Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The "Big Lie" propaganda campaign being waged by the Willard "Mittens" Romney campaign rolled out its most audacious lie yesterday with a claim that President Obama has "gutted" the work requirement of president Clinton's welfare reform. Every credible news organization has labled Romney's claim false, a flat-out devoid of facts lie.
The ad is part of the GOP politics of resentment for the poor (read minorities). This is the story that reporters should be reporting: the GOP is going back to its tried and true race-baiting tactics.
The "Big Dog," President Bill Clinton himself, rebuts Romney's welfare ad lie. Bill Clinton denounces Romney’s welfare ad:
Former president Bill Clinton is speaking out against a new ad from Mitt Romney’s campaign that accuses President Obama of rolling back Clinton’s welfare reforms.
“Gov. Romney released an ad today alleging that the Obama administration had weakened the work requirements of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act. That is not true,” Clinton said in a statement from his office at the Clinton Foundation released late Tuesday night.
Clinton said the waiver policy was enacted at the request of GOP governors from Utah and Nevada who wanted more flexibility in their programs. Moreover, he said it will not “gut” the program.
“The administration has taken important steps to ensure that the work requirement is retained and that waivers will be granted only if a state can demonstrate that more people will be moved into work under its new approach,” Clinton said. “The welfare time limits, another important feature of the 1996 act, will not be waived.”
[A]s a former president, his repudiation of Romney’s ad does carry more weight than anything the Obama campaign or White House could supply.
Yes, because in the false equivalency, "he said/he said" world of the "lamestream" media, reporting the actual facts and calling Mittens the liar that he is and condemning him for race-baiting tactics is not permitted.
UPDATE: President Clinton's statement issued late yesterday (h/t Maddow Blog).
Governor Romney released an ad today alleging that the Obama administration had weakened the work requirements of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act. That is not true. [...]
The recently announced waiver policy was originally requested by the Republican governors of Utah and Nevada to achieve more flexibility in designing programs more likely to work in this challenging environment. The Administration has taken important steps to ensure that the work requirement is retained and that waivers will be granted only if a state can demonstrate that more people will be moved into work under its new approach. The welfare time limits, another important feature of the 1996 act, will not be waived.
The Romney ad is especially disappointing because, as governor of Massachusetts, he requested changes in the welfare reform laws that could have eliminated time limits altogether. We need a bipartisan consensus to continue to help people move from welfare to work even during these hard times, not more misleading campaign ads.
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