Traverse City Record-Eagle

Opinion

December 15, 2012

Fact Check: Readers air their feelings

By Angie Drobnic Holan ----

Mitt Romney's claim about Jeep moving to China claim trailed two others in our Readers' Poll for Lie of the Year. But readers who chose it had strong feelings. Here are excerpts from their comments:

n "I voted for the 'Jeeps to China' lie, not because it was Romney's most egregious whopper, but because it was the last straw that brought down his campaign. I believe that lie lost him Ohio."

n "I'm from Northwest Ohio where we build Jeeps and where we knew Jeep had just pledged a mega-million dollar upgrade to their facility. This lie was personal to all of us in the region."

n "The Jeep ad was the most consequential; Romney's chances were zero after it."

n "It's rare for a modern campaign to come as close as Romney's did on the Jeeps ad to saying, 'This isn't true; so what?' The angry response from Chrysler was priceless."

n "Any lie repeated in the face of overwhelming facts deserves special consideration."

n "It was representative of how the campaigns and parties (yes, at times, both campaigns and parties) seemed to think that if telling lies didn't get the results they wanted, just tell bigger, more outrageous lies."

n "A sickeningly reckless statement to cause gut-wrenching fear among working families already financially and psychologically hammered over the previous eight years."

n "I believe this was the lie that cost Romney the election. Hopefully, the Republican Party will take note and stop lying in elections. But I doubt it."

n "It was Romney's last big chance to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory — and he grabbed it with both hands. Even his enablers had to cringe at the blatant dishonesty."

n "It's bad enough to lie, but at least do it when you think folks won't figure it out! For the Chrysler lie, Romney gave this huge play in states where they knew exactly what happened with the auto bailout and so knew this wasn't true."

n "I was at the Romney Rally in Defiance, Ohio, when Romney made this statement (possibly for the first time?) about Jeep moving jobs to China. This is a BIG deal in Northwest Ohio. I really think this whole ad campaign and it consequently being proved false was behind Romney losing Ohio. Maybe the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back."

n "Just when we thought it impossible for a candidate in a presidential race to get away with flat-out making up crap, this one explodes in — of all places — Ohio! It defines desperation."

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Opinion Poll

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