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A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

Year: 2012

Mailer Misleads Ohioans on Job Losses

Mailer Misleads Ohioans on Job Losses
October 3, 2012

In a mailer to Ohioans, a conservative group distorts Ohio’s job figures under President Obama and misquotes his administration about the potential for mismanaged stimulus money.
Ironically, the mailing from Americans for Tax Reform, a nonprofit group led by Grover Norquist, proclaims that it’s “important for Ohio to get the whole picture.”
We couldn’t agree more.

The mailer displays a 2012 newspaper headline, “Ohio second-worst for job losses.” But the article was about job losses over the last 10 years —

NRCC Reaching with Robocall

NRCC Reaching with Robocall
October 3, 2012

A Republican campaign in Pennsylvania attacks a Democratic House candidate for things that weren’t her doing in a strained attempt to tie her to a convicted cop murderer.

Social Security Scare

Social Security Scare
October 3, 2012

Seniors beware: The Obama and Romney campaigns are making false claims about taxing Social Security benefits:

Vice President Joe Biden told seniors in Florida that Romney’s tax plan “would raise taxes on your Social Security.” But that’s not part of Romney’s tax plan. It’s the Obama-Biden campaign’s latest misrepresentation of a nonpartisan study. The group that did the analysis disputes the campaign’s interpretation of its work.
The Romney campaign and the National Republican Committee falsely claim that Biden “repeatedly voted for higher taxes on Social Security benefits.”

FactCheck Mailbag, Week of Sept. 25-Oct. 1

October 2, 2012

This week, readers sent us comments about the percentage of Americans not paying federal income taxes and “inadvertent bias” in our articles on the presidential candidates’ stump speeches.
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.

Obama’s Deficit Dodge

Obama’s Deficit Dodge
September 28, 2012

President Obama is falsely claiming that his administration’s policies are responsible for “about 10 percent” of the deficits “over the last four years.” The cumulative deficit during that time is nearly $5.2 trillion. Obama signed two bills — the 2009 stimulus and the 2010 tax cut — that alone cost $1.6 trillion during that time, or nearly a third of the cumulative four-year deficit.
How could he have been so wrong? Although he said “the last four years,”

Obama and Food Stamps

September 28, 2012

FactCheck.org Managing Editor Lori Robertson talks to WCBS radio about work requirements and food stamps. Mitt Romney claimed that President Obama caused a doubling of able-bodied persons on food stamps by taking “work out of the food stamps requirement.” That’s an exaggeration.
For Lori’s article on food stamps, see “Romney’s Food Stamp Stretch.”

Romney’s Food Stamp Stretch

Romney’s Food Stamp Stretch
September 27, 2012

Mitt Romney claims President Barack Obama caused a doubling of able-bodied persons on food stamps by taking “work out of the food stamps requirement.” That’s an exaggeration. All but four states had already received waivers from specific work requirements for some or all of their residents before Obama became president.
The total number of persons getting food stamps is up 46 percent since Obama took office, a big jump but far short of a doubling. Romney is referring only to single,

‘Soft’ on Rape? Nonsense

‘Soft’ on Rape? Nonsense
September 27, 2012

In one of the most blatantly false attack ads of the political season, an outside Republican group blamed a former assistant district attorney now running for attorney general in Pennsylvania of going “soft” with plea deals in two rape cases she never actually handled.
In one case, the ad says, a judge “rejected [Kathleen] Kane’s weak deal because of the brutality of the crime and age of the victim,” and in another case, the ad says Kane “went soft on a rapist of a 16-year-old who was released and later assaulted two more women.”

Dems Mislead on McMahon’s Tax Stance

Dems Mislead on McMahon’s Tax Stance
September 26, 2012

A TV ad funded by two Democratic PACs falsely claims Linda McMahon’s “tax plan hurts middle-class families.” Actually, her tax plan would reduce the marginal income tax rates for middle-income families — married couples earning roughly between $70,700 and $142,700 — while keeping the current rates the same for everyone else.
The ad also distorts the facts when it says McMahon — a Republican candidate for the Senate from Connecticut — “threatened to eliminate” the Department of Education and to cut “early reading programs and college Pell Grants.”

Scary Medicare Claims

Scary Medicare Claims
September 26, 2012

A new TV ad in Florida harkens back to the notorious “death panel” falsehood. It wrongly claims Medicare benefits could be “rationed” and seniors denied treatment by the new health care law. In fact, the law specifically forbids rationing or restriction of benefits.
American Crossroads, a super PAC launched with the help of Karl Rove, adviser to President George W. Bush, attacks Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson in the ad, which features a gloomy gray-colored hospital bed with the word “rationed”