Mitt Romney Campaign: We Will Not 'Be Dictated By Fact-Checkers'

[kpete]

Source: Huffington Post

TAMPA -- Mitt Romney's campaign said on Tuesday that its ads attacking President Obama's waiver policy on welfare have been its most effective to date. And while the spots have been roundly criticized as lacking any factual basis, the campaign said it didn't really care.

"We're not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers," Romney pollster Neil Newhouse said at a panel organized by ABC News.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/23/mitt-romney-_n_1836139.html

[liberal N proud]

1. Who needs facts?

[Mariana]

3. Certainly not Republican voters. nt

[mojo2012]

2. Nice quote for an Obama ad

Great Romney campaign quote for the Obama ad pointing out Welfare to Work facts....

[avebury]

50. Right on! nt

[WinstonSmith4740]

59. My thoughts exactly!

In fact, I'm going to be very disappointed in them if they don't. I don't watch the local channels here, so I don't know if he's responded to this lie or not, but even if they already have, this should be used in a new ad. Double it up with Kyl's response about his statement on the floor of the Senate wasn't "meant to be factual." Throw in some additional "crazy"...it's easy enough to find. End with Obama saying, "Really? You're planning on voting for these guys?" If nothing else, maybe we could get some heads to explode.

[tblue37]

4. This reminds me of the way FOX News went all the way to the

Supreme Court to get its right to lie affirmed. In both cases, Republicans are openly saying they are going tolie, they have a "right to lie," and no one is going to get in the way of their exercising their "right to lie"!

[woodsprite]

6. For Mittens, it's a religious mandate. n/t

[primavera]

10. Oooh, that sounds interesting!

I'm embarrassed to admit it, but I must have missed this case to which you're referring and it sounds like a case I would really like to read. Do you have any more details on it that might enable me to find it on the internet?

Many thanks!

[csziggy]

13. Here is a Wikipedia entry about it

Whistleblower lawsuit

In 1997, Wilson and Akre began work on a story regarding the agricultural biotechnology company Monsanto and recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH), a milk additive that had been approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration but also blamed for a number of health issues. Wilson and Akre planned a four part investigative report on Monsanto's use of rBGH, which prompted Monsanto to write to Roger Ailes, president of Fox News Channel, in an attempt to have the report reviewed for bias and because of the "enormous damage that can be done" as a result of the report.[4]

WTVT did not run the report, and later argued in court that the report was not "breakthrough journalism." Wilson and Akre then claimed that Monsanto's actions constituted the news broadcast telling lies, while WTVT countered that it was looking only for fairness. According to Wilson and Akre, the two rewrote the report over 80 times over the course of 1997, and WTVT decided to exercise "its option to terminate their employment contracts without cause,"[5] and did not renew their contracts in 1998. WTVT later ran a report about Monsanto and rBGH in 1998, and the report included defenses from Monsanto.[4]

Following Wilson and Akre's contract not being renewed, the two filed a lawsuit concerning WTVT's "news distortion" under Florida's whistleblower laws, claiming their termination was retaliation for "resisting WTVT's attempts to distort or suppress the Monsanto recombinant bovine growth hormone story."[6] In a joint statement, Wilson claimed that he and Akre "were repeatedly ordered to go forward and broadcast demonstrably inaccurate and dishonest versions of the story," and "were given those instructions after some very high-level corporate lobbying by Monsanto (the agriculture company that makes the hormone) and also ... by members of Florida’s dairy and grocery industries."[7] The trial commenced in summer 2000 with a jury dismissing all of the claims brought to trial by Wilson, but siding with one aspect of Akre's complaint, awarding Akre $425000 and agreeing that Akre was a whistleblower because she believed there were violations of the Communications Act of 1934 and because she planned on reporting WTVT to the Federal Communications Commission.

