Romney ad with Olympic footage goes dark on YouTube

[struggle4progress]

By Chris Moody
July 27, 2012
Priorities USA Action, a super PAC supporting President Barack Obama, removed an Olympic-themed campaign ad from its website Thursday after the International Olympics Committee said it infringed copyright, and now an ad from Mitt Romney's campaign featuring images from the Olympic Games is also off the Web.

A Romney campaign ad released earlier this year that includes a brief clip from the 2002 Olympic Games has been set to "private" on the official campaign YouTube page. It is not clear if the new classification of the video is related to an OIC request, but timing suggests it may be the cause.

Romney, who currently is attending the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympic Games in London, was the CEO of the Olympic Organizing Committee when the Winter Games were held in Salt Lake City, Utah in 2002. His leadership of the committee is often credited for "saving" the 2002 Games, which were in financial turmoil when Romney took the helm in 1999.

Sandrine Tonge, a spokeswoman for the OIC, told Yahoo News Thursday that the Committee "does not allow footage of the Olympic Games or an association with the Olympic rings to be used for political purposes," which could prove to be a headache for Republicans who want to highlight Romney's success ten years ago ...

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/romney-ad-olympic-footage-dark-youtube/story?id=16865726

[struggle4progress]

1. Olympics Committee: No Games footage in campaign ads

Posted by Rachel Weiner at 11:23 AM ET, 07/26/2012

An ad from the pro-Obama super PAC Priorities USA has been pulled off YouTube at the request of the International Olympic Committee on copyright violation grounds, and the group has voluntarily taken the ad offline and will not be running it on television.

The U.S. Olympic Committee is asking all candidates and outside groups not to use footage from past Olympics in their ads.

The Priorities ad used footage of Mitt Romney from the 2002 Salt Lake City Games’ opening ceremony to suggest that the former Massachusetts governor loves sending jobs and money to other countries.

“The Olympic Games are a celebration of friendship, excellence and respect,” said USOC spokesman Patrick Sandusky in a statement. “While we are absolutely confident that neither presidential candidate nor campaign has participated in the production or distribution of these negative ads, the attacks, using Olympic themes and images, need to stop.” ...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/post/obama-pac-pulls-youtube-ad-at-olympics-request/2012/07/26/gJQAFqpSBX_blog.html

[progressivebydesign]

2. but they allow all the records from Romney's Olympics to be hidden?

THAT is political. All of it should be an open book, not hidden in a Utah college.

[struggle4progress]

3. Despite pledge, records destroyed

Romney’s ’02 Olympics short on transparency
Despite pledge, records destroyed

By Christopher Rowland and Callum Borchers
Globe Staff Globe Correspondent / July 24, 2012


... “All of the documents inside our organization are available to the public,” Romney said in a speech to the National Press Club in 2000. “Simply submit a form saying which documents you want. For instance: ‘I want to see all the letters written by Mr. Romney to <then-IOC President Juan Antonio> Samaranch.’ You’ll get ’em all.” ...

A decade later, the Games’ official records, housed at the University of Utah’s J. Willard Marriott Library, still have not been made available to the public. ABC News reported Monday on the unpublished archive and the destruction of documents.

When the collection is finally unveiled next month, the public should not expect any major insights into the presumptive GOP presidential nominee’s leadership of the Games, archivists say. Instead of executive office memoranda, budgets, and correspondence, the 1,100 cartons of records contain only previously published brochures, manuals, and some general guidance on how to run an Olympics ...

Salt Lake Organizing Committee officials confirmed to the Globe that most administrative records were destroyed in the months after the Games concluded ...

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/articles/2012/07/24/after_romney_pledged_transparent_olympics_key_documents_were_destroyed/?page=2

[jberryhill]

4. Rookies

Their legal review staff is deficient. This result was obvious from the get-go.

It goes beyond "copyright". Pursuant to treaty, the US has an entirely separate law relating to uses of Olympic symbols and logos.

Priorities USA does not have a competent media lawyer on staff or retainer, and they just pissed away donor money on something that would have been flagged a the concept stage.

[struggle4progress]

5. !