The Republican Governors Association is on air with another ad, with one old and one slightly revised claim about New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine’s record on taxes and jobs. In one instance, the group even cites our article, “Corzine’s Misleading Calls on Christie,” as the source of its claim that Corzine is “spending millions falsely attacking Chris Christie.” Not exactly. We said that one of the claims in Corzine’s ads “is outright misleading” and that “others could use some context.”
Month: July 2009
Off Target in Sotomayor Ad
Yesterday we wrote about a radio ad attacking Florida Republican Reps. Adam Putnam and John Mica for not denouncing radio personality Rush Limbaugh for calling Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor a "racist" and a "bigot." We found that the ad was accurate in capturing the words of Limbaugh and in its description of the historical significance of Sotomayor’s nomination. We left it to readers to determine how responsible the congressmen were for Limbaugh’s words.
After the story was published,
Virginia Unemployment Clarification
In our article "Virginia Myths and More," we wrote that some of the federal stimulus money available to Virginia came with a requirement to change the state’s unemployment eligibility rules to give "benefits to part-time workers for the first time." However, an alert reader who works at the Virginia Employment Commission told us that the state has always extended unemployment benefits to part-time workers. We checked in with the VEC, and our article could use some clarification.
July 15, 2009
The word "smallpox" comes from the Latin word for "spotted" and is a reference to the bumps that appear on the body of a person who has the disease.
Source: Food and Drug Administration
FactCheck Mailbag, Week of July 7 – July 13
This week, readers sent us comments on our recent Ask FactCheck about the U.K.’s and Canada’s health care systems, along with requests to leave the comedy to Jon Stewart and to spend less time on chain e-mails, more on facts about daily news events.
New Round of Sotomayor Ads Begins
Independent groups are taking to the airwaves to weigh in on the debate over Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, whose confirmation hearings began July 13 in the Senate. The liberal Change Campaign Committee and Hispanic group Presente.org are airing a Spanish-language radio ad in Florida. The groups also posted the ad, with a translation and some video, on YouTube:
Two versions of the ad take Republican Reps. John Mica and Adam Putnam to task for not denouncing the words of radio host Rush Limbaugh,
July 14, 2009
About 19 percent of the total net electricity generated in the United States comes from nuclear power. That’s about equal to the amount of electricity used in California, Texas and New York, the three most populous states.
Source: Energy Information Administration
Corzine on Christie: Contracts for Cronies?
New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine’s latest ad claims former prosecutor Chris Christie, Corzine’s Republican challenger, rewarded “three pals” with no-bid government contracts worth millions. It’s true that the firms of former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, Christie’s former boss; attorney John Inglesino, a friend, adviser and campaign donor; and …
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You might have noticed that things look a little different around here. You’ve probably already noticed some of the cosmetic changes, like the rotating picture gallery on our homepage, where we’ll feature our newest and most-talked about content. But we’re just as excited about some of the things that you might not have noticed on first glance:
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FactCheck.org Cited in Ad
From time to time, we find that our work is cited by politicians or political groups. Last week, the League of Conservation Voters ran an ad in Virginia referencing our articles on the cap-and-trade energy bill:
The LCV ad says that Republicans are attacking Democratic Rep. Tom Perriello of Virginia for "supporting a new clean energy jobs plan," but that we said the "Republican ad was wrong" and figures used by Republican Whip Eric Cantor were a "misrepresentation."