An appeal was filed, and a ruling in February 2003 came down in favor of WTVT, who successfully argued that the FCC policy against falsification was not a "law, rule, or regulation", and so the whistle-blower law did not qualify as the required "law, rule, or regulation" under section 448.102 of the Florida Statutes.[8] ... Because the FCC's news distortion policy is not a "law, rule, or regulation" under section 448.102 of the Florida Statutes,[8] Akre has failed to state a claim under the whistle-blower's statute."[6] The appeal did not address any falsification claims, noting that "as a threshold matter ... Akre failed to state a claim under the whistle-blower's statute," but noted that the lower court ruled against all of Wilson's charges and all of Akre's claims with the exception of the whistleblower claim that was overturned.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Akre#Whistleblower_lawsuit

And Project Censored's take on it:

The Media Can Legally Lie
Apr 29, 2010
digg

CMW REPORT, Spring 2003
Title: “Court Ruled That Media Can Legally Lie”
Author: Liane Casten

ORGANIC CONSUMER ASSOCIATION, March 7, 2004
Title: “Florida Appeals Court Orders Akre-Wilson Must Pay Trial Costs for $24.3 Billion Fox Television; Couple Warns Journalists of Danger to Free Speech, Whistle Blower Protection”
Author: Al Krebs

Faculty Evaluator: Liz Burch, Ph.D.
Student Researcher: Sara Brunner

In February 2003, a Florida Court of Appeals unanimously agreed with an assertion by FOX News that there is no rule against distorting or falsifying the news in the United States.

Back in December of 1996, Jane Akre and her husband, Steve Wilson, were hired by FOX as a part of the Fox “Investigators” team at WTVT in Tampa Bay, Florida. In 1997 the team began work on a story about bovine growth hormone (BGH), a controversial substance manufactured by Monsanto Corporation. The couple produced a four-part series revealing that there were many health risks related to BGH and that Florida supermarket chains did little to avoid selling milk from cows treated with the hormone, despite assuring customers otherwise.

<SNIP>

During their appeal, FOX asserted that there are no written rules against distorting news in the media. They argued that, under the First Amendment, broadcasters have the right to lie or deliberately distort news reports on public airwaves. Fox attorneys did not dispute Akre’s claim that they pressured her to broadcast a false story, they simply maintained that it was their right to do so. After the appeal verdict WTVT general manager Bob Linger commented, “It’s vindication for WTVT, and we’re very pleased… It’s the case we’ve been making for two years. She never had a legal claim.”

More: http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/11-the-media-can-legally-lie/

[wordpix]

32. did not know that, thanks. So now we have media-right-to-lie precedent - no wonder Faux uses it

constantly

[tblue37]

14. Actually, it was the FLA SC, not the USSC.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Akre

Whistleblower lawsuit

<snip>

In 1997, Wilson and Akre began work on a story regarding the agricultural biotechnology company Monsanto and recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH), a milk additive that had been approved for use by the Food and Drug Administration but also blamed for a number of health issues. Wilson and Akre planned a four part investigative report on Monsanto's use of rBGH, which prompted Monsanto to write to Roger Ailes, president of Fox News Channel, in an attempt to have the report reviewed for bias and because of the "enormous damage that can be done" as a result of the report.[4]

WTVT did not run the report, and later argued in court that the report was not "breakthrough journalism." Wilson and Akre then claimed that Monsanto's actions constituted the news broadcast telling lies, while WTVT countered that it was looking only for fairness. According to Wilson and Akre, the two rewrote the report over 80 times over the course of 1997, and WTVT decided to exercise "its option to terminate their employment contracts without cause,"[5] and did not renew their contracts in 1998. WTVT later ran a report about Monsanto and rBGH in 1998, and the report included defenses from Monsanto.[4]

Following Wilson and Akre's contract not being renewed, the two filed a lawsuit concerning WTVT's "news distortion" under Florida's whistleblower laws, claiming their termination was retaliation for "resisting WTVT's attempts to distort or suppress the Monsanto recombinant bovine growth hormone story."[6] In a joint statement, Wilson claimed that he and Akre "were repeatedly ordered to go forward and broadcast demonstrably inaccurate and dishonest versions of the story," and "were given those instructions after some very high-level corporate lobbying by Monsanto (the agriculture company that makes the hormone) and also ... by members of Florida’s dairy and grocery industries."[7] The trial commenced in summer 2000 with a jury dismissing all of the claims brought to trial by Wilson, but siding with one aspect of Akre's complaint, awarding Akre $425000 and agreeing that Akre was a whistleblower because she believed there were violations of the Communications Act of 1934 and because she planned on reporting WTVT to the Federal Communications Commission.

