Romney Team Assails Obama ‘Character’ Over Cancer Ad
The Romney campaign is questioning President Obama's character in a stinging new ad, which calls out an advertisement by a pro-Obama super PAC that linked Romney to the death of a woman.
In the ad released on Tuesday, a narrator asks, “What does it say about a president’s character when his campaign tries to use the tragedy of a woman’s death for political gain?” Later it asks, “Doesn’t America deserve better than a president who will say or do anything to stay in power?”
The campaign did not indicate where the ad will be running.
The pro-Obama super PAC Priorities USA Action -- not the Obama campaign itself -- released an ad last week that told the story of a steelworker, Joe Soptic, who lost his job after Romney’s firm, Bain Capital, forced layoffs in 2001, which was after Romney said he ceased to be actively involved in the firm.
Soptic said that after he lost his job, he lost his insurance, and his wife contracted cancer and died. But subsequent reporting has shown that Soptic’s wife was insured two years after his layoff, and died in 2006.
The advertisement has been assailed by Republicans for it shaky claims and has been awarded “four Pinnochios” by The Washington Post’s fact-checker.
