CNN: ‘Romney Killed My Wife’ Ad Not Accurate
From CNN’s Situation Room, with Wolf Blitzer:
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Ad Pins Woman’s Death On Romney – Transcript BLITZER: … Meanwhile, a new attack ad by a Super PAC backing President Obama basically blames Mitt Romney for a woman’s death from cancer after his company, Bain Capital, shut down the steel mill where the woman’s husband worked. Let’s go to our White House correspondent, Brianna Keilar. She’s watching the story for us.
Brianna, on the surface, it seems pretty outrageous to blame Mitt Romney for the death of this woman. That’s a pretty outrageous claim, but what’s going on here?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It does when you dig deeper here, Wolf, because this ad makes it sound like this woman passed away shortly after Bain Capital closed down the steel plant where her husband worked. But in reality, she passed away five years after it closed.
And the former steel worker in this ad, I spoke to him on the phone today, and he said that during some of that time, his wife had insurance through her employer. So, Wolf, this is a heart-wrenching story, but it’s not accurate.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR (voice-over): Joe Soptic (ph) worked at GST steel in Missouri for almost 30 years. He was laid of after Bain Capital acquired the plant, eventually closing it down. Now, Soptic is featured in a new ad by Priorities USA Action, the Super PAC supporting President Obama’s re-election.
JOE SOPTIC, FORMER STEELWORKER & OBAMA SUPPORTER: When Mitt Romney and Bain closed the plant, I lost my healthcare. And my family lost their healthcare. And a short time after that, my wife became ill. And then, I took her up to the Jackson County Hospital and admitted her for pneumonia. That’s when they found the cancer. And by then, it was stage 4. There was nothing they could do for her.
KEILAR: It’s a heartbreaking story, but the ad does not tell all of it. In 1999, Mitt Romney leaves Bain for the Salt Lake Olympics, stopping day-to-day oversight of the company but remaining CEO. In 2001, Joe Soptic (ph) loses his job when Bain closes the plant. His wife still has insurance, though, from her employer, Savers Thrift Store (ph).
A year later, Romney formerly leaves Bain, and it’s that year, 2002 or perhaps 2003, Soptic tells CNN that his wife leaves her job because of an injury. That’s when he became uninsured without fallback insurance from her husband. A few years later, in 2006, she goes to the hospital, is diagnosed with cancer, and dies just days later.
Soptic, an Obama supporter, who has appeared in another ad back in May for the Obama campaign blames Romney for the loss of his job and his insurance…
So this is the second Obama ad featuring this same Joe Soptic. He didn’t mention Romney killing his wife the first time around. Maybe it had slipped his mind.
Hilariously, Ms. Keilar goes on to note that she spoke with Bill Burton, a founder of Priorities USA Action about the ad:
KEILAR: And I pressed him on this, are you drawing this link between Mitt Romney and this woman’s death? And he said, no, we’re not doing that. But Wolf, I think a lot of people who looked at that ad, certainly you, certainly I, did not walk away from it with that impression.
Really, what would give anyone the impression that they were trying to connect Mitt Romney to this woman’s death?
Except that it is the entire point of the ad.
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