Newt Gingrich is calling on the pro-Newt superPAC to correct any inaccuracies in King of Bain ad.
Here is his official statement:
The American people have a right to know the facts about the records of the men and women who are asking them for their vote.
Governor Romney is running as someone who knows how to create jobs. In fact, he has claimed to have created 100,000 jobs while at Bain Capital. However, numerous analyses have said that figure is as inaccurate as President Obama’s claim to have “saved or created” millions of jobs.
Furthermore, Governor Romney’s experience as a portfolio manager did not help him create an environment in Massachusetts that was friendly to job creation. As Governor, Mitt Romney raised $700 million in taxes and fees, despite a campaign pledge not to, and Massachusetts ranked 4th worst in job creation under his leadership.
These are just some of the facts which President Obama would use to undercut Governor Romney’s claims to be a job creator if he is the Republican nominee. Given these facts, it is entirely appropriate for Republican Primary voters to ask questions to determine whether Governor Romney is presenting himself in an accurate light.
This call for accuracy, however, is a two way street. Just as candidates must be certain to accurately present their own records, they also have a responsibility to describe the records of their fellow candidates accurately. And they have a responsibility to make sure that their supporters are doing the same.
This week, fact check organizations like The Washington Post and Politifact have ranked advertisements produced by Super-PACs supporting Governor Romney and myself as containing enormous inaccuracies.
I am calling for the Winning Our Future Super-PAC supporting me to either edit its “King of Bain” advertisement and movie to remove its inaccuracies, or to pull it off the air and off the internet entirely.
Furthermore, I am once again calling on Governor Romney to issue a similar call for the Super-PAC supporting him to edit or remove its ads which have been shown to contain gross inaccuracies, something the Governor has thus far refused to do.
The American people deserve a robust debate and full comparison of the plans and records of the people who are asking for their vote. They also deserve assurances that the information they are hearing is accurate. I am committed to holding my campaign and my supporters to this high standard of accuracy and I hope Governor Romney will do the same.
(Emphasis mine.)
Update: A Gingrich aide tells me: “We are going to hammer the point that Romney basically threw up his hands when confronted with inaccuracies by his super PAC … Newt has the integrity to insist his supporters tell the full truth.”
Update: Romney spox Andrea Saul tells me: “Speaker Gingrich is just distracting from the fact that the movie he has been touting for days – including how well-sourced it is – turned out to be full of blatant falsehoods and fabrications.”
She also sends along this debate exchange:
Mitt Romney: “Hold on a second. I — I can’t direct their ads. If there’s anything in them that’s wrong, I hope they take it out. I hope everything that’s wrong…” Newt Gingrich: “Good.” Mitt Romney: “– is taken out.” (NBC News/Facebook Debate, 1/8/12)
Mitt Romney: “If there was something related to abortion that it said that was wrong, I hope they pulled it out. Anything wrong, I’m opposed to.” (NBC News/Facebook Debate, 1/8/12)