This week, readers sent us letters about claims that Mitt Romney outsourced jobs at Bain Capital, the pay gap between men and women, and whether Americans will be able to keep their current health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.
In the FactCheck Mailbag, we feature some of the email we receive. Readers can send comments to editor@factcheck.org. Letters may be edited for length.
Year: 2012
FactCheck to Obama Camp: Your Complaint is All Wet
The Obama campaign complains that we got a key fact wrong in our June 29 article, “Obama’s ‘Outsourcer’ Overreach.” We strongly disagree. We find the Obama campaign’s evidence to be weak or non-existent, and contrary to statements Romney has made on official disclosure forms under pain of federal prosecution.
The Obama complaint claims we erred in saying Mitt Romney gave up active management of Bain Capital in early 1999 to run the 2002 Winter Olympics,
Obama’s ‘Outsourcer’ Overreach
Obama accuses Romney in a series of TV ads of being a “corporate raider” who “shipped jobs to China and Mexico,” asking if voters want to elect an “outsourcer in chief.” But some of the claims in the ads are untrue, and others are thinly supported.
June 29: Looking at the Affordable Care Act
FactCheck Mailbag, Week of June 19-25
This week, a reader challenged claims that FactCheck.org has a bias.
In the FactCheck Mailbag, we feature some of the email we receive. Readers can send comments to editor@factcheck.org. Letters may be edited for length.
Romney, Obama Uphold Health Care Falsehoods
With the U.S. Supreme Court upholding the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act on June 28, voters are guaranteed to continue hearing the same old false claims about the law from politicians. And President Barack Obama and presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney wasted little time …
How Much Is the Obamacare ‘Tax’?
Q: How much will the “tax” penalty be for going without health insurance?
A: The minimum assessment will be $695 per person (but no more than $2,085 per family) in 2016, when fully phased in. The amount can be higher depending on income. But there are exemptions for low-income persons and others.
Spotlight On: Richard Rowlands
Richard Rowlands describes himself as liberal. But he subscribes to several conservative groups’ email lists “just to keep track of what they’re doing and saying.”
One such group is AmeriPAC, which claims in a fundraising email that President Barack Obama is raising gas prices to pay for failed green energy companies.
Rowlands, 70, a retired psychologist who lives in Saco, Maine, forwarded the email to Spin Detectors. We found that AmeriPAC supports its conspiracy theory with misleading claims and twisted facts.
PAC’s Email Spreads Energy Conspiracy Theory
In a fundraising email, a conservative PAC claims President Barack Obama is raising natural gas prices to pay for failed green energy companies. But the letter offers only false claims and twisted facts to support this conspiracy theory.
The email says Solar Trust of America, a now-bankrupt company, received “the second largest loan ever handed out by the Department of Energy.” STA never took a government-backed dime. The firm was conditionally approved for the financing, but ultimately turned it down.
Still No International Gun Ban Treaty
Q: Does the Obama administration intend to “force gun control and a complete ban on all weapons for U.S. citizens” through a United Nations treaty?
A: No. The administration plans to negotiate a treaty to regulate the international export and import of weapons. It says that it won’t support any treaty that regulates the domestic transfer or ownership of weapons, or that infringes on the Second Amendment.