FactCheck.org

West Virginia’s Bitter End

October 3, 2011

Democrats and Republicans alike are misleading voters to the bitter end in West Virginia’s special election for governor.

A Republican TV ad says Acting Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin “voted to raise taxes on job creators.” But the “job creators” supported the measure in question, which shored up the state’s unemployment compensation fund and avoided borrowing from the federal government. One business group counted the bill among its legislative “victories.”
A Democratic TV ad says GOP challenger Bill Maloney “will end incentives that create jobs.”

She’s No ‘Buffett’s Secretary’

October 3, 2011

A liberal group’s TV spot features a working mother who says she’s like “Warren Buffett’s secretary” and pays higher tax rates than “many billionaires and millionaires.” Not quite. With her $40,000 income and three kids, she’d actually pay a far lower rate than Buffett says he paid on his income. So, she’s not like his secretary. Furthermore, her rate would also be lower than the rate paid by the vast majority of those making more than $1 million a year.

Bachmann’s Wrong on Texas Tuition

September 30, 2011

Michele Bachmann is wrong to say allowing illegal immigrants in Texas to pay in-state tuition is “an abuse of an executive power.” Gov. Rick Perry did not impose the policy by executive fiat. The Legislature overwhelmingly passed the bill in 2001, and Perry signed it.
Minnesota Rep. Bachmann — who has criticized Perry’s executive order on HPV vaccines as an inappropriate use of power — made her statement in a Web video posted Sept. 29.
Bachmann,

Revising Romney’s Revision

September 30, 2011

Rick Perry’s campaign claims Mitt Romney’s 2010 book “praises Obama’s $800 billion stimulus, while [the] 2011 edition calls it a ‘failure.’ ” Not so. It’s true that Romney revised his words in the paperback edition, but his original version said the stimulus was “far less than successful,” and that “it will impose a heavy burden on the economy.” Those words were edited out of a Perry Web video to make it appear that Romney made a 180-degree turn,

Christie’s Tax Tale

September 28, 2011

Chris Christie shaded the truth when he took credit for closing New Jersey’s budget gap “without raising taxes.” It’s true he didn’t raise state taxes, but the governor’s first budget extensively revised and reduced a program that once provided residents with local property tax rebate checks. As a result, nearly 1 million homeowners received an average $269 property tax credit in fiscal year 2011, down from an average rebate check of $1,035 the year before.
The New Jersey governor spoke Sept.

More Bad Medicine in the Perry Vaccine Saga

September 28, 2011

A pro-Michele Bachmann ad claims that “doctors opposed [Rick] Perry’s order [to inject girls with HPV vaccine] for safety reasons.” But the pediatrician cited by the sponsor says the ad doesn’t reflect his views accurately. “At the time, my position was that the vaccine was safe and effective,” he told FactCheck.org. Although he had reservations about a government mandate, he was personally recommending the vaccine for all 11- and 12-year-old girls, the doctor told us.
Furthermore,

Obama’s Teacher Tax Whopper

September 28, 2011

President Obama’s claim that he pays a lower tax rate than a teacher making $50,000 a year isn’t true. A single taxpayer with $50,000 of income would have paid 11.9 percent in federal income taxes for 2010, while the Obamas paid more than twice that rate — 25.3 percent (and higher rates than that in 2009 and 2008). And if the $50,000-a-year teacher were in Obama’s tax situation — supporting a spouse and two children —

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.”

Another Rick Perry Whopper

September 21, 2011

Texas Gov. Rick Perry makes another wildly false claim in a new Web ad — saying that the U.S. poverty rate has hit an “all-time high.” In fact, the rate is the highest since 1993, but 7.3 percentage points lower than it was in 1959, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s most recent annual tallies.

Perry’s false claim about the poverty rate follows his false claim during his second debate appearance, when he said Obama’s stimulus measure “created zero jobs”

Ford Motor Co. Does U-turn on Bailouts

September 20, 2011

A Ford TV ad slams competitors for accepting bailout funds, even though the company’s CEO lobbied for the bill. The company — the only one of the Big Three not to receive a bailout — feared a collapse of GM and Chrysler at the time would have hurt suppliers and, in turn, Ford itself. Ford Chief Executive Officer Alan R. Mulally also asked Congress for a “credit line” of up to $9 billion in case the economy worsened.