Slick Mitt Romney should catch flak for dishonesty on ad

BY THOMAS DEFRANK 

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Alan Diaz/AP

GOP Presidential candidate Mitt Romney's new ad in New Hampshire has drawn sharp criticism for its distortion of the truth.  

WASHINGTON — Mitt Romney’s greatest potential vulnerability, fair or fable, is the suspicion he’ll do or say anything to get himself elected President.

Which is why his new ad in New Hampshire is such a boneheaded strategic move. It feeds that dangerous perception that has dogged Romney since the 2008 campaign.

The new ad is a gross distortion of the truth. Even by the anything-goes mentality of modern political campaigns, it’s the kind of thing you’d expect from one of those outside-expenditure groups with shadowy donors peddling half-truths at best.

I concede more than a casual interest in this matter — the centerpiece of Romney’s provocative spot first appeared under my byline three years ago.

In early October 2008, one of John McCain’s most trusted counselors admitted in a down moment that the Arizona senator needed to change the subject from George W. Bush’s dismal economic record.

“If we don’t stop talking about the economy, we’re going to lose,” the official said.

Predictably, McCain’s camp was incensed when they saw the line in print, while Obama’s gleeful courtiers seized on it. It immediately became a staple of Obama’s stock campaign speech.

(Full disclosure: I good-naturedly complained to Team Obama that their campaign was shortchanging the paper and “threatened” to write about his plagiarism without some remedial action. At least for awhile, now-Vice President Biden and other surrogates credited the Daily News for popping the one-liner that some of his aides believe tipped the balance of the election.)

Romney’s glossy TV spot twists the truth by conveniently leaving out the essential element of information — Obama was talking about McCain’s campaign, not his own.

As a tactical ploy, at least it’s clever — Romney has turned Obama’s rhetoric against him. Subliminally, the message reminds unhappy voters that Obama owns this very troubled economy.

Romney’s handlers were gloating even before the howls of protest rolled in.

“The tables have turned,” communications director Gail Gitcho wrote on Romney’s blog. “President Obama and his campaign are doing exactly what candidate Obama criticized.”

Fair enough — but the intellectual dishonesty and blatant untruthfulness of the ad diminishes the impact.

Despite the improbable resurrection of Newt Gingrich, Romney’s still the Republican front-runner.

GOP elders continue to believe he’s the party’s best chance to make Obama a one-term President.

But cynical ads like this one reinforce the narrative that Romney, already burdened by accusations of opportunistic policy flip-flops, is somehow lacking.

With apologies to Franklin D. Roosevelt, it would appear that the only thing Romney has to fear is — himself.

tdefrank@nydailynews.com