Lori Robertson, Author at FactCheck.org

Recycled Spin at New Hampshire GOP Debate

October 11, 2011

At the latest debate, the Republican presidential candidates repeated several claims they’ve made before. The candidates participated in a roundtable-style discussion at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, where they reiterated false and misleading lines about the federal health care law, the debt ceiling debate, job creation and more:

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney repeated his talking point that the health care law in his state only affected 8 percent of the population — or just the uninsured —

Romney’s Health Care Law Killed Jobs?

September 27, 2011

The Perry campaign has been pushing a questionable claim that the Massachusetts health care law, signed by then-Gov. Mitt Romney in 2006, “killed 18,000 jobs.” But that number was churned out by an economic model used by a conservative think tank, and it’s unknown whether the figure is accurate.
At last week’s Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Texas Gov. Rick Perry said: “If Romneycare cost Massachusetts 18,000 jobs, just think what it would do to this country.”

American Future Fund

September 18, 2011

Republican-leaning group formed by Iowa political figures.

Patriot Majority USA

September 18, 2011

A liberal-leaning group founded by a Democratic political strategist and heavily funded by labor unions.

Texas-Size Recovery

August 31, 2011

Presidential candidate and Texas Gov. Rick Perry has boasted of significant job growth in his state in the past few years. And for good reason: It’s true. While Texas clearly hasn’t avoided the recession, the state has done well in terms of …

Santorum’s Bragging Rights

August 16, 2011

Rick Santorum puffs up his credentials a bit in saying he "defeated three Democratic incumbents." He defeated two incumbents; in two other congressional elections, he was the incumbent.
Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator and representative, has touted his Democrat-defeating skills a few times recently. In the GOP presidential debate on Aug. 11, he said he was a candidate "who can beat incumbent Democrats, three of them, three incumbent Democrats." And at the Iowa straw poll on Aug.

Howard Dean Overstates Cost of Tax Cuts

August 10, 2011

Howard Dean falsely claimed that "60 percent of the deficit is due to the Bush tax cuts." Last year, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said that allowing the tax cuts to expire at the end of 2010 would decrease the deficit from $1.3 trillion in 2010 to $1.07 trillion in 2011. That's a 17.7 percent drop. It's sizable. But it's not 60 percent.
Dean, the former Vermont governor and Democratic National Committee chairman, made his claim on CBS'

More Mediscare

August 4, 2011

Newspaper ads from a conservative group make the disputed claim that "Obama's Medicare Plan Will Increase Medicare Premiums." The "plan" it refers to is actually designed to produce lower prices for low-income Medicare Part D beneficiaries and taxpayers. And whether drug companies would increase prices to others in response is a matter of conjecture, not fact. Experts have differing views. And the sponsor of the ad — whose sister organization produced a study supporting the claim —

Debt Limit Debate Round-Up

July 29, 2011

The last few weeks have been filled with debate, accusations, stalemate and false claims about the debt ceiling and how — and whether — it should be raised. As the Aug. 2 default deadline looms, here’s a look at the less-than-factual talking points …

Medicare Message in Spanish

July 26, 2011

A Democratic ad in Spanish says Republicans "would end the Medicare guarantee." That requires context. Viewers might interpret the message to mean that Medicare would end completely. That's not the case. The ad refers to the system's guarantee of a certain level of benefits covered by the government.

[TET ] DNC ad, English translation: Behind the ads that pretend to care about our children, it's the Republicans who would end the Medicare guarantee while protecting tax cuts for the very rich.