Obama For America Campaign National Press Sec. Ben LaBolt squared off with CNN anchor Ashleigh Banfield
on Tuesday in a contentious interview. Banfield took LaBolt to task
over several assertions made in the most recent ad that focuses on Mitt Romney’s
tenure at Bain and a factory which had its assets sold off and its
workers laid off in the early 2000s. What follows was a heated session
in which Banfield seemed troubled that she could not get LaBolt to admit
the Obama campaign stretched the facts in this latest ad.The interview turned contentious almost immediately, as Banfield took
LaBolt on over the ads numerous assertions that were determined to be
less-than-factual.“Mitt Romney has asked us to judge his tenure as a corporate buyout
specialist – he’s listed that as his lead qualification for the
presidency,” said LaBolt. “We’re not questioning the private equity
industry as a whole, we’re questioning Mitt Romney’s economic
philosophy. Is that the type of economic philosophy you’d like to see in
the Oval Office where Mitt Romney and the wealthiest few profit at the
expense of the middle class.”Banfield cited the Washington Post’s
fact checker which gave the ad one out of four “Pinocchio.” She said
that the paper was considering giving the Obama team’s ad “two
pinnochios.”
