Mitt Romney Ad On Auto Bailout Slammed For Making Misleading Statements

Mitt Romney has released political ad in swing states that calls out Barack Obama’s handling of the auto industry bailout.

The only problem, critics say, is that the ad is intentionally misleading. As The Huffington Post points out, the ad uses clever wording to avoid an outright lie, but purposely misrepresents Obama’s actions in bailout out automakers.

The ad notes that Obama “took GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy,” which itself is true but fails to mention that the bankruptcy was part of a process that also included government loans to help automakers through the process.

Mitt Romney had advocated against government help for troubled automakers, saying the private sector should pay for the process, but automobile executives slammed the plan. Dan Akerson, CEO and chairman of General Motors since September 2010, was asked in 2010 what would have happened had Mitt Romney’s plan been followed. Akerson said that GM “would have been in bankruptcy for years and I think you could have written off this company, this industry and this country.”

The Romney auto bailout ad has more misleading statements. It notes that Mitt Romney is endorsed by the Detroit News,, but fails to mention that the editorial also slammed Romney for”wrong-headedness on the auto bailout.”

Another questionable claim from the Romney auto bailout ad states that Obama is selling “Chrysler to Italians who are going to build Jeeps in China.”

The Huffington Post breaks down this dubious claim:

“Again, this is technically true, but only according to a narrow reading of the language. Fiat, the Italian company that now owns Chrysler, is building Jeeps in China. But the company is not moving jobs from America to do it. Instead, Fiat is expanding current production in China for the purposes of catering to a growing Chinese market.”

You can check out the Mitt Romney auto bailout ad here: