Author Archives: Brooks Jackson

Making Sense of Stimulus Spending

With the economy continuing to shed hundreds of thousands of jobs per month, Republicans are stepping up attacks on President Obama. They claim that the massive “stimulus” spending isn’t working very well. A Republican Party Web site classifies as “fiction” the president’s repeated claim that the spending already has “saved …
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Obama and Islamic History

President Obama ticked off some accomplishments of the Islamic world during his speech in Cairo on June 4. Namely, he said: Obama: It was innovation in Muslim communities that developed the order of algebra; our magnetic compass and tools of navigation; our mastery of pens and printing; our understanding of …
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Tax Cut Ads Clip Some Details

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced on June 1 a radio ad and robo-call campaign against several congressional Republicans for voting against the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (a.k.a. the stimulus bill). However, the attacks don’t tell the whole story. For instance, the ad aimed at Republican Rep. Peter King …
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Linking Dems to Pelosi

On May 28, the National Republican Congressional Committee announced a new ad campaign attacking Democratic House members by attempting to tie them to Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s winding story of what the CIA did or did not tell her about U.S. interrogation techniques. The NRCC says it plans to target 20 …
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Burned Bibles?

Q: Did the Obama administration burn soldiers’ Bibles? A: The military destroyed Bibles printed in Afghan languages to prevent distribution to local Muslims. But it happened during the Bush administration.

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Selective Edits on Interrogation?

On May 21, President Barack Obama and former Vice President Dick Cheney both gave speeches on national security, specifically focusing on Guantanamo Bay, detainees and interrogation techniques. We combed through the transcripts of both and found a few items worth mentioning from Cheney’s speech. In defending so-called enhanced interrogation techniques, …
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Would Obama Have Soldiers Pay for Own War Injuries?

Q: Did Obama accuse veterans of "selfishness" and whining? Would he have forced them to "pay for their war injuries"? A: This chain e-mail contains fabricated quotes and misrepresents a budget idea that the White House scrapped. The quotes were intended as satire.

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Specter’s Statistic on the Switch

Sen. Arlen Specter’s remarks about changing political parties contained one statement that tripped our fact-checking radar: "Last year, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania changed their registration to become Democrats." Two hundred thousand people in one state changing their political colors from red to blue? Could it be true? Unfortunately, …
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Hot Air on “This Week”

House Republican Minority Leader John Boehner was a guest on ABC’s "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" on Sunday, and he made a remark that could use some clarification and correction. A conversation about climate change included the following exchange: Stephanopoulos: What is the Republican plan to deal with carbon emissions, …
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The Last Ad of the 2008 Campaign?

A new Democratic National Committeeradio ad in Minnesota asks listeners to call Norm Coleman to tell him "it’s time to concede" his long-fought race against Al Franken for the U.S. Senate, and  "to stop putting his political ambition ahead of what’s right for Minnesota." Earlier this week, a three-judge panel …
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