An appeal was filed, and a ruling in February 2003 came down in favor of WTVT, who successfully argued that the FCC policy against falsification was not a "law, rule, or regulation", and so the whistle-blower law did not qualify as the required "law, rule, or regulation" under section 448.102 of the Florida Statutes.[8] ... Because the FCC's news distortion policy is not a "law, rule, or regulation" under section 448.102 of the Florida Statutes,[8] Akre has failed to state a claim under the whistle-blower's statute." The appeal did not address any falsification claims, noting that "as a threshold matter ... Akre failed to state a claim under the whistle-blower's statute," but noted that the lower court ruled against all of Wilson's charges and all of Akre's claims with the exception of the whistleblower claim that was overturned.

<snip>

Note this point, though: "The appeal did not address any falsification claims, noting that 'as a threshold matter ... Akre failed to state a claim under the whistle-blower's statute. . . .'"

Technically, then, FOX's suit was not a "We do too have a right to lie!" suit per se, but the reporters' whistleblower claim was based on being retaliated against for refusing to lie in their report when ordered to. The ruling that the FCC's news distortion policy (i.e., the policy that said news agencies were not supposed to deliberately lie in their reports) did not have the force of law is what undermined the whistleblower lawsuit, since it meant the reporters didn't have a legal right to resist their employers' demands that they lie.

(another N.B.: This is from Wikipedia, which is not a source one uses seriously in most situations, but for stuff like this, it is solid enough.)

[primavera]

17. Thank you! - n/t

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

18. my search brought up this case from Florida, 2003

http://foxnewsboycott.com/resources/fox-can-lie-lawsuit/

From CeaseSpin.com:
Appellate Court Rules Media Can Legally Lie.
By Mike Gaddy. Published Feb. 28, 2003
The court did not dispute the heart of Akre’s claim, that Fox pressured her to broadcast a false story to protect the broadcaster from having to defend the truth in court, as well as suffer the ire of irate advertisers. Fox argued from the first, and failed on three separate occasions, in front of three different judges, to have the case tossed out on the grounds there is no hard, fast, and written rule against deliberate distortion of the news.
The attorneys for Fox, owned by media baron Rupert Murdoch, argued the First Amendment gives broadcasters the right to lie or deliberately distort news reports on the public airwaves.
In its six-page written decision, the Court of Appeals held that the Federal Communications Commission position against news distortion is only a “policy,” not a promulgated law, rule, or regulation. Fox aired a report after the ruling saying it was “totally vindicated” by the verdict.

(There, I did the copy and paste again, hope it shows up...)

[DallasNE]

65. I'm Confused

Why were the State courts ruling on the federal Communications Act of 1934 and the 1st Amendment. Should not those have been issues resolved in Federal court. I am also confused regarding the difference between "policy" and "regulation" and how the State court decides such issues. The FCC does not set policy, it issues regulations. This seems like the wrong decision coming from the wrong court. But then I am not an attorney.

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

76. I'm not a lawyer either, Just passing along what I've read.

[starroute]

22. Here's a link

Not surprisingly, it was a story involving Monsanto and synthetic growth hormone in milk that Fox distorted and suppressed.

http://www.foxbghsuit.com/home.htm

[KamaAina]

63. Faux isn't allowed to lie in Canada

the CRTC, their version of the FCC, determined that Faux doesn't meet its definition of "news". So they banned it. Beauty, eh?

[central scrutinizer]

5. so this is a defacto admission that it is all lies?

and they don't care? Wake the fuck up, you undecided voters!!!

[Amonester]

9. Undecided voters don't care either.

They are actively told that both sides do it, and it seems to work.

How many millions don't bother to vote again?

[xtraxritical]

35. Boy I hope the Obama people get this all over the air waves.

[mac56]

7. "Facts?! We don't need no stinkin' facts!"

[Vox Moi]

8. When a factoid is uttered by a humanoid ...

... you get a campaign promise.
Facts are useful only to those who think the truth is important.

[OnlinePoker]

11. A good, but futile, suggestion someone made on Reddit

They suggested IBM's Watson computer act as co-moderator at the presidential debates to fact check live and call the candidates on their BS. Too bad it would never get approved by either party.

[INdemo]

12. When there is a TV host like the right wing hack

Chuck Todd that does not call Repukes on this during interviews that just adds to the fictional facts..and when someone like Lawrence O'Donnell is trying to refute the fictional facts and is cut off what does that tell the voters...
$$$$$ money obviously buys TV hosts...

[gkhouston]

15. Bwah. Colbert will go to town with that one. Truthiness for President! n/t

[KamaAina]

64. Reality has a well-known liberal bias.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

16. And their governing policies will follow the same philosophy.

[valerief]

19. He may as well be saying, "I'm a moron and proud of it!" nt

[KurtNYC]

20. Use this and the as to drive home the "untrustable Etcha sketch" meme

The truth still matters.

