Pay no attention to the birther behind the curtain

Every report on Romney’s appearance in Commerce, Michigan today screamed BIRTHER! The top story on NPR was about it. It’s all anyone is talking about. So, in an attempt to distract people from the horrible outfall from his moronic statement, Romney’s campaign sent out an email at 3:32 p.m. this afternoon quintupling down on the lie that President Obama has removed the work requirement from welfare.

In the email is a link to a video that cites an op-ed from a newspaper that now describes the claim as “debunked”.

Here’s the email:

Last month, President Obama gutted bipartisan welfare reform. Apparently, I’m not the only one who thinks this is crazy. Watch the video below to see why one of the most respected newspapers in America called his waiver of the work requirement “nuts.” The Romney Plan for a Stronger Middle Class will put work back in welfare. That’s why your support is critical. Donate today to help Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, and the Republican team win in November. Let’s restore a little common sense and get America back on track. Thanks, Matt Rhoades

Campaign Manager

Romney for President, Inc.

If you watch the video, it refers to the sort of tea party rant-type op-ed you’d expect from a small newspaper in Virginia. However, just this week, that same newspaper, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, described Romney’s claim as “debunked”. In fact, the headline of the article is “New Romney ad pushes debunked claim against Obama”.

Mitt Romney’s campaign is up with a new ad in Virginia and other swing states using a Richmond Times-Dispatch editorial in support of the Republican’s continued attack on President Barack Obama’s welfare policies. The 30-second ad doubles down on the Romney campaign’s claim that Obama ended welfare’s work requirement “gutting welfare reform,” a charge that has been debunked by multiple independent fact-checkers. {…} On the day it was released, PolitiFact.com debunked the first of the Romney campaign ads claiming that “under Obama’s plan, you wouldn’t have to work and wouldn’t have to train for a job. They just send you your welfare check,” rating it “Pants on Fire.” FactCheck.org followed suit, finding that Obama’s changes to the welfare reform law neither gutted it, nor “dropped” the work provisions. Rather, the piece says, states were given authority to change the work requirements with a goal of increasing job placement. Making it a hat trick, the Washington Post Fact-Checker also gave the claim “Four Pinnochios.”

Mitt Romney may want to wish this away but it’s not going to go away. It is the top story of the day so that, once again, Romney has completely lost control of the narrative and the message.

In the meantime, President Obama tweeted this:

Song of the day: Born in the U.S.A. http://t.co/yYNprUBH — Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 24, 2012

Heh, heh…