Salon: “As has already been widely noted, the line of attack is complicated by a few problems. First of all, it’s not true, or at least wildly misleading. Obama’s plan doesn’t end work requirements… Secondly, it’s a little tricky to slam Obama for handing out waivers when Romney himself supported the exact same proposal as governor of Massachusetts in 2005.”

Politifact: “By granting waivers to states, the Obama administration is seeking to make welfare-to-work efforts more successful, not end them. What’s more, the waivers would apply to individually evaluated pilot programs — HHS is not proposing a blanket, national change to welfare law.”

Time’s Joe Klein: “How incompetent is the Romney campaign? They keep coming up with these stupid gambits–the last was the lie that Obama opposed early voting for members of the military in Ohio–that are shot down instantaneously (everywhere but in Fox-Rush land)… But there is a larger question here: How stupid does he think we are? Every day brings a mind-boggling act of untruth-telling.”

HuffPo: “Romney’s ad doesn’t mention that Republican states sought the waiver policy… The ad also doesn’t mention that the Republican Governors Association asked Congress for even broader welfare waivers in 2005, in a letter signed by 29 Republican governors, including Romney.”

NBC: “But does the memo do what the Romney campaign charges — that it guts welfare reform, gets rid of work requirements entirely, and would ‘just send you your welfare check’? Not exactly… The administration’s HHS memo certainly does not make it so the federal government will now “just send you your welfare check,” as the Romney campaign’s television ad asserts.”

TPM: “But his accusations that President Obama is trying to “gut” the program by waiving its work requirements don’t jibe with the administration’s actual work guidelines. They also sidestep the fact that Romney himself supported such changes — he was just one of the Republicans who lent similar requests bipartisan support.”

ABC: “The claim appears to be an exaggeration… another exaggeration… a bit hypocritical… As the Obama campaign has pointed out, Romney signed a 2005 letter to Sen. Bill Frist (along with Rick Perry, Jeb Bush, Mike Huckabee, Tim Pawlenty, etc.), when welfare programs were being reauthorized under Bush. As the governors lobbied Frist on the bill, they praised ‘state flexibility.’”

And the headlines:

·        Crooks and Liars: Mitt Romney’s New Welfare Ad is Breathtakingly Dishonest

The Plum Line: Greg Sargent: The politics of resentment makes a comeback

·        The Maddow Blog: Obama’s options on welfare

·        Mother Jones: Mitt Romney Doubles Down on Opposition to Obama’s Support of Welfare Queens

·        The Plum Line: Greg Sargent: Romney again puts GOP governors in delicate spot

·        Bob Cesca’s Awesome Blog: The Latest Romney Dogwhistle

·        Blog for Arizona: The GOP politics of resentment returns

·        Wonkette: Mitt Romney So Mad About Obama Doing A Thing Mitt Romney Asked For

·        Political Animal: Romney’s Welfare Gambit

·        The Jed Report: (Not) breaking: Mitt lies again

·        Taylor Marsh: Top Story: Romney Slams Obama on Welfare-to-Work Flexibility That He Sought as Massachusetts Governor

·        3CHICSPOLITICO: Mitt Romney’s False Welfare Attack Shows He Lacks The Principles We Need In A PRESIDENT

·        The Maddow Blog: The scandal behind Romney’s new attack ad

·        Think Progress: Romney Claims Waivers He Used To Support Will ‘Gut Welfare Reform’

·        Balloon Juice: Fapping Young Schmucks