“Under Obama’s plan, you wouldn’t have to work.  They just send you your welfare check.”
~Romney’s latest attack ad 

Let me start by saying that Mitt Romney is a pathological liar.

This video sounds good if you have no idea what is going on in the real world.  It appeals to deep seated resentment in middle class workers who feel like welfare recipients are just living the sweet life on welfare and under Obama life is about to get a lot sweeter.  The problem is – the ad is a horrible falsehood and an embarrassment for a Presidential candidate.  Mitt Romney has earned a reputation for lying to voters without impunity.  He just thinks the average person is too stupid to know the difference. He thinks if he plays these ads in a loop over and over and over – it’s going to have the desired effect.

Romney doesn’t think voters are smart enough to vote against this type of politics.  Even more insulting than all of that is the action President Obama took on behalf of requests by two Republican Governors to give them flexibility with their work to welfare programs … is the exact type of executive order that Mitt Romney requested when he was Governor of Massachusetts.

But he’ll say literally anything not to talk about his tax returns.

Politifact rates the ad a “Pants on Fire” lie HERE:

That’s a drastic distortion of the planned changes to Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. By granting waivers to states, the Obama administration is seeking to make welfare-to-work efforts more successful, not end them. What’s more, the waivers would apply to individually evaluated pilot programs — HHS is not proposing a blanket, national change to welfare law.

The ad tries to connect the dots to reach this zinger: “They just send you your welfare check.” The HHS memo in no way advocates that practice. In fact, it says the new policy is “designed to improve employment outcomes for needy families.”

The ad’s claim is not accurate, and it inflames old resentments about able-bodied adults sitting around collecting public assistance. Pants on Fire!

Steve Benen wants to know if voters will hold Romney accountable for his bullshit HERE:

It’s important to realize this is as dishonest an ad as you’ll ever see — in 2012 or in any other campaign cycle.

The Republican nominee for president is working under the assumption that he can make transparently false claims, in writing and in campaign advertising, with impunity. Romney is convinced that there are no consequences for breathtaking dishonesty.

The test, then, comes down to a simple question: is he right?

The Washington Post has some details HERE:

She said the administration agreed to allow states to apply for waivers after hearing from governors, including Republicans Gary Herbert of Utah and Brian Sandoval of Nevada, who wanted more flexibility from cumbersome federal requirements and paperwork. In order to secure a waiver, however, states must show their welfare programs will increase jobs placements by 20 percent, Cutter said.

“No plan that undercuts the goal of moving people from welfare to work will be approved, and it will not be approved if it weakens or undercuts or avoids time limits on welfare assistance,” she said.

Rachel Maddow says there is a racist dog whistle associated with Romney’s false ad:

Bill Clinton puts out a statement rebuffing Romney’s accusations from his ad:

Statement by President Bill Clinton on Governor Mitt Romney’s New Television Advertisement

New York, NY-Governor Romney released an ad today alleging that the Obama administration had weakened the work requirements of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act. That is not true.

The act emerged after years of experiments at the state level, including my work as Governor of Arkansas beginning in 1980. When I became President, I granted waivers from the old law to 44 states to implement welfare to work strategies before welfare reform passed.

After the law was enacted, every state was required to design a plan to move people into the workforce, along with more funds to help pay for training, childcare and transportation. As a result, millions of people moved from welfare to work.

The recently announced waiver policy was originally requested by the Republican governors of Utah and Nevada to achieve more flexibility in designing programs more likely to work in this challenging environment. The Administration has taken important steps to ensure that the work requirement is retained and that waivers will be granted only if a state can demonstrate that more people will be moved into work under its new approach. The welfare time limits, another important feature of the 1996 act, will not be waived.

The Romney ad is especially disappointing because, as governor of Massachusetts, he requested changes in the welfare reform laws that could have eliminated time limits altogether. We need a bipartisan consensus to continue to help people move from welfare to work even during these hard times, not more misleading campaign ads.

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