President Obama devows cancer ad, still wants Romney's tax returns

The Sunday talk shows were abuzz from when President Obama had his last press conference and his surrogates were pushed on the cancer ad, which all but accused Republican presidential hopeful of being responsible for death of a wife after the worker's company was shut down after Bain Capital's restructuring. President Obama devowed the cancer ad during a rare appearance during the daily press conference, but still insists on Governor Romney releasing his tax returns.

I don't think that Governor Romney is somehow responsible for the death of that woman in the ad,"Obama said, ”But keep in mind this is an ad that I didn’t approve, I did not produce, and as far as I can tell, has barely run,” he continued.

The man featured in the Priorities America Super PAC ad was also featured in an Obama campaign conference call. Despite this background, the Obama campaign has denied any knowledge of the story. You be the judge.

President Obama was asked to comment on the wrongful characterization by some Democrats as a tax cheat. The President whether or not the characterization by the press were accurate:

"First of all, I‘m not sure all those characterizations that you’ve laid out there were accurate. For example, nobody accused Mr. Romney of being a felon. And, I think that what is absolutely true is that, if you watch me on the campaign trail, here’s what I’m talking about: I’m talking about how we put Americans back to work. And there are sharp differences between myself and Mr. Romney in terms of how we would do that. If you look at the overall trajectory of our campaign, and the ads that I have approved, and are produced by my campaign, you’ll see that we point out sharp differences between the candidates, but we don’t go out of bounds," the President replied.

On the issue of tax returns, the President pointed to precedent of former Presidents, including Governor Romney's father.

"And when it comes to releasing taxes, that’s a precedent that was set decades ago, including by Gov. Romney’s father. And for us to say that it makes sense to release your tax returns, as I did, as John McCain did, as Bill Clinton did, as the two President Bush’s did, I don’t think it is in any way out of bounds, I think it what the American people would rightly expect … particularly when we’re going to be having a huge debate about how we reform our tax code and how we pay for the government that we need. I think people want to know that everybody’s been playing by the same rules including people who are seeking the highest office in the land."

Quite frankly the American people should expect nothing less than a campaign that honestly discusses the issues. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to recognize that the spin artists have been either twisting the truth or telling outright lies. This serves no one. While spin might sell and energize respective bases, it is dishonest and clouds the real issues and discussions.

See also: Obama Campaign