[Odin2005]

21. The GOP goes Postmodernist.

They think they can create their own reality!

[oldsarge54]

23. Mr Tea on Facts

<a href="" target="_blank"><img src="" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>


I'm having fun, you guys give me ideas. Do you want me to continue?

[drm604]

41. What's with the feathers and hatchets?

[oldsarge54]

48. Boston Tea Party

Tea Party named themselves for another tax protest. Which, amusingly, was a tax compromise offered by Parliament. Boston businessmen "disguised" themselves as indians, broke up the barrels of untaxed tea, and dumpted them in the harbor. Hence the Tea Party, hatchets and feathers.

God I love history.

[drm604]

49. Yeah, I knew they dressed up as indians for the Boston tea party,

I just didn't make the connection with your cartoon.

[oldsarge54]

51. My fault

Maybe I have a cartoon naming issue, my fault. I've been drawing Tea Party members that way for months, but only for myself. I'm doing it for DU because, I don't know, coming out of the political closet. If you can find some of my other Mr Tea, and heck, I'll take suggestions if you can give me a more illustrative name. .

[drm604]

53. You did call it "Mr Tea on Facts".

The word tea should have given me a clue.

[bupkus]

24. So in other words if people want to vote for Rmoney/Ryan their votes are based on

Outright lies and blatantly false information.

That should work out well for America. Just look how well it worked out from 2000 to 2008 during the Bush administration.

[denvine]

25. "We're not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers"

That about says it all about Romney and the Republican Party. That sentence alone should be a gold mine for Democrats.

[Javaman]

26. "Phfft! Facts. You can use them to prove anything."

Homer Simpson.

[leftyohiolib]

27. in other words: people are stupid and easily misled and we intend to cash in on that

[genxlib]

28. Typo perhaps?

There seems to be an extra word in his statement.

"We're not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers"

I think it will suffice to simply say

"We're not going to let our campaign be dictated by facts"

When I read this elsewhere, the first thing I thought was "DU is going to eat this alive" Glad to see you are on it.

[KarenS]

29. sheesh,,,, Hopefully there's video of this,,,,

the Democrats can use it for a Campaign Ad!!

[wordpix]

30. he meant to say, ""We're not going to let our campaign be dictated by facts"

Well at least they don't try to hide the fact they're lying

[bullwinkle428]

31. Once again, getting harder and harder to distinguish real and "Onion" headlines.

[sakabatou]

33. "I reject reality itself, and believe in all of my lies!"

[Waltons_Mtn]

34. Oh how I hope someone video taped that comment!

[ZombieHorde]

36. I think Romney has accidently hired writers from The Onion to guide his campaign. nt

[alp227]

39. Interesting point. Wonder if they are trying to lose intentionally

Perhaps the campaign KNOWS that Obama is just not unpopular enough this time around, thus the con artists need another term to dig some dirt and get a stronger candidate for 2016 who can drill in the voters' minds whatever sleazy smear against Obama is concocted.

[beac]

37. They are shameless. That ad has been utterly debunked but

it continues to run 24/7.

I don't even OWN a tv and I've exposed to it in waiting rooms and online dozens of times already.

[christx30]

38. Yeah, Liberals!

Do you want a president is bogged down in "reality" or "facts" or "knowing what the hell he's doing"? Or do you want a president with imagination? Someone that can make up crap on the fly? Someone that can bring up embarrassing things about Obama, whether they're true or not? "Obama was actually an Egyptian Pharaoh that sold his soul for immortality. He can't be president! We should impeach!!"
See? I just made that up. Now our imagination candidate, Romney can say, "I'm reasonably sure that's not true", keeping it open as a talking point for birthers on freerepublic.
You elitest intellectuals with your "facts" (bah!) and your "reality" (humbug!). tsk tsk tsk. As Colbert says "Everyone knows reality has a liberal bias!"

[berni_mccoy]

40. DNC should run Ads 24/7 that say Romney Doesn't Pay Taxes and refuses to Prove Otherwise.

[SoapBox]

42. Damn!

...those pesky facts.

Well, if we, the GOPathetics and Baggers, take over...we'll retroactively impeach all facts!

[MurrayDelph]

43. So, with this "we don't need no steenking facts" doctrine in place

should all Republican orations be called "speeches" or "specious"?

