(Image Source: The New York Times)


BY ZACH TOOMBS

You're watching multisource political video news analysis from Newsy. 

Disputes between Republican presidential candidates Rick Perry and Mitt Romney spilled over from the debate stage to the web this week. Perry released a new campaign ad attacking Romney, and Romney fired back.

The first proverbial shot was fired Sunday, when Perry released this web ad highlighting differences in versions of Romney’s book “No Apology”:

ROMNEY: “It’s portable, affordable health insurance, something people have been talking about for decades. We can accomplish the same thing for everyone in the country.”

Romney countered with an attack ad of his own Monday. Highlighting social media’s importance in this election cycle, the former Massachusetts governor tweeted his ad directly at Perry, saying:

“.@GovernorPerry: @GovernorOMalley and Maryland welcome you. You’ll fit right in.”

Romney’s ad aligns Perry’s record of allowing in-state tuition for children of illegal immigrants with that of President Barack Obama and Maryland’s Democratic governor.

O’MALLEY: “One thing I do like about Rick Perry, I do like the fact that he recognizes that fair is fair.”

PERRY: “If you say that we should not educate children that have come into our state for no other reason than they’ve been brought there, by no fault of their own, I don’t think you have a heart.”

OBAMA: “And we should stop punishing young people for the actions of their parents.”

So, Perry and Romney both got their licks in, but were the ads truthful?

The Washington Post fact-checked Perry’s ad and, although Romney did indeed delete certain passages of his book, the ad takes his words out of context when asserting that he supports a national health care plan.

“Readers should always be suspicious when a politician clips little snippets of a quote and blows them up into an ad. For instance, what is in the paragraph just above this sentence, unchanged in both editions of the book? You will find these two sentences...
‘My own preference would be to let each state fashion its own program to meet the distinct needs of its citizens. States could follow the Massachusetts model if they choose, or they could develop plans of their own.’”

Although Romney has been accused of flip-flopping on plans to nationalize his Massachusetts health care plan as far back as 2006, he’s said what worked for his state wouldn’t necessarily work for others.

Romney says as much in this 2006 interview with MSNBC.

“Well, it will worked for Massachusetts, and that’s of course the thing that I had to focus on.  There are certain aspects of it that I think would work across the country, perhaps better in some states than others.”

But Romney’s ad going after Perry isn’t without flaw. The ad claims Perry agrees with both Obama and Maryland Governor O’Malley on allowing in-state tuition for children of illegal immigrants. Turns out -- according to the Houston Chronicle -- there’s a bit of a problem there, too.

“… the Obama clips, which come from a speech he gave on immigration reform in El Paso, Texas, in May, don’t address in-state tuition. Those remarks are in reference to the federal DREAM Act, which wouldn’t provide in-state tuition to children of illegal immigrants...”

Imagine that! Campaign ads stretching the truth.

But you can always rely on Newsy for the straight talk. Follow us on Twitter. We’re @NewsyVideos.


Transcript by Newsy.