Stories by Eugene Kiely
Former Director, FactCheck.org
June 1: Bain Capital, Stimulus, American Future Fund
Obama’s ‘Truth Team’ Wrong on GOP Donor
The Obama “Truth Team” blames GOP donor Thomas O’Malley’s refinery company for helping to “drive gas prices up this year by curtailing gas production.” But the facts are the exact opposite. The Energy Information Administration credits PBF Energy for preventing a price spike in the Northeast this year by opening a refinery in Delaware — partially offsetting the loss of production from two other Philadelphia-area refineries that have closed.
The “truth team” also claimed that one event —
Gillespie Twists the Facts on Bain Capital
A letter Bain Capital sent to its investors is now becoming a talking point for Mitt Romney surrogates. But once again the company letter, which boasts of Bain’s success, is being misrepresented — this time by Ed Gillespie, a senior adviser to the Romney campaign.
Gillespie claimed that “less than 5 percent” of Bain’s investments “ended up in bankruptcy.” But that’s what Bain claims occurred over its entire 28-year history. The Wall Street Journal reported that 22 percent of companies “Bain invested in while Mr.
May 25: IRS Refunds, Lifeline, Unemployment
Sununu Misfires on Bain ‘Jobs’ Claim
John H. Sununu, a top surrogate for Mitt Romney, wrongly claimed Bain Capital was “able to save jobs … about 80 percent of the time” at companies in which it had invested. Sununu was misreading or misrepresenting a Bain statement on revenues, not jobs.
Sununu, a former governor of New Hampshire and an early supporter of Romney, spoke to reporters May 22 on a conference call. When addressing Bain Capital, the private-equity investment firm founded by Romney,
Spinning Gov. Chris Christie’s Greatest Hits
A TV ad in support of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie supplies some misleading information about the governor’s record. The ad praises Christie and unnamed “reformers from both sides” for:
“Creating jobs.” But the state has added only 37,100 jobs since he took office in January 2010. New Jersey and national unemployment rates were identical (9.7 percent) when Christie became governor. The state’s unemployment rate is now 9.1 percent — a full percentage point higher than the national average and fifth highest among all states.
May 18: Health Insurance, Bachmann’s District, ‘Obama’s Wall Street’
Peddling Innuendo, Exaggerations on ‘Obama’s Wall Street’
American Future Fund continues to exaggerate the facts in a new round of TV ads attacking President Obama’s ties to Wall Street. We do give the group partial credit, however, for correcting a misstatement from one ad it has re-released. It gets “partial credit” because the group corrected the error once in the revised ad, but then repeated the error elsewhere in the same ad. And the group didn’t make any revisions to address other gross misstatements in the ad.
Do ‘Most Americans’ Agree with Romney on Gay Marriage?
The Republican party chairman claims “most Americans” agree with Mitt Romney “that marriage ought to be defined between one man and one woman.” Americans are closely divided on the issue. Various polls show either a slight plurality or majority of Americans support same-sex marriages, although sometimes within the margin of error.
This much is clear: American attitudes have been trending in support of gay marriage for the past few years, as this Gallup poll chart shows:
Reince Priebus,