FactCheck.org

‘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

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

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”

Romney Ad on China Mangles Facts

September 25, 2012

A Romney ad strains the facts when it suggests the Obama administration’s refusal to “stand up to China” and label it a currency manipulator has cost the U.S. 2 million jobs. The jobs figure is unrelated to currency manipulation. It is an International Trade Commission estimate of jobs that could be created if China enforced U.S. intellectual property rights.
Actually, intellectual property rights are a high priority of the Obama administration, and in 2010 it won what it called “significant intellectual property rights enforcement initiatives”

Romney, Obama Court Moms, Distort Facts

September 20, 2012

Mitt Romney and President Obama each distort the facts in TV ads aimed at young mothers:

Romney’s ad falsely attributes the nation’s $16 trillion debt all to Obama when it says “your share of Obama’s debt is over $50,000.” The total public debt was $10.6 trillion when Obama took office, and he inherited a $1 trillion-plus deficit in his first year.
Obama’s ad claims Romney’s tax plan “could take away middle-class deductions for child care, home mortgages and college tuition,”

Brown ‘Lying’ About Abortion Stance?

September 20, 2012

An abortion rights group says that Republican Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts is “straight-up lying” in a new ad that says he is “pro-choice, and he supports a woman’s right to choose.” That’s wrong. Brown has consistently said he is a supporter of abortion rights dating back to 2004, and he urged the GOP this year to change its platform to be more inclusive of Republicans like him. The group’s complaint concerns a few votes on matters such as federal funding and religious conscience clauses that have angered abortion rights organizations and earned support from anti-abortion groups.

NRCC Attack Ad Misleads Iowa Voters

September 18, 2012

A Republican TV ad falsely claims that businesses “are forced to drop health care coverage” and families are “losing health care benefits” under the new federal health care law. “That’s what’s happening,” the ad says. But that’s not happening now. The claim is based on a July survey of corporate executives and human-resource officers who were asked if they expect their companies to drop insurance coverage in the next one to five years.
The survey found that “9% of companies representing 3% of the workforce anticipate dropping coverage in the next 1-3 years.”

Dependency and Romney’s 47 Percenters

September 18, 2012

Mitt Romney was wrong when he said the 47 percent of Americans who pay no federal income taxes are “dependent on the government.” Most of them are working people who simply do not earn very much money.
Romney also assumed that all of those in the 47 percent who pay no federal income tax vote Democratic. But polling data suggest that’s just not true. President Obama is faring better than Romney among the lowest earners —

Double Whopper, No Beef

September 17, 2012

The Romney campaign crams two howling falsehoods into a very few words:

It accuses President Obama of being personally responsible for actions by the Federal Reserve Board, which is independent.
It claims Obama is “spending your tax dollars” in the Fed’s latest move to buy mortgage-backed securities, when in fact the Fed is turning a big profit for the Treasury, reducing the deficit.

Romney campaign manager Matt Rhoades committed both these whoppers in an appeal for donations that was emailed Sept.

Crossroads Colors Kaine’s Cuts

September 17, 2012

Two ads from Crossroads GPS paint incomplete and misleading pictures of Tim Kaine’s support for cutting education and defense spending.

One ad says that “when Tim Kaine proposed harsh funding cuts for Virginia schools, one Democrat called it ‘a kick in the teeth.’ ” It’s true that the top official in one wealthy county did that — when the then-Virginia governor proposed a one-year delay to a scheduled change that would have prevented cuts for two-thirds of the state’s poorest school districts.