Yesterday the Romney campaign released an ad that I've seen several times on my television here in Florida. The ad, called Failing American Workers, claims that since President Obama took office, the U.S. has lost 582,000 manufacturing jobs. MSNBC fact checked Romney's claim:
Fact check: This apparently measures from January 2009, when manufacturing workers made up [11,255,200] workers in the U.S. In August, the latest month for which there is data, that stood at [11,197,000] – a net reduction of 582,000 manufacturing jobs. Of course, there is always an argument about which month of a presidency a president should begin to be blamed for jobs losses. The share of manufacturing workers hit its lowest point a year into Obama’s presidency, January 2010 – [11,458,000]. Compared to then, there are 512,000 more manufacturing workers, according to preliminary August data.
That’s a claim Obama made during his Charlotte acceptance speech and was rated “True” by Politifact. He claimed a gain of “over half a million manufacturing jobs” since January 2010.
Note: numbers are in brackets because somebody at MSNBC can't type. They used one million instead of eleven million figures in the online article.
Needless to say, according to the Romney campaign, President Obama is responsible for losses the minute he took office, despite the fact that we all know the economy was still in a downward spiral as a result Bush economic policies. Time was needed to put Obama's policies into place and have them take effect. Needless to say, Romney doesn't want you to look at
the graph that most of us have seen by now.
The Obama campaign reacted quickly to Romney's ad about China, by releasing their own ad about sending jobs to China the Romney/Bain way:
Video of Mitt Romney under caption ROMNEY TV AD: "It's time to stand up to the cheaters and make sure we protect jobs for the American People."
Under the television screen caption: TOUGH ON CHINA?
Narrator: Mitt Romney tough on China? Romney's companies were called pioneers in shipping U.S. manufacturing jobs overseas. [See Romney’s Bain Capital invested in companies that moved jobs overseas, The Washington Post, June 21, 2012]
Narrator: He invested in firms that "specialized in relocating jobs ... to low wadge countries like China." [See same June 21 Washington Post article]
Narrator: Even today part of Romney's fortune is invested in China [See Firm Romney Founded Is Tied to Chinese Surveillance, The New York Times, March 15, 2012].
Narrator: Romney's never stood up to China.
On Screen: ROMNEY'S NEVER STOOD UP TO CHINA.
Narrator: All he's done is send them our jobs.
On Screen Image of President Obama: I'm Barack Obama and I approved this message.
I like the way Tommy Christopher at Media-ite describes this ad:
The gist of the Obama campaign’s ad appears to be that the problem with working at some Bain-owned companies is that, half an hour later, you wish you still had a job.
Obama Campaign Slaps Romney Back On China With New ‘Cheaters’ Ad
Even China isn't happy with Romney's blustering about how he would deal with the country, if he were elected President. As
The New York Times reported while Romney's convention was underway at the end of August:
The principal attack came through an editorial on Monday in China Daily, the state-run newspaper, which called Mr. Romney’s policies “an outdated manifestation of a Cold War mentality” that “endorses the ‘China threat’ theory and focuses on containing China’s rise.”
The editorial said the Romney policies, as stated on his campaign Web site, were “worrying” and “more pugnacious” than the approach of the Obama administration.
China Slams Romney for ‘Pugnacious’ Policies