In episode 33 of our podcast, we talk about Democrats’ evidence-free allegation about the Chamber of Commerce and foreign money. Plus, we look at ads in the Missouri Senate race and explain why dead people got stimulus checks.
For more on the stories discussed in this episode, see:
Really? Oct. 11
Toss-ups: Missouri Mudslinging Oct. 12
Stimulating the Dead Oct. 14
Issues: stimulus
Stimulating the Dead
Q: Were stimulus payments made to dead people and prison inmates?
A: Yes, 89,000 of them, according to an official audit. About half of the $22 million was returned. The audit blamed both Congress and the Social Security Administration.
Toss-ups: Missouri Mudslinging
Ethics has become a theme in the Missouri Senate race, and we find that both candidates are distorting the facts in TV ads that make accusations of serious ethical lapses: Republican Rep. Roy Blunt claims without evidence that Democrat Robin Carnahan’s …
Another Black Hole
A secretive, Republican-leaning group has spent an estimated $3 million on a TV ad making the false claim that government spending is "not creating jobs."
The ad first appeared Sept. 7 and was still running nearly a month later. The ad shows a man in a business suit digging an ever-deeper hole — a visual metaphor for the nation’s ever-expanding debt. It could also be a metaphor for Public Notice, the sponsor of the ad and yet another group whose finances are also something of a black hole.
Super PAC Ads, Grayson’s Attack and the Stimulus
In episode 31 of our podcast, we look at ads from a conservative "super PAC," a low blow from Democratic Rep. Alan Grayson of Florida and false claims that the stimulus failed to create jobs.
For more on the stories discussed in this episode, see:
Crossroads Jam-Up Oct. 1
Rep. Grayson Lowers the Bar Sept. 27
Did the Stimulus Create Jobs? Sept. 27
Crossroads Jam-Up
The latest ads from the American Crossroads “super PAC” attack Democrats running for Senate seats in Colorado, Illinois, Ohio, Nevada, Missouri and New Hampshire. The ads contain a number of misleading and false claims. …
Did the Stimulus Create Jobs?
The economic stimulus package is a favorite target of Republican candidates and groups, but more than a few ads falsely claim it did not create or save any jobs. Some recent examples: Republican House candidate Dan Debicella charges …
Sunday Replay
To wrap up the Labor Day weekend, we present the Lindsey Graham edition of a holiday-delayed Sunday Replay, with cameos from a few minor characters.
Graham on Democratic Legislation
On NBC’s "Meet the Press," South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham was skeptical about two Democrat-backed measures, the health care bill and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Graham, Sept. 5: [The health care bill is] going to lead to a government monopoly in health care.
Reid, Angle Trade Familiar Charges
In Nevada’s Senate race, Republican Sharron Angle and Democrat Harry Reid began airing new commercials Aug. 26. Angle’s attack ad pictures Reid in a "love triangle" with President Barack Obama and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and repeats some familiar but misleading claims.
Like Angle’s, Reid’s ad covers familiar ground. All of its claims are rooted in true statements or proposals. But Reid goes too far in one case. Angle did not say that "Medicare and Social Security violate the Ten Commandments."
Spinning the Stimulus
Vice President Joseph Biden and House Republican Leader John Boehner both put their partisan spin on the effects of the administration’s economic stimulus spending. But Biden exaggerated, and Boehner got it wrong, according to a report issued later in the day by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.