[defacto7]

44. Isn't that "dictated to"

"Be Dictated To By Fact-Checkers"

Just checking facts!

Or maybe it doesn't matter... after all, Mrs. Palin says, "American is an evolving language"

[DeSwiss]

45. When all you have is lies.....

...then lies it is!

- K&R
[center]
''It is essential to the idea of a law, that it be attended with a sanction; or, in other words, a penalty or punishment for disobedience. If there be no penalty annexed to disobedience, the resolutions or commands which pretend to be laws will, in fact, amount to nothing more than advice or recommendation.'' ~Alexander Hamilton, Federalist 15


[/center]

[woo me with science]

46. ROFL! That reminds me of:

Rick Perry protests "intellectual" analysis of his jobs plan.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=2216009&mesg_id=2216009

[octothorpe]

47. lol... Seriously?

[Kalidurga]

52. Well Mr. Romney never fails to disappoint.

Everyday I check to see if he said something incredibly stupid. And he hasn't disappointed since his trip to London. This is probably one of the least maddening things he has said. All he did was admit that he is a liar. Well, we already knew that.

[lastlib]

54. translation: We're gonna lie faster than you can "refudiate" them.

[CBHagman]

55. So much for supposedly Bible-believing pols.

One thinks of the command against bearing false witness...

And one thinks of the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY), who said everyone's entitled to his own opinion but not his own facts.

[mojo2012]

56. Romney gives up his morals and values

Romney knows his negative Welfare ads are false. By going forward with them and shrugging off non-partisan fact checkers shows the true character of this man. For someone who is willingly to lie to voters with no conscience is a disgrace. It's a sign of a man who can easily lie to you so he can win the election. I have no respect or trust in Mitt Romney

[Third Doctor]

57. This is so

he can lie more openly.

[Bozita]

58. “Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it” - Hitler

“Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it”
Adolf Hitler quotes (German Chancellor, leader of the Nazi party, 1889-1945)

http://thinkexist.com/quotes/like/make_the_lie_big-make_it_simple-keep_saying_it/175795/

[Suji to Seoul]

60. do they just want to lose that much? Worst. Run. Campaign. Ever.

[silvershadow]

61. which is how they have conducted the campaign thus far.

[DallasNE]

62. So What Happens In The First Debate

When a question is prefaced with "every fact checker says the statement is false"? How does Romeny dance around that, or can he? To me he is digging a deep hole with no ladder for escape. It is one thing if there is a single fact checker who takes the statement out of context then concludes it is false but a whole different ball game when they all issue a "pants on fire" rating.

[durablend]

77. He'll just say

"The liberal media is out to smear me".

Never mind the fact that there won't be a question from a "moderator" (wink-wink) that will paint Romney in an unflattering light. Those will be limited to questions for Obama.

[defacto7]

66. Well... there you go again!

[Reagan quote... you knew that..]

[ailsagirl]

67. In other words, "We won't be telling the truth so don't bother checking on it"

What a bunch of freaks

[rks306]

68. facts

His whole campaign is based on a lie. He can not win unless people are dumber than I think. With the money he has behind him, because of the activist Supreme Court, he must be favored. Will people trust what he says. They want to give SS over to Wall st. Privatize medicare. You say not for 10 years. If medicare goes broke in 4 years what then.

[area51]

69. It's finally official

The republinazi party admits that it tells nothing but lies.

[billky]

70. Is this suppose to be breaking news?

He never has and never will be dictated by facts. That's called liars.

[Cass]

71. And that tells us pretty much all we need to know about the Romney campaign.

Clearly they can't run on facts and need to make stuff up to get any traction.

Its a total slap in the face to the voters who take elections seriously.

[tclambert]

72. Of course not. Fact checkers would leave them with nothing to say.

[90-percent]

73. Frank Zappa quoting Ronald Reagan

In the gatefold for his 1984 album Them or Us, Frank included the quote:

"Facts are such stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

Republicans seem to be better at lying than Democrats are at telling the truth.

I think in life almost all of us loathe chronic liars. Who could possibly like a chronic liar? It is a rotten way to go through life in a spiritual sense and it seems to be all the Republicans have got.

I pray the American people are not as stupid, prejudiced and gullible as Republicans seem to think they are!

-90% jimmy

[Ganja Ninja]

74. Yeah why start now. n/t

[Monk06]

75. It's official, the Republicans are on acid.