Romney proves Obama is a flip-flopper just like him!

Except, he did it by basically lying. Wait, not basically. Just plain lying. Straight up LYING. Check this new ad by the Romney campaign.

In June we have Obama saying the private sector is fine and that the public sector is where we really need to focus on job creation. Local politicians have had to cut jobs because they’re not receiving the kind of support they need from the federal government. However, in May, Obama is seen bragging to the audience that, even during a recession, government employment has gone down under his administration. So, don’t buy into the Romney hype about how “big” the government has gotten.

But this is just some creatively dishonest editing by the Romney campaign. Because Republicans are scum. And apparently you can just say whatever you want, even if it’s a lie, just to get people to vote for you.

Obama likes “big government” and so do a majority of Democrats. The government should help you out when you’re struggling and provide healthcare for the sick and needy. The government should be a safety net. Republicans don’t buy any of that. They only believe in government regulation if you’re trying to take someone’s gun away or have a gay wedding.

Already you can see what an awful ad this is. Romney wants to show Obama pandering to his audiences…by spending half of an ad with Obama agreeing with Mitt Romney. Not the best strategy to have your opponent in your ad agreeing with you.

Besides, it’s completely false. Obama isn’t proud that government employment has gone down—he’s saying it to demonstrate a point. Check out the entire speech where Romney got that little soundbyte:

Just about every time we put these policies up for a vote, the Republicans in Congress got together and they said no. They said no to putting hundreds of thousands of construction workers back on the job repairing our roads and our bridges and our schools and our transit systems. No to a new tax cut for businesses that hire new workers. No to putting more teachers back in our classrooms, more cops back on the beat, more firefighters back to work. And this is at a time when we know one of the biggest drags on our economy has been layoffs by state and local governments — that’s true all across the country.

Government employment rose under President Reagan, President George H.W. Bush and President George W. Bush. So each time there was a recession with a Republican President, compensated — we compensated by making sure that government didn’t see a drastic reduction in employment. (“Where the federal government stepped up to prevent states and municipalities from laying off teachers and other government workers in previous recessions, it’s fallen on its face under Obama,” TPM’s Brian Beutler reported last month.)

The only time government employment has gone down during a recession has been under me. So I make that point just so you don’t buy into this whole bloated government argument that you hear. And frankly, if Congress had said yes to helping states put teachers back to work and put the economy before our politics, then tens of thousands more teachers in New York would have a job right now. That is a fact. And that would mean not only a lower unemployment rate, but also more customers for business.

(source)

Obama isn’t bragging; he’s pissed! He’s pointing out the double standard. When we’re in the midst of a recession with a Republican President, Congress takes steps to ensure government employment doesn’t see a reduction. Not so for Obama.

And here comes Romney, cherry picking passages that suit him and using them out of context to further his campaign strategy of lies and deceit. Romney’s whole defense is “Well, he did say that, so whatever.” If we can pluck any couple of sentences from a speech and use them in a manner diametrically opposed to their original intent, what’s to stop taking individual phrases or even single words and stringing them together to mean something different?

Politics is so ridiculous. You learn in second grade not to put words in somebody else’s mouth, but here we are, watching grown-ass men misquote their opponents on purpose.

Welcome to American politics.