Throw the flag against: Mitt Romney.
Call: Grabbing face mask.
What happened: Republican presidential candidate Romney began running an ad Tuesday making this claim: "In the next 10 years, we'll see more progress, more change, than the world has seen in the last 10 centuries." He also uses the line in his standard stump speech.
Why that's out of bounds: Should Romney be elected to two terms, by the end of his presidency he expects developments even more astounding than the invention of modern medicine, the printing press, electricity, auto-air-space travel, the Magna Carta, Shakespeare, telephones and the Internet.
Romney spokesmen say the phrase isn't meant to be taken literally. It's part of an ad, and speech, in which the candidate goes on to explain, "Our next president must unleash the promise and innovation of the American people. I'm ready for that challenge. The future begins now."
Penalty: Five yards. Sure, political rhetoric often is exaggerated, but this comment is absurd.
ON THE WEB
See the Romney ad