This week, readers sent us letters about the recall election for governor of Wisconsin, General Electric Co.’s taxes, and our alleged “liberal tilt.”
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
Two More Webbys for FactCheck
Once again, FactCheck.org has been awarded the Webby for best politics website by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences.
Realtors, the 3.8% ‘Sales Tax’ and $247 Medicare Premiums
Q: Is the National Association of Realtors lobbying to repeal a 3.8 percent “sales tax” on homes before it takes effect in 2013?
A: No. There’s no such “sales tax” in the new health care law. And Medicare premiums aren’t going to $247 either. But these virulent falsehoods keep going around.
FreedomWorks for America
FreedomWorks for America is a super PAC formed by some of the conservative leaders in the tea party movement.
April 27: Wisconsin Jobs, College Loan Debt, GSA Spending
‘Big Oil’ Backing Romney?
A pro-Obama TV ad says that “big oil” pledged $200 million to help Mitt Romney, making him the industry’s “$200 million man.” But that’s a pretty slippery claim. The fact is that there is no evidence that truly big oil companies like BP, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. are behind the money in question. Rather, it’s a funding goal of the Koch brothers, the libertarian billionaires whose diversified corporation has fingers in lumber, commodity trading,
The Whole Truth in Wisconsin Air Wars
If using partial truths in political advertising is an art, then ads in the Wisconsin recall election for governor should be in a museum. Former Dane County Executive Kathleen Falk and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett are among the Democrats seeking to unseat Republican Gov. Scott Walker …
Straining the Facts on Federal Spending
A TV ad by a conservative group gives some factually challenged answers to its own rhetorical question, “How exactly does President Obama spend your tax dollars?”
It wrongly claims that the boss of the General Services Administration “couldn’t make it to Vegas because she had meetings planned … at Solyndra.” That’s not true. The claim linking the two scandals is based on an inaccurate April 10 report that was quickly corrected — nearly two weeks before the ad first aired.
Club for Growth Action
Club for Growth Action, the super PAC of the conservative Club for Growth, largely targets Republicans in primaries and Democrats in the general election.
Obama Misquotes GOP Congresswoman
President Obama misrepresented the position of Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx on college debt. The president quoted Foxx as saying that she had “very little tolerance for people who tell me they graduate with debt.” But Foxx was speaking explicitly about those with very large amounts of debt, a fact that Obama omitted and that changes the meaning of the North Carolina congresswoman’s statement.
The sin of omission was in Obama’s speech in Boulder, Colo., as the president pushed for the extension of current federal student loan interest rates.