A conservative group founded by billionaire businessman and political activist David Koch.
Month: October 2011
Change in Military Funeral Protocol?
Q: Did Obama order the military to drop the words “on behalf of the president of the United States” when presenting the flag to the next of kin at funerals?
A: A chain email that makes that claim is wrong. Spokespersons for the Defense Department and the armed forces say that no change was ordered.
Obama’s Solyndra Problem
President Obama exaggerated when defending his administration’s approval of a $535 million loan guarantee to Solyndra, a now-defunct solar company.
Obama referred to Solyndra’s loan at an Oct. 6 press conference as “a loan guarantee program that predates me.” That’s not accurate. It’s true that the Energy Policy Act of 2005 created a loan guarantee program for clean-energy companies developing “innovative technologies.” But Solyndra’s loan guarantee came under another program created by the president’s 2009 stimulus for companies developing “commercially available technologies.”
Clearing the Air on Perry’s Record
Texas Gov. Rick Perry cites partly cloudy statistics to back up his boast that Texas is doing just fine cleaning its air on its own — without the EPA. Perry boasts that “we cleaned up our air in Texas more than any other state, during the decade of the 2000s.” …
Oct. 7: Democratic Majorities, Super PACs, Health Care
Make Us Great Again
Make Us Great Again is a “super PAC” supporting Rick Perry’s presidential bid.
Obama No ‘Different’ Today on Taxes
An American Crossroads TV ad claims Obama’s position on taxes is “different” than it was in 2009. It isn’t.
The conservative group began airing a new TV ad in St. Louis on Oct. 3 in advance of the president’s fundraising trip to Missouri. The ad, titled “Don’t,” urges Obama not to raise taxes. But it distorts the president’s position on taxes two years ago by taking a snippet of an Obama interview in August 2009 and using it out of context.
Haley Barbour’s ‘Amnesia’
Haley Barbour accused a fellow governor of “amnesia,” claiming he was forgetting “the fact that Obama had the biggest Democratic majorities in Congress since Lyndon Johnson.” But it was actually Republican Barbour who was having a memory lapse. He forgot about the Democrats’ massive victories following Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandal.
Forgetting the ‘Watergate Babies’
During an exchange on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Barbour, the Republican governor of Mississippi, responded to Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley’s complaint that Republicans in Congress were impeding the president’s ability to create jobs.
FactCheck Mailbag, Week of Sept. 27-Oct. 3
This week, readers sent us comments about the special election for governor in West Virginia and a suggestion for a new FactCheck.org feature.
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.
West Virginia’s Bitter End
Democrats and Republicans alike are misleading voters to the bitter end in West Virginia’s special election for governor.
A Republican TV ad says Acting Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin “voted to raise taxes on job creators.” But the “job creators” supported the measure in question, which shored up the state’s unemployment compensation fund and avoided borrowing from the federal government. One business group counted the bill among its legislative “victories.”
A Democratic TV ad says GOP challenger Bill Maloney “will end incentives that create jobs.”