Romney startled the automotive world during a rally Oct. 25 in Defiance, Ohio, where he said he “saw a story today that one of the great manufacturers in this state, Jeep — now owned by the Italians — is thinking of moving all production to China.”
Okay, Sergio Marchionne, CEO of Chrysler, LLC, didn’t use the “L” word or specifically call out yet another Romney bold-faced lie, but he walked right up to the line where others that could command public attention have feared to go for the past eighteen months when this country has been subjected to a seemingly inexhaustible supply of lies spewed by Mitt.
“Jeep assembly lines will remain in operation in the United States and will constitute the backbone of the brand.
“It is inaccurate to suggest anything different.”
It was enough to connect and bloody the bully’s nose. That it was delivered by the CEO of the successor-owner company to the company that made George Romney a wealthy public figure and made Mitt’s privileged life possible is particularly delicious.
(Have to wonder if team Romney knew that US autoworkers get presidential election days off before doubling down on attacking Jeep in Ohio.)
It wasn’t just the lie but where he repeated it. Had it been in SC, TN, or TX, his lie would have had his supporters stomping their feet and cheering. The same folks that almost four years ago were salivating over the prospect of GM and Chrysler being put out of business. But right into the belly of swing-state beasts. Pulling out one more fear-mongering lie that worked so well for Kasich and Portman in 2010. Have no idea how team Romney expected this to work in his favor but doubt they ever considered that a corporation would object to anything Mitt said in his quest for the WH. Can see that this gambit lost him at least two percentage points in Ohio and that puts him outside the margin required for election fraud to succeed.
Why did it take a corporation that Mitt attempted to malign with a lie to call out him out and be heard? As Thom Hartman and Lamor Waldron remind us today in, Romney, Richard Nixon, and Las Vegas Cash: A Hidden History Repeats Itself the US press/media has for decades been useless in challenging the big lies of politicians (except when it concerns sex). Unions have been too decimated over the past fifty years to be heard beyond the ranks of their members, and sometimes not even that far. Mitt’s damn lies about his record as Governor of Massachusetts were mostly unchallenged by his opponents, including Massachusetts and Democratic politicians. Institutionally and organizationally, there’s nothing in this country to stop a lying demagogue from achieving power except a large corporation. Hardly a definition of democracy. And that’s a reason to weep.