Keeping up with ads about the pending health care overhaul legislation, pro and con, is like trying to fill one’s glass from the proverbial fire hose. Today, we bring you three ads from groups that are urging passage of the bill, each of which needs a little context or correction. First up is one from Americans for Stable Quality Care, which is an agglomeration of pro-overhaul organizations such as the American Medical Association, the Service Employees International Union and the Pharmaceutical Research Manufacturers Association. Much of this ad is true. People with... [Read more]
Republican strategist Karl Rove and NBC’s "Meet the Press" guest host Tom Brokaw got into a tussle on that program Sunday over whether the Bush administration had planned to use oil money to partly fund the Iraq war. Rove also overstated opposition to Democratic health care legislation. We’ll start with the health care claim. Rove, a former top adviser to President George W. Bush, said: Rove, March 14: If you step back for a minute, it’s a pretty remarkable year that we’ve had, the, the concept of health care reform had a 2-to-1 advantage... [Read more]
This ad from Americans for Prosperity caught our eye because of the sheer number of falsehoods it hits on, both new ones and old faithfuls. The group, whose president helped organize the Tea Party protests, is spending $750,000 to run this very misleading ad in nine states. In the ad, breast cancer survivor Tracy Walsh denounces new government guidelines on mammograms, which she says "[save] money, but could cost your life." She claims the "guidelines" say that "women shouldn’t receive mammograms until age 50." According to Walsh’s... [Read more]
A new ad buy from the Republican National Committee departs from the subject of health care, focusing instead on another theme the GOP wants to emphasize as the midterm elections approach: the Democrats’ recent ethics travails. The ad, pointedly called "Pelosi’s Failure," begins with a clip of Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California promising "the most open and most ethical Congress in history." Pelosi said that on the Tuesday night in November 2006 when Democrats gained control of the House and she was poised to become speaker. Pelosi, Nov. 7,... [Read more]
In this edition of Extras, we look at morphing presidents, a piece of health care pie chart and an ad that checks itself. Mighty Morphin’ Presidents In Sunday’s New York Times, the American Civil Liberties Union took out a full page ad urging President Obama to try Sept. 11 defendants in criminal court, as opposed to military tribunals. The ad even included a stark graphic morphing Obama’s face with former President Bush’s: But the ad cites a questionable statistic. It says that "our criminal justice system has successfully handled over 300... [Read more]
