Articles

Obama’s Creative Clippings

Summary Obama's ad touting his health care plan quotes phrases from newspaper articles and an editorial, but makes them sound more laudatory and authoritative than they actually are. It attributes to The Washington Post a line saying Obama's plan would save families about $2,500. But the Post was citing the …
More >>

Posted in Articles | Tagged , | Comments Off

Huckabee Cut Crime and Taxes?

Summary In the run-up to the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses, Huckabee is running a TV ad featuring graphics that claim he was "tough on crime" and "brought Arkansas' crime rate down," and that he "cut taxes over 90 times as governor." In fact, the violent crime rate was higher at …
More >>

Posted in Articles | Tagged , , | Comments Off

Romney’s Ridiculous Hyperbole

Summary Romney says in a TV ad that the U.S. will see more change in the next 10 years "than in the last 10 centuries." More than since the Dark Ages? More changes than the advent of the printing press, railroads, constitutional democracy, penicillin, electricity, telecommunications and the Internet all …
More >>

Posted in Articles | Tagged | Comments Off

The Whoppers of 2007

Summary The year 2007 wasn’t a good one for political honesty. Though not even technically an election year, it provided a bumper crop of falsehoods and distortions nonetheless. Presidential candidates kept us busy: Republican Rudy Giuliani made false claims over and over about his record as mayor of New York, …
More >>

Posted in Articles | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off

More Mitt Malarkey

Summary Romney’s latest ad attacks McCain in New Hampshire with false and misleading claims: It claims McCain "voted to allow illegals to collect Social Security." That’s untrue. Nobody who is in the country illegally could be paid any Social Security benefits under McCain’s immigration bill. It implies McCain supported "amnesty" …
More >>

Posted in Articles | Tagged , , , | Comments Off

Exaggerating Help for Troops

Summary In a recent ad, Clinton claims members of the National Guard and military Reserve didn’t have health insurance until she and a GOP colleague took action. We find the ad misleading. In fact, active-duty Guard and Reserve troops already were covered by federal insurance, and four out of five …
More >>

Posted in Articles | Tagged , , , | Comments Off

Romney on Huckabee II

Summary Romney launched another negative ad in Iowa this week, where the Republican presidential candidate has been battling the new front-runner, Huckabee. This time, Romney attacks Huckabee’s record on methamphetamine laws and the clemencies he granted as governor of Arkansas. We found that: The ad says Romney "got tough on …
More >>

Posted in Articles | Tagged , , | Comments Off

Not Working 4 Edwards

Summary A new ad sponsored by a labor union PAC in support of Democratic presidential candidate Edwards implies that the closing of an Iowa Maytag factory and the loss of 1,800 jobs are due to "tax breaks to companies that move jobs offshore." And it says Edwards would end such …
More >>

Posted in Articles | Tagged , , , | Comments Off

Romney on Huckabee

Summary  An ad by Romney strains the facts in attempting to portray a stark contrast between him and Huckabee. The ad says both Romney and Huckabee are "pro-life," which is true now but glosses over Romney’s recent conversion. The ad says "the difference" between the two is that Romney "vetoed …
More >>

Posted in Articles | Tagged , , , | Comments Off

Democrats Debate in Iowa

Summary In the final Democratic debate in Iowa, we found: Richardson claimed “enormous progress” in New Mexico education, when in fact the state’s eighth-grade reading scores have slipped and remain among the worst in the U.S. Richardson exaggerated the extent to which his state’s teacher salaries increased. Richardson said one-third …
More >>

Posted in Articles | Tagged , , | Comments Off