NBC's Brian Williams Slams 'Dirty' Romney Ad But Touts Deceptive DNC Ad

On Monday's NBC Rock Center, host Brian Williams took time to update viewers on the latest political news, "And if you want to guess how dirty this campaign will be, listen to this Romney ad....Romney's spokesperson said they're not going to take their foot off the gas."

Williams played a clip of President Obama from the ad: "If we keep talking about the economy, we're going to lose." He then warned: "Now you might think they've got him there. Obama got zinged by Romney. But wait, no, he didn't. Here's what Obama actually said....He was talking about John McCain's strategy in the last election. But this campaign season, that doesn't seem to matter."

Before moving on, Williams touted the latest Democratic National Committee ad attacking Romney: "And just today the DNC went back at Romney in the new ad on his flip-flops on abortion and health care, et cetera." However, Williams failed to point out how "dirty" that ad was.

As ABC News White House correspondent Jake Tapper pointed out ABCNews.com's Political Punch blog on Tuesday:

...the DNC cherry-picks, "I think there is need for economic stimulus" [from a 2009 CNN interview] and portrays Romney as having backed President Obama’s stimulus bill, which at that point in time didn’t even exist....Romney saying he supports the concept of stimulus is not the same thing as saying he supports President Obama’s stimulus bill. The DNC got greedy here. The use of that Romney quote is deceptive and false.

Williams went on to conclude: "And by the way, Romney's not the nominee....it's an unsettled GOP slate."

Rounding out the political news update, Williams gushed over Obama chatting with actor Bill Murray at a college basketball game.

Here is a transcript of the November 28 segment:

10:27PM ET

BRIAN WILLIAMS: Now to politics. And if you want to guess how dirty this campaign will be, listen to this Romney ad.

BARACK OBAMA: If we keep talking about the economy, we're going to lose.

WILLIAMS: Now you might think they've got him there. Obama got zinged by Romney. But wait, no, he didn't. Here's what Obama actually said.

OBAMA: Senator McCain's campaign actually said, and I quote, "If we keep talking about the economy, we're going to lose."

WILLIAMS: He was talking about John McCain's strategy in the last election. But this campaign season, that doesn't seem to matter. Romney's spokesperson said they're not going to take their foot off the gas. And just today the DNC went back at Romney in the new ad on his flip-flops on abortion and health care, et cetera.

And by the way, Romney's not the nominee. And with 36 days to go until Iowa, with Gingrich surging a bit in New Hampshire, and with Herman Cain just today denying a new allegation of a 13-year consensual affair with a woman from Atlanta, it's an unsettled GOP slate.

Here's one to wrap your head around. Bill Murray, who is playing FDR in an upcoming film, ran into President Obama at a college basketball game this weekend. Murray's son is on the coaching staff at Towson. They were playing Oregon State, coached by the First Lady's brother.