the timeline or facts. Mr. Romney was still on the books as being CEO when steel mill shut down in 2001. He’d already left two years before to run the Olympics. You can argue he was still the CEO and had earlier had a hand in how the company was handled. But in ad, Mr. Soptic said his wife became ill, I quote, a short time after Romney and Bain closed the plant and he lost his health care. It turns out it was five years after that in 2006 that his wife unfortunately died. In addition, CNN’s Brianna Keilar spoke 5 to Mr. Soptic, he told her that his wife actually had other health insurance. Actually her primary insurance was from her own job and she still had that when he lost his health insurance. As with Romney ad we talked about before the break, the fact checkers are not smiling on this one either The Washington Post giving this ad the same as Romney’s four Pinnochios, concluding, quote, on just every level, this ad stretches the bounds of common sense and decency 6. Tonight, both the White House and the Obama campaign are trying to distance itself from the priorities USA ad. Press Secretary Jay Carney saying, quote, I still haven’t seen the ad. I’ve read about it. I don’t speak for a third party group. I speak for the president and the administration, and I explain and defend policies. 
 
 
President Obama’s campaign spokeswoman when farther than his White House spokesman saying, quote, we have nothing, no involvement with any ad that are done by priorities USA. She went on to say, we don’t have any knowledge of the story of the family. Keeping Them Honest, though, the campaign certainly ought to have some knowledge of Joe Soptic and his family because they used him in one of their own campaign ads earlier. 
 
 
I was a steelworker for 30 year. We had a reputation for quality products. It was something that was American made. And we weren’t rich, but I was able to put daughter through college. 
 
 
That was just Joe Soptic in an earlier ad of the Obama 2012 campaign. Bill Burton is a senior strategist for priorities USA action. He joins us now. So, Bill, let’s talk about this. The Washington Post says about your ad, quote, on just every level this ad stretches the bounds of common sense and decency. Independent fact checkers have echoed that sentiment saying it’s inaccurate 7. How can you imply that Mitt Romney and Bain are somehow to blame for that poor woman dying of cancer? 
 
 
My goodness, we don’t and we would not. I mean those fact checks presuppose that that’s exactly what we’re trying to do. And that’s not the point of the ad. The point of the ad is to tell the story of the impact that Mitt Romney had on the lives of thousands of people. When he came town, they lost their jobs, they lost their health care, they lost pension benefits. And that impacts is fell still in those communities. 
 
 
But you spent, I mean, you’re a smart guy. You have a lot of smart ad people in the group that you’re working with. Half the ad is him talking about his wife’s demise 8. And it ends with him saying, I do not think that Mitt Romney realizes what he has done to anyone. The implication is clearly that he is responsible or what, the actions he took led to his wife’s death. 
 
 
And I, you know, the story is a very sad one, and the truth is that there are thousands of stories that are, that happened as a result of Mitt Romney at his time and Bain. And some of them are really tragic 9. But just because they are really sad or tragic doesn’t mean that they should be off limits. Well, we think it’s important to tell the stories of these folks and how they were impacted by Mitt Romney. 
 
 
Well, Bill Burton, I appreciate you coming on to have a talk about the ad. Thanks, Bill.
 
Thanks, Anderson.