DNC chairwoman: Obama super-PAC ad raises fair questions

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) declined Sunday to denounce a controversial recent advertisement from a pro-Obama super PAC, and suggested the spot raised important points.

Wasserman Schultz, the chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, said the Priorities USA ad made fair points about Romney’s career as a private equity executive.

{mosads}“What I think of the ad is that there’s no question that the ad raises facts, such as that Mitt Romney, when he was CEO of Bain Capital, bankrupted companies, laid off workers, cut their benefits and made millions of dollars in profits,” Wasserman Schultz said on “Fox News Sunday.”

“And that ad points out that there are consequences to making decisions like that, that impacted people’s lives in a significant way.”

Democrats have come under fire for the Priorities USA ad, in which Joe Soptic, who lost his job because of Bain Capital, appears to imply that the loss of his health insurance played a role in his wife’s death.

Republicans have called on Obama and other top Democrats to repudiate the ad, with Soptic’s wife having died some five years after Soptic lost his job and reports claiming she had insurance through her own employer.

Wasserman Schultz also pointed out that, by law, political parties and super-PACs are not supposed to coordinate activities – even at one point saying she didn’t know whether those running Priorities USA, led by two former Obama staffers, were Democrats.

The Florida Democrat later backtracked on that remark on Twitter: “Clearly Priorities USA is a Democratic SuperPAC. Was trying to state the obvious: we have no control over their activities.”

Sen. John McCain, also appearing on the Fox show, called the Priorities USA ad disgraceful, and said Obama should clearly repudiate it. 

“I’m also a little sad,” said McCain, who Obama defeated four years ago. “Because in 2008, this president, and the people around him, promised hope and change, a new environment in Washington. And now, it’s probably deteriorated into the most negative, most unpleasant, most disgraceful campaign that I have ever observed.”

McCain added that the campaign had turned in that direction because Obama is unable to run on his record, and has to try and paint Romney as an unacceptable alternative.

“And I’ve got to give them credit. They have succeeded to a certain degree,” McCain said.