Reince Priebus Brings Romney’s Case To Politico In New Editorial, Cites ‘Secret Obama Video’

Commentary — GOP chair Reince Priebus has taken to the political blog Politico to make a case for Mitt Romney’s campaign, attempting to spin the missteps of the Romney camp this week as setbacks for President Obama.

It seems Reince Priebus’ entire strategy this campaign is, “no, you!” and the Politico commentary is an example of the strange way the GOP has turned every criticism of Romney back at Obama, no matter how arcane. As Bill Maher pointed out, when Romney was pilloried for putting a dog on the roof of his car, conservatives countered that as a child in Indonesia, Obama ate dog.

And Reince Priebus contends that, after the video of Mitt Romney dismissing 47% of Americans as victims to a room of attendees at a $50,000 a plate dinner surfaced, competing secret shocking video of President Obama uttering the word “redistribution” back in 1998 also mysteriously surfaced.

What a major coincidence! Is there a leak in the YouTubes? How is it that tapes are leaking left, right and center of candidates supposedly saying shocking things, whether it’s 14 years ago or in May?

Priebus’ assertion, below, is almost sad in that the GOP couldn’t just circulate the clip honestly — let’s face it, they actually could make hay from Obama’s use of the S-word quite easily. Reince and his pals had to frame the video as if the situations were identical in the vain hope that the Obama clip would blow up like the Romney one had done.

No dice.

Reince says:

“A newly uncovered recording of President Barack Obama may well distill his philosophy. ‘I actually believe in redistribution,’ Obama said at a conference … So it makes sense that his presidency has been defined by high unemployment and the worst economy since the Great Depression. His agenda is one of dependency—not opportunity and job creation.”

OH MY GOD! Except, the quote was actually, in context, slightly more nuanced:

“I think the trick is figuring out how do we structure government systems that pool resources and hence facilitate some redistribution because I actually believe in redistribution, at least at a certain level to make sure that everybody’s got a shot. How do we pool resources at the same time as we decentralize delivery systems in ways that both foster competition, can work in the marketplace, and can foster innovation at the local level and can be tailored to particular communities.”

Contrasted with Reince Priebus’ Politico piece, do you think the dueling secret clip controversy is a bit disingenuous?