Nothing smells like desperation more than the falsehoods and half-truths coming out of the Romney campaign about Chrysler purportedly moving Jeep manufacturing jobs to China.

The episode has been shameful.

During a rally in Ohio, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said he had read that Jeep “is thinking of moving all production to China.”

The truth is that Jeep executives are considering a plant in China to make Jeeps to sell in China. Local jobs will remain local.

But why let the facts get in the way when you can exploit a poorly written news story for political gain in a must-win state? After all, such a claim could be a potent rejoinder to President Obama, who has been making inroads with Ohioans on the strength of his move to bail out the auto industry during the depths of the economic downturn.

Promptly, the Romney campaign began running an ad that left the same impression. Chrysler called it “a leap that would be difficult even for professional circus acrobats.”

Beyond the ad’s veracity is a question about character. In a place like Ohio, where 1 in 8 jobs are in the auto industry, such a lie matters.

It scares people. It makes them worry that better economic times they are just beginning to see could dissolve before their eyes.

It bespeaks an indifference to the concerns of Ohio’s working class, and that is just as revealing as backing an ad that leaves a wholly untruthful impression.