@MarcACaputo
In response to Gov. Rick Scott's second ad about Ponzi schemer Scott Rothstein, Democrat Charlie Crist is releasing his second response commercial, called "4,000 lies" -- a references to the estimated number of times the ad called "swindle" ran.
At the heart of Crist response: the misleading nature of "swindle," which The Miami Herald exposed this week. Scott, too, has walked back part of the ad's core allegation that suggests Crist was complicit in Rothstein's crime.
Crist's ad is an improvement on his prior response spot in which he said Scott has "teamed up" with Rothstein. PolitiFact rated that Crist claim False (and it found that Scott's first ad's claim that Rothstein claimed Crist sold judges was half true). It's likely to rate this Crist commercial either true or mostly true because the ad pivots to video of Scott ducking questions in a civil deposition concerning his former hospital company, Columbia/HCA, which was socked with a record $1.7 billion Medicare fraud fine.
While it's true that Scott once invoked his right against self-incrimination 75 times in a deposition, it wasn't in this deposition featured in the spot.
But like Scott, the Crist campaign has it's script. And it's sticking to it.
"Fraud then. Fraud now," the Crist ad says in closing. "He's just too shady for the Sunshine State."
In a written statement, the Scott campaign said "Rothstein and Crist both swindled the people of Florida. One has apologized, the other has not."
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