On Friday’s show, we said Mitt Romney’s claim that...

On Friday’s show, we said Mitt Romney’s claim that he had wanted President Obama to succeed in his first term was — and this is a technical term — bull-f@cking-sh#t, and played a clip of him on Neil Cavuto’s show to demonstrate it. So imagine our surprise when BuzzFeed disputed our call! They say the full context of Romney’s 2009 remarks to Neil Cavuto shows Romney wishing Obama success.

With all due respect, that is — and, again, this is a technical term — bull-f@cking-sh#t. You can watch the full clip above, in which Romney makes it clear that he hopes Obama “succeeds”, but not with “failed policies” like reforming our nation’s healthcare system; rather, he hopes that Obama “succeeds” by adopting Republican ideas, like lowering tax rates. Obviously, memories grow hazy with the passage of four years’ time, but we’re pretty sure that was the exact opposite of the platform Obama ran on. To us, it was an obvious case of concern trolling — the rhetorical gambit of pretending to support an opponent, while undermining the basis of their argument. Perhaps an analogy might help: “I wish the Jews the greatest of success, but not if they continue to pursue the failed policies of Moses and Abraham. Because I want nothing but the best for the Jews, I’m rooting for them to do the right thing, and accept Jesus Christ as their lord and savior.” Sure, the words “I wish the Jews the greatest of success” and “I’m rooting for them” are in there. But the rest of it negates them.

We love BuzzFeed. It’s insightful, funny and perceptive, and we read it every day. Which is why we wish them nothing but success in recognizing the errors of their earlier piece. Really, we have nothing but the highest hopes for their correction, and we feel that their reputation for accuracy will only be burnished by the retraction they’re sure to publish any minute now.

(See what we did there?)

September 5, 2012

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