There are two things to note about Rick Perry’s new campaign ad, which will air nationally on cable as well as locally in Iowa. The first is that it totally and shamelessly misrepresents President Obama’s remark. As Intel Jon pointed out yesterday, Obama did not say or even imply that “Americans are lazy.” Not even close. In context, Obama was saying that the government has been lazy about spurring foreign investment in America, and taking for granted that it would happen without effort.
Of course, taking things out of context is hardly new ground for a political campaign.What is new ground is a candidate mangling the English language in a TV ad, which he presumably had the opportunity to tape as many times as necessary. “Can you believe that?” Perry asks in the opening moments of the ad. “That’s what our president thinks wrong with America?” We imagine the ad team doing 97 different takes of this line, then finally saying, “Eh, screw it,” and giving up. Maybe expecting Perry to say every word in a 28-second script is asking for too much.
