J.D. Hayworth — who is seeking to unseat Sen. John McCain of Arizona in the Aug. 24 Republican primary — makes illegal immigration the subject of his first TV buy. The ad attacks the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2007 for potentially …
Year: 2010
Martinez Attacks Denish Over ‘Waste’
Republican Susana Martinez bashes her opponent, Democrat Diane Denish, over unemployment, the state jet and a Christmas card in her latest ad in New Mexico’s gubernatorial campaign. While some of the accusations contain grains of truth, the ad presents little evidence to back up its broad charge that Denish, who is currently the state’s lieutenant governor, and retiring Gov. Bill Richardson "wasted millions."
The spot, which began airing July 22, opens with a shot of Richardson and Denish,
Geithner’s GDP Whopper
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner made a false claim about the size of government spending being proposed by the Obama administration.
On NBC’s "Meet the Press" July 25, he said the president is proposing spending "as a share of our economy" that is "lower" than it was during the Bush administration and "comparable" to what it was under Ronald Reagan. Neither claim is true.
The administration’s own estimates project spending next year that is higher as a percentage of the economy than in any year since the end of World War II.
FactCheck Mailbag, Week of July 20-July 26
This week, according to readers, we picked on Democrats too much and didn’t pick on the media enough.
In the FactCheck Mailbag, we feature some of the e-mail we receive. Readers can send comments to editor@factcheck.org. Letters may be edited for length.
Sunday Replay
This week’s Replay starts off with a dust-up about Fox News’ handling of – what else? – the Shirley Sherrod story. We also found misleading statements about unemployment and New Jersey’s budget.
Dean: Fox ‘Absolutely Racist’
On "Fox News Sunday," former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean accused Fox News Channel of an "absolutely racist" action by playing the now-famous edited clip of Shirley Sherrod’s remarks. Host Chris Wallace indignantly countered by saying Fox News didn’t play the clip until after officials in the Obama administration forced Sherrod to quit her job.
Nevada Blame Game
Republican Sharron Angle’s latest attack ad gets the facts about Nevada’s miserable economy right, but invites a questionable conclusion.
The ad is called "Please Stop," and it mocks Democratic Sen. Harry Reid’s campaign slogan of "no one can do more" for Nevada. In the ad, Angle concedes that Reid "has done more for Nevada," but she doesn’t mean it in a good way. The ad, which began airing July 21, gets the basic facts right:
Angle says in her ad,
Colorado PAC Attacks
Democratic candidates in Colorado’s Senate primary are attacking each other’s acceptance of PAC money — but one is being misleading, while the other fails to tell the full story.
First out of the box was Andrew Romanoff, accusing incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet of taking "nearly a million dollars from Washington special interests," including "big banks" and "big oil."
That’s true as far as it goes. By "special interests," Romanoff is referring to political action committees. And it’s true that Bennet had raised $1.3 million from PACs for his election through the end of June –
Context Matters and Mailers Mislead
In episode 21 of FactCheck Radio, we look at the well-known case of USDA employee Shirley Sherrod — an incident that shows, once again, context matters. Plus, we highlight false and misleading claims by President Obama, Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold and his GOP opponent Ron Johnson, and New York Democratic congressional candidate Reshma Saujani.
For more on the stories discussed in this episode, see:
Shirley Sherrod’s Contextual Nightmare July 21
Obama Wrong on GOP, Small Business Criticism
Whitman: Brown Is Plan-Free
Republican Meg Whitman’s latest ad accuses Democratic rival Jerry Brown of having "no plan" for California should he be elected governor. Brown calls it a "televised lie." We find that Whitman’s ad fudges the facts — but just a little.
The Los Angeles Times vetted this ad quickly, posting its findings July 22. We’ve taken a look as well. Here’s what we found:
Whitman’s claim that Brown has "no plan" is of course an exaggeration.
Let’s Get to Work – On the Facts
Let’s Get to Work, a political committee largely financed by Florida gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott’s wife, is at it again — falsely claiming that Attorney General Bill McCollum used a “chartered airplane” to commute to work and charged taxpayers $280,000. McCollum has access to a state plane, but it’s not true that he uses it to commute. And the amount of money he spent on air travel — all of it involving state business — is exaggerated.