Despite trailing Newt Gingrich in recent polls, one-time inevitable pick and perpetual second place hero Mitt Romney has his eyes set on taking down President Obama in his first ad which is airing in New Hampshire. Other than its a hopeful title, "Believe in America", the ad takes several cues from the apocalyptic quasi-scary RNC attack ad from earlier this month. There's that weird effect of your television having bad reception and the ad uses Walking Dead-style soft-focus sepia tones.  But that's all before you're introduced to shiny, crisp, and bright Mitt Romney. A Mitt Romney who isn't afraid to cross the line connecting him to "Obamacare."  The ad is new and reactions are still coming in, but the Washington Post's Greg Seargeant has already called the Romney campaign out for a distortion:

The ad also airs footage of Obama saying: “If we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.” But that snippet is torn out of context. What Obama actually said on that day in 2008 is this: “Senator McCain’s campaign actually said, and I quote, ‘If we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose.’”

Romney’s campaign spokesman, Eric Fehrnstrom, offered this laughable explanation for the distortion:

We used that quote intentionally to show that President Obama is doing exactly what he criticized McCain of doing four years ago. Obama doesn’t want to talk about the economy because of his failed record.

What a joke. The out-of-context quote does not show that Obama criticized the McCain campaign in this fashion four years ago. Itobscures this fact to make it look as if Obama was talking about his own campaign. We’re now at the point where the Romney campaign is dissembling about its own ad’s distortion.

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Alexander Abad-Santos