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A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

Fouling Lugar’s Foe

Fouling Lugar’s Foe
April 19, 2012

The Republican primary for Sen. Richard Lugar’s seat is apparently too close for comfort. Both Lugar’s campaign and the American Action Network are airing misleading attack ads against Indiana Treasurer Richard Mourdock, the senator’s challenger for the nomination. The ads strain the facts to make Mourdock look like a tax cheat who makes bad investments and does not show up for work.

The AAN ad claims that “Hoosier pensions and other funds lost millions” because of Mourdock’s “big bet on junk bonds.”

The Facts About ‘Fat Cats’

The Facts About ‘Fat Cats’
April 19, 2012

Even though we are serious-minded fact-checkers, we are not completely without humor, and MoveOn.org’s latest TV ad on “fat cats” and the “Buffett Rule” is pretty funny. But the ad may leave an im-purr-fect impression. One that’s off by more than a whisker.
The TV ad says, “President Obama’s Buffett Rule would require millionaires and billionaires to pay the same tax rate as the rest of us.” But on average “millionaires and billionaires” already pay more than the rest of us,

What Priorities USA Action Doesn’t Tell You

What Priorities USA Action Doesn’t Tell You
April 18, 2012

A pro-Obama super PAC’s new TV ad portrays Mitt Romney as a past and future threat to middle-class families. The statements it makes about Romney’s business dealings and tax proposals contain some truth — but don’t tell the whole story:

The ad says Romney is proposing “a huge new $150,000 tax cut for the wealthiest 1 percent.” But Romney’s plan would cut tax rates by 20 percent for all taxpayers, not just the wealthiest. Also, that $150,000 tax cut may be inflated because it does not include Romney’s unspecified plans to eliminate some current tax preferences —

Romney Misfires with EPA Anecdote

Romney Misfires with EPA Anecdote
April 17, 2012

Mitt Romney railed against the “Obama EPA” and “how the Obama government interferes with personal freedom” — using as his example an EPA action taken in 2007, under President George W. Bush.
Furthermore, it was a Republican-nominated federal judge who made the initial ruling — in EPA’s favor — that was overturned recently by the Supreme Court.
At issue was a longstanding Environmental Protection Agency precedent regarding a property owner’s right to challenge an EPA compliance order in court,

Obama and the ‘Buffett Rule’

Obama and the ‘Buffett Rule’
April 13, 2012

In their zeal to pass the “Buffett Rule,” President Obama and Vice President Biden leave the false impression that many, if not most, millionaires (people who earn $1 million or more a year) are paying a lower tax rate than the middle class. The fact is that even without the Buffett Rule “more than 99 percent of millionaires will pay” a higher tax rate than those in the very middle of the income range in fiscal year 2015,

Obama’s ‘War on Women’?

Obama’s ‘War on Women’?
April 12, 2012

On the campaign trail, Mitt Romney has been hammering a statistic that “over 92 percent of the jobs lost under this president were lost by women,” evidence, he says, that President Obama’s policies amount to a “war on women.” Romney’s statistic is accurate, as far as it goes. But it’s not the whole story.
Looking back at the whole recession, men have lost many more jobs than women. But the biggest job losses for men came earlier in the recession,

Blurring the Record in Utah

Blurring the Record in Utah
April 12, 2012

A group supporting Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch claims in a TV ad that a Republican challenger “voted to allow state employees to double dip, collecting a pension and a pay check.” That’s a gross exaggeration. Hatch’s opponent, former state Sen. Dan Liljenquist, actually authored a bill in the state Senate to ban double dipping.
The ad’s claim is based on the fact that the bill later was amended to allow the practice to continue on a smaller,

Inflated Claims in Nebraska’s GOP Senate Primary

Inflated Claims in Nebraska’s GOP Senate Primary
April 11, 2012

A Club for Growth Action TV ad in Nebraska’s Republican Senate primary exaggerates spending under state Attorney General Jon Bruning. It claims Bruning has “nearly doubled” his office’s budget. But the increase — 81 percent from 2003 to 2011 — doesn’t account for inflation or the fact that the AG’s office now pays to defend suits filed against all state agencies, rather than having individual agencies cover the cost. The budget figure also includes a 516 percent increase in federal funds,

Good Debt Chart, Hyped Narration

Good Debt Chart, Hyped Narration
April 10, 2012

A visually striking new ad from a Republican Senate candidate provides a stark image of the U.S. debt problem — and almost gets the numbers right.
The 30-second spot hit the airwaves in Wisconsin April 7. It shows GOP Senate candidate Eric Hovde climbing up the foothills of an Everest-like graph depicting the soaring federal debt.
Hovde’s scary-looking chart is accurate. But as he speaks, he exaggerates both the degree of current borrowing, and how U.S.