Republicans: Our welfare ad is a lie. And it works. So we're sticking with it

The Romney Team's operating manual: When a lie works, repeat it, repeat it, repeat it. Mendacious Mitt's campaign staff thinks it has a winner with the welfare ads it's been running against President Obama:

"Our most effective ad is our welfare ad," a top television advertising strategist for Romney, Ashley O'Connor, said at a forum Tuesday hosted by ABCNews and Yahoo! News. "It's new information."

The term of art is actually "disinformation," something black ops technicians became highly skilled at generating during the Cold War.

The disinformation ad says the Obama Administration is offering states waivers that could lighten work requirements for receiving welfare assistance, a provision in the 1996 welfare reform act known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. The Republicans claim Obama is gutting that reform. Fact-checkers have found Team Romney's claims to be, putting it charitably, baloney.

Romney pollster Neil Newhouse blew off the criticism:

"Fact checkers come to this with their own sets of thoughts and beliefs, and we're not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact checkers," he said.

No kidding. As if that hasn't been the No. 1 priority in Team Romney's mission statement from the get-go. Facts are gnats. Annoying but inconsequential.