In an interview with senior Romney advisor Ed Gillespie on Tuesday's NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer ripped into an ads run by the Governor's campaign in Ohio about the auto industry:
"The reaction was swift and unanimous, Ed. They were painted as
misleading by independent fact-checkers. Ohio newspapers said they were
an exercise in deception, a masterpiece of misdirection, and Chrysler
and GM called them inaccurate and campaign politics at its cynical
worst." [Listen to the audio [1]]
Lauer jabbed: "How could this happen to the guy who is the son of a
car-maker and the guy who is supposed to have the business resume?"
Gillespie defended the ad regarding Chrysler expanding Jeep production
in China: "...the ad is accurate. The head of Fiat came out and said
that they were going to open production in China for Jeep. That's what
the ad says, and that's accurate."
In response, Lauer acknowledged the China expansion but still insisted
the ad was false: "They're opening production for Jeep in China because
they're expanding markets, not because they're shipping jobs overseas,
which seemed to be the message of the ad." Gillespie corrected him: "No,
that's not the message. The message of the ad is they are opening
production in China."
On Sunday's Meet the Press, moderator David Gregory used the
same line of attack in an interview with Republican House Majority
Leader Eric Cantor: "The head of Chrysler said that that is deceptive,
that they are opening production facilities to service the Chinese
market while they're also expanding production in Ohio....don't think
that's a deceptive ad?"
In addition to criticizing the ad, Gregory derisively remarked: "This
from a business leader, Governor Romney, who apparently thinks its good
business to outsource in order to make companies more competitive. Is
this the hopeful specific agenda that Governor Romney has for the state
of Ohio and the country?"
Here is a transcript of Lauer's November 6 exchange with Gillespie:
7:15AM ET
(...)
MATT
LAUER: Let me ask you about Ohio. You talk about that state, obviously
all eyes on Ohio. Back on October 25th, the Governor employed a rather
dramatic strategy there, talking to supporters, he said that he had read
that, quote, "Jeep is thinking of moving all production to China." He
followed that with some ads that talked about Chrysler and GM's plans to
expand production in China. The reaction was swift and unanimous, Ed.
They were painted as misleading by independent fact-checkers. Ohio
newspapers said they were an exercise in deception, a masterpiece of
misdirection, and Chrysler and GM called them inaccurate and campaign
politics at its cynical worst. How could this happen to the guy who is
the son of a car-maker and the guy who is supposed to have the business
resume?
ED GILLESPIE: Well, Matt, the fact is there's – the ad is accurate. The
head of Fiat came out and said that they were going to open production
in China for Jeep. That's what the ad says, and that's accurate.
LAUER: But that's a different – that's a different idea, Ed. They're-
GILLESPIE: Look, if you care about the auto industry, you need to vote
for Mitt Romney and the Governor has a great record. Sorry?
LAUER: They're opening production for Jeep in China because they're
expanding markets, not because they're shipping jobs overseas, which
seemed to be the message of the ad.
GILLESPIE: No, that's not the message. The message of the ad is they
are opening production in China. Right now the Jeeps that are sold in
China are made in the United States. There was an original Bloomberg
report that said that they were going to close the plant and shift jobs
to China. That turned out not to be accurate, but they said they were
going to open jobs in China – or open production in China. We're
currently shipping to China from the U.S. exporting there. This ad is
accurate.
And the fact is, if you care about the auto industry, you care about
creating 12 million jobs in this economy, you care about creating demand
for domestic auto production, we don't have that in our economy today,
Matt, and Governor Romney would turn this economy around, have rising
incomes for people who have seen their incomes drop by $4,300 over the
course of the Obama presidency. That would do more for the American auto
industry than anything, but the ad is accurate, and we stand by it. We
know that the truth hurts sometimes, but it's the truth.
(...)