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Republican National Committee

"Change Direction 3" +
:30 ad run in NM, CO and NV, announced July 20, 2011.

[Rather Dramatic Music] Male Announcer: Barack Obama promised us a better economy. 

But he gave us bigger government...

higher taxes...

and skyrocketing debt.

2.5 million jobs lost.

Largest deficit in history.

$14.3 trillion national debt.

The picture is clear.

Obama (Presidential News Conference, 7/11/11): "...Nobody's looking to raise taxes right now.  We're talking about potentially 2013."

Male Announcer: We can't afford four more years of Barack Obama.

Help America change direction. 

[SFX] The Republican National Committee is responsible for the content of this advertising.

Notes: From the RNC press release:

The Republican National Committee (RNC) released its third television ad today as part of a month-long “Change Direction” economic messaging campaign highlighting President Obama’s failed economic leadership.  The RNC will go on offense in the Southwestern states of New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada with a broadcast television buy. Acknowledging the region’s Hispanic population and 11.6 percent unemployment among Hispanics nationally, the ad will be supplemented with a Hispanic radio spot also hitting on the president’s economy.

Even David Axelrod admits the president must win the Southwest, a region Obama won in 2008 but George W. Bush won in 2004, to win reelection. President Obama will be playing defense in the Southwest and across the country because his failed economic policies, and now his insistence on raising taxes, are making the economy worse for job creators and Americans looking for jobs.

“The RNC is ready to take the fight to the states where President Obama’s economic policies are stifling job creation and putting recovery on hold,” said RNC Chairman Reince Priebus. “Each of these states is suffering from high unemployment – 6.9% in New Mexico, 8.7% in Colorado and a staggering 12.1% in Nevada because President Obama has been unable to deliver on promises to turn the economy around. After record spending and deficits, now the president wants to raise taxes on the very people needed to create jobs. Simply put, we cannot afford more of President Obama’s disastrous economic leadership that has put this country on a path to bankruptcy. It is time to change direction.”


The DNC response:

The RNC spent a whopping $7,500 on a new ad nationally and in three states attacking the President on the economy.  Please see below for a statement from DNC Communications Director Brad Woodhouse in response to the ad as well as a fact check of its content.

 “It’s no surprise that the RNC, which is run by a Chairman so out of touch with economic reality that he said it would ‘not be the end of the world’ if the nation defaulted on its debt for the first time, would rather run negative ads than work in good faith with President Obama to responsibly reduce the deficit and create jobs,” said Woodhouse. “While President Obama looks to find sensible solutions to get our fiscal house in order, the Republican Party and its candidates for president continue to play politics with our economy and are fighting to protect the same budget-busting tax breaks and loopholes for corporate jet owners, oil companies, and hedge fund managers that got us into this current mess. The Duck, Dodge, and Dismantle plan they voted for in the House yesterday is nothing more than Ryan plan on steroids and would slash Medicare and Social Security to pay for tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans. The American people want their leaders to work together to find solutions to create jobs, but the Republican Party continually shows that it is more interested in ideological purity and playing political games.”