Sometimes you can only spin so much. When asked on Thursday's Hardball whether Mitt Romney's latest anti-Obama ad was "accurate," Republican strategist John Feehery said it was "accurate enough" and then tried to change the subject.
Earlier that day, the Romney campaign premiered a web video elaborating on what has become a popular conservative line of attack: the claim that Barack Obama told small business owners they could not take credit for their own success, saying, "You didn't build that." In fact, as the Washington Post's Greg Sargent pointed out, Obama was pointing out that small business owners "didn't build" the roads, bridges and other infrastructure that were key to their success.
On Hardball, host Chris Matthews asked Feehery about his thoughts on the ad.
"Well, my thoughts are that the president made a lot of those comments— all those comments that were quoted in the ad," Feehery said. "But the big thing is, it's not about the ads, Chris."
"Well, is the ad accurate?" Matthews asked, cutting him off.
"It's about— Yeah, the ad is accurate enough."
Both Matthews and his other guest, Salon's Joan Walsh, were visibly amused.
"This is pathetic," Matthews said. "This is flakery."
After a heated exchange, Feehery attempted to pivot from discussing the accuracy of the ad. "The ads don't matter," he said. "The economy's what matters, and the president has done nothing for the economy."