Romney statement on Jeeps being built in China called Lie of the Year

12/13/2012

Presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s claim that President Obama “sold Chrysler to Italians who are going to build Jeeps in China” at the cost of American jobs has been selected as the 2012 Lie of the Year by Politifact.com. Politifact is a project in which reporters and editors from the Tampa Bay Times and affiliated media outlets check statements by members of Congress, the White House, lobbyists, and interest groups.

Mr. Romney’s statement started in a speech in Defiance. “I saw a story today that one of the great manufacturers in this state, Jeep, now owned by the Italians, is thinking of moving all production to China,” he said, apparently referring to a blog by a Washington Examiner writer.

Chrysler strongly denied the report, but Mr. Romney’s campaign unveiled a TV ad in Ohio a couple days later that said, “Obama took GM and Chrysler into bankruptcy and sold Chrysler to Italians who are going to build Jeeps in China.”