Kentucky Republican Rand Paul said his Senate Democratic opponent, Jack Conway, has "descended into the gutter" after making a personal attack on Paul’s college days in a recent ad. Paul even refused to shake Conway’s hand after a debate the two had at the University of Louisville on Oct. 17. During the debate, Paul called his opponent out multiple times saying, "You just out and out lie because you have nothing to stand on. …You demean the state of Kentucky."
Month: October 2010
Chamber of Commerce and Missouri Senate Race
In episode 33 of our podcast, we talk about Democrats’ evidence-free allegation about the Chamber of Commerce and foreign money. Plus, we look at ads in the Missouri Senate race and explain why dead people got stimulus checks.
For more on the stories discussed in this episode, see:
Really? Oct. 11
Toss-ups: Missouri Mudslinging Oct. 12
Stimulating the Dead Oct. 14
Bad Rap? Health Care Law Blamed for Sale of Catholic Hospitals
Republicans are claiming the new health care law is a “main reason” for the sale of three Catholic hospitals in Pennsylvania. And a conservative Catholic group is running a radio ad saying it is "the" reason. But the hospitals’ CEO says his words are being twisted and the new law isn’t the “precipitating factor” behind the sale.
The hospital group says in a news release that "[t]he rationale for our initiative has been mischaracterized by certain politicized media outlets and severely distorted by some special interest groups."
Toss-ups: Wayward Ads in Washington State
A Republican-leaning group, American Action Network, makes misleading claims in an ad portraying Democratic Sen. Patty Murray as pro-tax and anti-small business. Meanwhile, Murray goes too far in her attack on the complicated business …
NRCC Overstates Dems’ Voting Record with Pelosi
A number of new TV ads by the National Republican Congressional Committee purport to tell us how often a Democratic incumbent voted with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. But the ads overstate …
Stimulating the Dead
Q: Were stimulus payments made to dead people and prison inmates?
A: Yes, 89,000 of them, according to an official audit. About half of the $22 million was returned. The audit blamed both Congress and the Social Security Administration.
Would Miller ‘Destroy’ Alaska’s Economy?
In Alaska, a new group founded and financed by for-profit native corporations falsely charges in an ad that Republican Senate nominee Joe Miller’s proposals "would destroy a third of Alaska’s economy" by erasing "our fair share of federal dollars." A conservative, Miller advocates less federal spending — but he hasn’t said he would eliminate it, and that’s what would have to happen to "destroy a third of Alaska’s economy."
The ad also raises the possibility —
American Future Fund
Republican-leaning group formed by Iowa political figures.
Kirk, Giannoulias Misstate Facts in Debate
The Illinois Senate candidates strayed from the facts on Sunday’s "Meet the Press," which featured a debate between Republican Mark Kirk, a House member, and Democrat Alexi Giannoulias, the state treasurer.
Bridge Claims Go Nowhere
Kirk exaggerated his role in combating the "bridge to nowhere," a name given interchangeably to two Alaska bridge projects that have become symbols for government pork:
Kirk: "The Kirk Amendment passed in the House … attacked the bridge to nowhere,
Stop the @#%! ‘Profanity’
Do "bleep" and "@#%!" count as low-down, shocking "profanity"? Michele Bachmann says they do.
The GOP House member from Minnesota is claiming in a fundraising appeal to conservative donors that her Democratic election opponent, Tarryl Clark, released a "shocking, profanity-laced attack against me" and has thus reached "a new low."
Here’s the video in question. (It’s a satirical Web video, not a real TV ad.) Readers can judge for themselves how "shocking" it is.
The ad’s narrator says,