David Axelrod, Stephanie Cutter of Obama campaign lie about Kris Kobach ("plague", immigration, Mitt Romney)

Stephanie Cutter is the Deputy Campaign Manager for Obama 2012 and earlier today she lied about Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. Others joined in, including Former Obama Senior Advisor David Axelrod.

Cutter tweeted the following:

Can't make this up. Mitt rolls out span-language ads today, then touts support of KS Sec St Kris Kobach, who called immigration a plague.

A search through several sites failed to turn up such a quote, and that's because Kobach never said that. Instead, Cutter either doesn't understand basic English usage, or she's intentionally trying to mislead. What she's referring to is in the Mitt Romney press release (link) where Romney announces that Kobach supports him (bolding added):

"We need a president who will finally put a stop to a problem that has plagued our country for a generation: millions of illegal aliens coming into the country and taking jobs from United States citizens and legal aliens, while consuming hundreds of billions of dollars in public benefits at taxpayer expense," said Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. "Illegal immigration is a nightmare for America’s economy and America’s national security. Mitt Romney is the candidate who will finally secure the borders and put a stop to the magnets, like in-state tuition, that encourage illegal aliens to remain in our country unlawfully. He is also the candidate who will stand shoulder to shoulder with the states that are fighting to restore the rule of law. I am pleased to stand with this true conservative."

Turning to the Merriam-Webster definition of the verb "to plague" (link):

Definition of PLAGUE
transitive verb
1
: to smite, infest, or afflict with or as if with disease, calamity, or natural evil
2
a : to cause worry or distress to : hamper, burden b : to disturb or annoy persistently
Examples of PLAGUE
1. Computer viruses plague Internet users.
2. Crime plagues the inner city.
3. Drought and wildfires continue to plague the area.

Saying something plagues something else isn't the same as calling the actor a plague (Cutter needs to look up "metaphor" too). Kobach also called illegal immigration a "nightmare", and he didn't literally mean that "America’s economy and America’s national security" were having actual nightmares.

Plus, there's the fact that Kobach was referring to illegal immigration specifically, not immigration in general as Cutter, Axelrod, and the others said.

Plus, there's the fact that the Obama administration is completely corrupt: instead of supporting American workers who are harmed by illegal immigration, they lie about what someone said because they hope to gain race-based power by allowing illegal immigration. They have to lie about what Kobach said because they have no answer to his points. Instead of reducing the labor supply during high unemployment, the Obama administration seeks to increase it.

Besides Cutter and Axelrod, others lying about this (see the attached image) include (descriptions from their Twitter about pages):

* @MelanieDNC (Melanie Roussell, "Democratic National Committee's National Press Secretary")

* @rramirez44 (Ricardo Ramírez, "Follower of national, Southwest, & Latino politics with a DNC touch.", gives website as democrats.org/prensa)

* @Addie2012 (Addie Whisenant, "Regional Press Secretary for Obama 2012")

* @aewright (Anthony Wright, "Personal observations of Jeffy's dad. Also tweet on policy, #HCR & #CABudget at @healthaccess as Exec Dir, Health Access California")

* @MattOrtega (Matt Ortega, "former DNC staffer; digital consulting at New Partners")

* @PaddyK of Political Carnival

* @mmcauliff (Michael McAuliff, "Senior Congressional reporter for the Huffington Post")

Click the image for the larger version:

David Axelrod and Stephanie Cutter lie about Kris Kobach

UPDATE: I fixed a grammatical error in the second sentence. Also, since post time only one other slightly notable person has retweeted Cutter's original tweet: Clara Jeffery, co-editor of Mother Jones. None of those listed above have so far issued retractions, but I haven't alerted all of them to this post yet.