When the Republican National Committee released a web video hours after President Barack Obama's "the private sector is doing fine" comment last Friday, it got plenty of attention for closely mirroring a 2008 ad that the Obama campaign ad ran against Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz).
But the Romney campaign released a 30-second television spot on Thursday morning that was a mirror image of the 2008 Obama ad, just with different words and a different politician saying something unfortunate.
In 2008, the Obama ad quoted McCain saying that "the fundamentals of our economy are strong," and ended with: "How can John McCain fix our economy if he doesn't understand it's broken?"
The Romney ad quotes Obama saying "the private sector is doing fine," and ends with: "How can President Obama fix our economy if he doesn't understand it's broken?"
The Romney campaign even used the same music.
Notably, the RNC web video said Obama "doesn't understand what's broken" with the economy, while the Romney campaign chose to say that the economy itself is broken.
Watch all the ads side by side here.
The Romney TV ad, "Doing Fine?":
The Obama 2008 ad, "Fundamentals":
The RNC web video, "Doing Fine":