New Pro-Obama Ad Implies: Romney Is Kind of Responsible for My Wife's Death

The pro-Obama PAC “Priorities USA” on Tuesday released a scathing new ad accusing Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney of being kinda'-sorta' responsible for the death of the wife of a steel worker laid off by Bain Capital:

“I don’t think Mitt Romney understands what he’s done to people’s lives by closing the plant,” said Joe Soptic, a former employee at GST Steel in Kansas City.

He explains that because he lost his healthcare, he couldn’t afford to take care of his sick wife.

“I don’t know how long she was sick, and I think maybe she didn’t say anything because she knew that we couldn’t afford the insurance,” Soptic adds.

By the time they got her to a hospital, the ad notes, they discovered that she had stage-four cancer. Shortly thereafter, she died.

“I do not think Mitt Romney realizes what he’s done to anyone, and furthermore I do not think Mitt Romney is concerned,” Soptic concludes.

Of course, as tragic and sad as the story is, do we really need to keep pointing out that Romney was not managing Bain Capital when this happened? (And its also worth noting that the same man appeared in an ad in May.)

The ad, according to Romney spokesman Ryan Williams, is just another in a long line of “discredited and dishonest attacks” meant to “conceal the administration’s deplorable economic record.”

UPDATE: The Washington Post's Fact Checker thinks this ad falls into a "gray area" rather than being laugh-out-loud ridiculous.

"We have given the Obama campaign Pinocchios for blaming Romney for Bain deals that took place entirely after he left for the Olympics gig. This case is a different matter," writes Glenn Kessler.

"It falls into a gray area, because the investment and many key decisions were made while Romney was running Bain, as he has acknowledged -- even if the denouement came when he was no longer in charge. Romney, in fact, in the past has tried to claim credit for jobs created at companies years after he left Bain, so it’s no surprise the Obama campaign would try to tag him for job losses," he adds.

Really? A "gray area"? The ad implies Romney is partly responsible for the death of Soptic's wife! A "gray area"? Do we need to mention that the man's wife passed away in 2006, seven years after Romney left Bain?

UPDATEII: The entire ad is a giant steaming pile of bunko. Not only did Soptic's wife pass away seven years after Romney left Bain, but she also had "health insurance through her own employer after her husband was terminated," as Legal Insurrection notes.

Back when Team Obama launched its baseless "Romney Could Totally be a Felon" campaign, we wondered how far they were willing to go to win this election. With this latest ad implying Romney is somehow responsible for a woman's death, it looks like we found our answer.

"This is what the Unicorn Prince has come to after promising four years ago to heal America or whatever. Perfect," writes Hot Air's Allahpundit

Follow Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) on Twitter