FactCheck.org

Idaho Newspaper’s Inspired Effort

October 11, 2011

The Times-News of Twin Falls, Idaho, says it likes to check the many press releases it receives for “both spin and accuracy” before publishing them. We applaud that effort. In fact, a release from Republican Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho was recently the subject of a full-page fact check for the paper’s Sunday opinion page.
The Times-News received an Oct. 4 press release announcing that Crapo had joined Republican Rep. Peter Roskam of Illinois to introduce legislation capping the capital gains and dividend tax rates at 15 percent.

Issa Sought ‘Yes’ on Loan Request

October 10, 2011

Rep. Darrell Issa, who has accused the administration of “political interference” to benefit a solar energy company, has falsely claimed that a letter he wrote to the Energy Department on behalf of a California car maker merely requested a decision — “yes or no” — on the company’s loan application. In fact, the California Republican wrote to “express support” for the company’s loan to develop an electric car. He wrote that approval of the loan would “greatly assist a leading developer of electric vehicles in my district”

Obama’s Solyndra Problem

October 7, 2011

President Obama exaggerated when defending his administration’s approval of a $535 million loan guarantee to Solyndra, a now-defunct solar company.
Obama referred to Solyndra’s loan at an Oct. 6 press conference as “a loan guarantee program that predates me.” That’s not accurate. It’s true that the Energy Policy Act of 2005 created a loan guarantee program for clean-energy companies developing “innovative technologies.” But Solyndra’s loan guarantee came under another program created by the president’s 2009 stimulus for companies developing “commercially available technologies.”

Obama No ‘Different’ Today on Taxes

October 5, 2011

An American Crossroads TV ad claims Obama’s position on taxes is “different” than it was in 2009. It isn’t.
The conservative group began airing a new TV ad in St. Louis on Oct. 3 in advance of the president’s fundraising trip to Missouri. The ad, titled “Don’t,” urges Obama not to raise taxes. But it distorts the president’s position on taxes two years ago by taking a snippet of an Obama interview in August 2009 and using it out of context.

Haley Barbour’s ‘Amnesia’

October 4, 2011

Haley Barbour accused a fellow governor of “amnesia,” claiming he was forgetting “the fact that Obama had the biggest Democratic majorities in Congress since Lyndon Johnson.” But it was actually Republican Barbour who was having a memory lapse. He forgot about the Democrats’ massive victories following Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandal.
Forgetting the ‘Watergate Babies’
During an exchange on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Barbour, the Republican governor of Mississippi, responded to Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley’s complaint that Republicans in Congress were impeding the president’s ability to create jobs.

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.