Republicans Tampered With Court Audio in Obama Attack Ad
By Julie Hirschfeld Davis and Greg Stohr
Mar 30, 2012
A Republican Party Internet advertisement
altered the audio of U.S. Supreme Court (1000L) oral arguments in an attack on President Barack Obama’s health-care law.
In a web ad circulated this week, the Republican National Committee excerpts the opening seconds of the March 27 presentation by Obama’s top Supreme Court lawyer, Solicitor General Donald Verrilli. In the ad, he is heard struggling for words and twice stopping to drink water.
“Obamacare,” the ad concludes, in words shown against a photograph of the high court. “It’s a tough sell.”
A review of a transcript and recordings of those moments shows that Verrilli took a sip of water just once, paused for a much briefer period and completed his thought -- rather than stuttering and trailing off as heard in the edited version.
The ad marks a blurring of the line between the law and politics, in which the nation’s highest court -- and the justices and lawyers who decide and argue cases -- are becoming fodder for Republicans’ and Democrats’ arguments over the validity of the president’s signature domestic legislative achievement.
RNC Communications Director Sean Spicer said the video was a “mash-up,” condensing and splicing together several separate pauses and stutters by Verrilli during the first two minutes of his argument, produced to illustrate how much difficulty he had defending the health-care law....
For the full article, go to:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-29/republicans-tampered-with-court-audio-in-obama-attack-ad.html
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