I know, I know, I should never be surprised at what passes for "reporting" at the pathetic online rag that is Politico.
One of the publication's many lazy stenographers attempting to pass himself off as a "reporter" -- in this case, one James Hohmann -- frames Romney's blatant lie that Chrysler/Jeep is contemplating moving "all production" to China as simply another case of "Romney-says vs. Obama-campaign-says." Hohmann or his editors couldn't be bothered to check the veracity of what Romney claimed.
Here's how Hohmann played it in his piece, now nestled on Politico's home page:
Mitt Romney plays offense on autos
Then the Republican nominee warned that a major employer in nearby Toledo is considering shipping auto jobs overseas.
“I 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,” Romney told a crowd of some 12,000 at a high school football stadium. “I will fight for every good job in America, I’m going to fight to make sure trade is fair, and if it’s fair, America will win.”
...
The Obama campaign quickly released a statement criticizing Romney’s comments about Jeep.
“As Chrysler said today, ‘Jeep has no intention of shifting production of its Jeep models out of North America to China,’” the campaign emailed reporters. “And what’s more: President Obama has fought on behalf of U.S. auto workers by challenging unfair Chinese tariffs on U.S. auto exports to China, including Jeeps, while Romney would have let the American auto industry and a million jobs go under.”
Did this lazy turd of a "reporter" bother to read the Bloomberg news piece about Jeep's plans? Or did he bother to check with Chrysler to see if this was true? Or did his editors at
Politico follow up or bother to read what Chrysler said or what the Bloomberg piece
actually reported?
Fuck no!
Instead, this "reporter" and his editors at Politico frame up this blatant falsehood on Romney's part as simply another example of "politics as usual."
Are these people simply lazy or do they purposely ignore the facts? That's a question open debate.
At least Chrysler sets the record straight.
Despite clear and accurate reporting, the take has given birth to a number of stories making readers believe that Chrysler plans to shift all Jeep production to China from North America, and therefore idle assembly lines and U.S. workforce. It is a leap that would be difficult even for professional circus acrobats.
Let’s set the record straight: Jeep has no intention of shifting production of its Jeep models out of North America to China. It’s simply reviewing the opportunities to return Jeep output to China for the world’s largest auto market. U.S. Jeep assembly lines will continue to stay in operation. A careful and unbiased reading of the Bloomberg take would have saved unnecessary fantasies and extravagant comments.
Here's a suggestion for all of us here... Drop a quick email to the following hacks and tell them to print the facts instead of framing this as a back-and-forth set of political claims. Tell them reporting the facts is what
real journalists do.
James Hohmann, National Political Reporter (cough)
jhohmann@politico.com
Editor-in-Chief, John Harris
jharris@politico.com
Executive Editor, Jim VandeHei
jvandehei@politico.com