"GOVERNOR ROMNEY, VIDEO DOESN'T LIE."
I think this could be a devastating response to Romney's strategy to tack center in the debates after pandering to the teaparty right in recent years with blatant lies while tacitly calling President Obama a liar.
1. It enlists an independent 3rd party. When President Obama is out there alone, he can't sink into the "did so, did not" childishness that Romney is baiting him with. He also can't expect a moderate moderator, never mind rightwing, moderator, to fact check in real-time for him.
2. It re-directs Romney's tacit claim that Obama is lying toward the video. Obama is no longer defending *himself,* he's defending a 3rd party. Anybody who has dealt with lying bullies knows that it is far, far easier to face down a bully who has attacked somebody else than it is to face them when they've sucker punched you. And calling him a liar is sucker punching him.
3. It gives Obama an affirmative defense that brands Mitt Romney as a serial liar without directly calling him one, so Pres O stays above the fray, and leads directly into reinforcing ads.
I don't know the logistics behind debates, except they know what the topics will be and presumably have notes with them.
In Obama's notes, I would flag in red print any Romney statements that are backed by video, with detail on when/where he said it.
That becomes a red flag for Obama.
(On learning they aren't allowed to have notes, there is an easy fix used in tough exams (eg chemistry, hematology) with many formulas you need to memorize that turn to alphabet soup when the pressure is on -- the last notes you look at before entering the stage are key issues. First thing you do at your podium is write down those key issues. Then you can forget'em and quit worrying about remembering them.)
Say he's laying out his position on something and differentiating it from Romney. Obama states something like, "Unlike Gov. Romney, who says he would do abc."
Romney comes back, "I never said abc, I said xyz. blah blah blah."
Obama replies, "Last May in Denver you said abc. And you said it again in June in Ohio." and re-iterates his own policy and why his is right.
Romney comes back again, "I never said abc, I said xyz blah, blah, blah."
Obama turns to Romney with sad, parental smile, and says, "Governor Romney, video doesn't lie." And moves on.
Romney again claims, "I never said abc. I say xyz blah, blah, blah."
Obama turns to camera/moderator/audience and says, with slight smile and shrug, Ok. Let's move on.
By the end of the debate, with 2 or 3 "Video doesn't lie" moments, Romney is branded and the audience is thinking "video doesn't lie every time Obama calls out a lie. They don't have to hear Pres Obama say it anymore; even if Romney is bellowing over him, they can read his lips.
By morning, Obama team releases new video ads: Short clip of Romney stating abc followed by short clip of Romney in debate claiming he never said abc, he said xyz. Followed by print of "Governor Romney, video doesn't lie" and voice-over narrator asking, "When is Governor Romney going to level with the American People?"
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