So Mitt Romney has a new ad in which he uses President Obama's "the private sector is doing fine" remark —which was about private sector job growth compared public sector job losses—to falsely claim that the president thinks the economy as a whole is "doing fine."

You can watch the ad on the right side of this post, but if you'd rather be spared the agony, it plays the president's words not once, not twice, but three times—and utterly misrepresents the context in which he said them. The premise of the ad is that President Obama's comments show that he doesn't understand the economy needs help, but the whole reason the president was talking about the economy in the first place was to urge Congress to take action on jobs plan—to strengthen the economy.

The ad claims the president's comments were designed to dismiss the challenges faced by struggling middle-class workers and underwater homeowners, but the whole reason President Obama proposed his jobs plan in the first place was because he understands they need help. The president has put forward a plan and he's urged Congress to act. It's Mitt Romney and his fellow Republicans who have refused to budge.

Of course, it's not surprising that Mitt Romney would release an ad based on such a blatantly dishonest premise. Lying is what Romney does best. But this lie isn't a good one. Nobody is going to believe that President Obama actually is satisfied with the current state of the economy—if he were, then why is he talking about ways to improve the economy? And why are Republicans attacking his proposals?

Not even Mitt Romney believes the president is satisfied with where things are. And if he did believe it, he wouldn't spend a good chunk of every stump speech he delivers whining about how President Obama blames George W. Bush for the economic challenges we face.

It is clear, however, that Mitt Romney does believe in one thing: that he can lie his way into the White House. And instead of making the case against President Obama's jobs plan on the merits, Romney thinks he can simply claim Obama doesn't have one.