CNN 2012-07-20

 Hey, I'm Anderson Cooper. Welcome to the braodcast. President Obama says his campaign has run a slew¹ of positive ads. "Keeping Them Honest" that we crunch² the number, crunch the "RidicuList." Let's get started.

 

We begin tonight "Keeping Them Honest" on the campaign trail, where attack ads are flying and so's the spin. Presumptive Republican presidential nominee³ Mitt⁴ Romney today demanded that President Obama back off his attacks on Romney's record at Bain Capital, the private equity⁵ firm where he made his fortune.

 

Recently, those attacks have focused on when Romney actually left the firm. The Obama camp claimed Romney lied about his end date at Bain, even suggesting his actions could be criminal. 

 

Now in a series of network and cable interviews on Friday, Romney accused the Obama campaign of stooping to new lows. In an interview that aired today on CBS this morning, President Obama was asked about the negative ads his campaign has been running. Here's what he said. 

 

First of all, we have done a whole slew of positive ads that talked exactly about how we need to change our education system, how we need to change our tax code, how we need to rebuild America, how we need to promote American energy. So those just don't get attention in the news. 

 

Now, the president said they have run a whole slew of ads, positive ads. We wanted to, we wanted to check and see if maybe we'd overlooked a slew of ads either candidate was running. So, "Keeping Them Honest," we checked with CMAG, the consultants⁶ who track political ad spending for us. They told us that last week the Obama campaign aired negative ads more than 19,000 times and positive ads fewer than 150 times. In other words, less than 1 percent of their ads were positive. 

 

According to other reports, since the general campaign began, as many as three in four of President Obama's campaign ads have been negative, three in four. Now to be sure, both campaigns are playing hardball(采取强硬的态度和手段，动真格). During the two weeks ending July 9, about 89 percent of Obama's ads carried an anti-Romney message and 94 percent of Romney's ads criticized President Obama. That's, again, according to CMAG. 

 

Those are the numbers. The Obama campaign, however, is spinning a very different narrative⁷, where the word negative doesn't really exist. Over the weekend, Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki said they wanted to have a quote "highbrow debate about what the Americans really care about." But "Keeping Them Honest," all weekend long, they instead focused on attacking Romney's ties to Bain and his personal finances. 

 

He's taken advantage of every single conceivable attack shelter and loophole. 

 

Mr. Romney attested⁸ to the SEC multiple times that he was the chairman, CEO and president of Bain Capital. That company also was investing in companies that "The Washington Post" called pioneers of outsourcing. 

 

If you're telling the SEC that you're in charge but you're telling the American people that you bear no responsibility, one of those things is not true. 

 

Stop whining⁹. Defend if you want to claim Bain Capital as your calling card to the White House, then defend what happened to Bain Capital and what happened to those jobs that went overseas, those jobs that were actually cut and eliminated. 

 

I don't want a pioneer in outsourcing. I want some in-sourcing. I want to bring companies back. 

 

Now these attacks continued on paper as well. Virtually all the press releases and statements they issued on Saturday and Sunday hammered Romney on those fronts. The Obama campaign also released a new attack ad. 

 

I'm Barack Obama and I approve this message. 

 

Oh, beautiful for spacious¹⁰ skies, for amber¹¹ waves of grain, for purple mountain majesty¹² above the fruited plain.

1 slew   

v.（使）旋转；n.大量，许多

参考例句：

• He slewed the car against the side of the building.他的车滑到了大楼的一侧，抵住了。
• They dealt with a slew of other issues.他们处理了大量的其他问题。

2 crunch   

n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声

参考例句：

• If it comes to the crunch they'll support us.关键时刻他们是会支持我们的。
• People who crunch nuts at the movies can be very annoying.看电影时嘎吱作声地嚼干果的人会使人十分讨厌。

3 nominee   

n.被提名者；被任命者；被推荐者

参考例句：

• His nominee for vice president was elected only after a second ballot.他提名的副总统在两轮投票后才当选。
• Mr.Francisco is standing as the official nominee for the post of District Secretary.弗朗西斯科先生是行政书记职位的正式提名人。

4 mitt   

n.棒球手套，拳击手套，无指手套；vt.铐住，握手

参考例句：

• I gave him a baseball mitt for his birthday.为祝贺他的生日，我送给他一只棒球手套。
• Tom squeezed a mitt and a glove into the bag.汤姆把棒球手套和手套都塞进袋子里。

5 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

6 consultants   

顾问( consultant的名词复数 )； 高级顾问医生，会诊医生

参考例句：

• a firm of management consultants 管理咨询公司
• There're many consultants in hospital. 医院里有很多会诊医生。

7 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

8 attested   

adj.经检验证明无病的，经检验证明无菌的v.证明( attest的过去式和过去分词 )；证实；声称…属实；使宣誓

参考例句：

• The handwriting expert attested to the genuineness of the signature. 笔迹专家作证该签名无讹。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Witnesses attested his account. 几名证人都证实了他的陈述是真实的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 whining   

n. 抱怨，牢骚 v. 哭诉，发牢骚

参考例句：

• That's the way with you whining, puny, pitiful players. 你们这种又爱哭、又软弱、又可怜的赌棍就是这样。
• The dog sat outside the door whining (to be let in). 那条狗坐在门外狺狺叫着（要进来）。

10 spacious   

adj.广阔的，宽敞的

参考例句：

• Our yard is spacious enough for a swimming pool.我们的院子很宽敞，足够建一座游泳池。
• The room is bright and spacious.这房间很豁亮。

11 amber   

n.琥珀；琥珀色；adj.琥珀制的

参考例句：

• Would you like an amber necklace for your birthday?你过生日想要一条琥珀项链吗？
• This is a piece of little amber stones.这是一块小小的琥珀化石。

12 majesty   

n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权

参考例句：

• The king had unspeakable majesty.国王有无法形容的威严。
• Your Majesty must make up your mind quickly!尊贵的陛下，您必须赶快做出决定！