President Barack Obama stuck to the facts in his speech on Libya, but as others have pointed out, he has flip-flopped on the fundamental question of whether he needed congressional approval for military intervention.
Also, Obama sought in his address to minimize the military costs to the United States by saying NATO will now take the lead. But the fact is that the United States pays the largest share of NATO’s budget — one of a couple of key omissions by the president.
DCCC’s Deceptive Drive
Democrats are accusing Republicans of "pushing to cut seniors' benefits," when no cuts have been proposed for those currently on Social Security or Medicare.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee began making automated and live phone calls to residents on March 22, claiming that 10 GOP House members are "part of a majority of the Republicans in Washington pushing to cut seniors’ benefits in Social Security and Medicare." It is the next phase of the committee's "Drive to 25"
Barbour Inflates Obama’s Job Losses
Haley Barbour grossly exaggerated the nation’s job losses under President Barack Obama in a March 14 speech in Chicago.
Speaking to the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, the Republican governor of Mississippi urged his audience to look at the Obama administration’s record "in the last two years" on spending and job creation.
Barbour, March 14: Well, let’s look at their record: in the last two years the federal government spent $7 trillion and our economy lost 7 million jobs.
Obama, McConnell Take Oil Import Data for Spin
President Barack Obama and Sen. Mitch McConnell used the same data to score apparently conflicting points about U.S. dependency on foreign oil. Obama said oil imports account for less than half of consumption, while McConnell said 60 percent of our oil comes from abroad.
Both can claim to be correct, depending on how you interpret the data. But Obama was using the figure preferred by energy experts.
With gas prices rising, the United States’ dependence on imported oil is once again in the spotlight and has been the source of debate between the two parties in Washington.
Reid’s Cowboy Poetry Puffery
Sen. Harry Reid vastly overstated annual attendance figures for the federally subsidized National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Nevada.
The Senate majority leader claimed that "tens of thousands of people" visited the annual event in Elko, Nev., "every year." He was speaking on the Senate floor March 8, defending federal funding for such events. But his claim was far from true.
The fact is that the event attracts between 6,000 and 8,000 people each year, according to Charlie Seemann,
Crossroads & Unions
Crossroads GPS greatly exaggerates the earnings of unionized government workers in a new TV ad attacking unions and Democrats, including President Obama.
The ad claims that government workers who belong to unions are paid “42 percent more than non-union workers.” But the very study cited by the ad says the gap is only 10 percent, once geographic differences are accounted for.
The 60-second spot was launched March 9 and is set to run nationally on CNN,
Our Angry Readers
We’d like to respond to readers who disliked our article on Social Security’s red ink.
We’ve received dozens of complaints and criticisms, expressing disappointment and sometimes outright anger at our finding that Social Security is in fact contributing to the federal deficit, and that some Democrats are making a false claim when they assert it doesn’t contribute "one penny." ("Democrats Deny Social Security’s Red Ink," Feb. 25.)
Readers accused us variously of being stupid, ignorant, misleading,
No Secret: Bachmann Gets It Wrong
Rep. Michele Bachmann's claim that Democrats "secretly" hid $105 billion in health care spending is way off base. It's true that the new health care law contains many billions in future spending, but there was no secret about that.
The Minnesota Republican told "Meet the Press" host David Gregory that "secretly, unbeknownst to members of Congress, over $105 billion was hidden in the Obamacare legislation to fund the implementation of Obamacare." But the truth is that much,
Dems’ ‘Halfway’ Hustle
Democrats claim their $10.5 billion in proposed cuts are "halfway" to the GOP’s $61 billion. We give that arithmetic an "F."
President Barack Obama claimed during his March 5 radio address that "my administration has already put forward specific cuts that meet congressional Republicans halfway." And White House Chief of Staff William Daley repeated the "halfway" claim during his appearance on "Meet the Press." Earlier, Gene Sperling, director of the White House National Economic Council, told reporters: "The White House has been willing to move halfway to where they are."
Walker’s Tax Cuts
It’s not true that Gov. Scott Walker’s tax cuts are the cause of Wisconsin’s current budget deficit — a false claim widely spread by MSNBC‘s Rachel Maddow and repeated in numerous e-mails to us since we wrote about the state’s budget problems earlier this week. In fact, the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimates the tax cuts won’t add a penny to the current year’s $137 million deficit.
Here’s a typical question that we have fielded since our article ran:
Q: How do the $140 billion [sic] in tax breaks that Walker gave out in January 2011 affect the Wisconsin deficit?