FactCheck.org

Colorado PAC Attacks

July 23, 2010

Democratic candidates in Colorado’s Senate primary are attacking each other’s acceptance of PAC money — but one is being misleading, while the other fails to tell the full story.
First out of the box was Andrew Romanoff, accusing incumbent Sen. Michael Bennet of taking "nearly a million dollars from Washington special interests," including "big banks" and "big oil."

That’s true as far as it goes. By "special interests," Romanoff is referring to political action committees. And it’s true that Bennet had raised $1.3 million from PACs for his election through the end of June –

Whitman: Brown Is Plan-Free

July 23, 2010

Republican Meg Whitman’s latest ad accuses Democratic rival Jerry Brown of having "no plan" for California should he be elected governor. Brown calls it a "televised lie." We find that Whitman’s ad fudges the facts — but just a little.

The Los Angeles Times vetted this ad quickly, posting its findings July 22. We’ve taken a look as well. Here’s what we found:

Whitman’s claim that Brown has "no plan" is of course an exaggeration.

Let’s Get to Work – On the Facts

July 22, 2010

Let’s Get to Work, a political committee largely financed by Florida gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott’s wife, is at it again — falsely claiming that Attorney General Bill McCollum used a “chartered airplane” to commute to work and charged taxpayers $280,000. McCollum has access to a state plane, but it’s not true that he uses it to commute. And the amount of money he spent on air travel — all of it involving state business — is exaggerated.

Shirley Sherrod’s Contextual Nightmare

July 21, 2010

We’ve posted no shortage of pieces on political attacks that leave context on the cutting room floor to give the public a misleading impression. An opponent’s statements, cherry-picked and shorn of any language that could provide the intended meaning, can be shaped into a slashing ad.
Or they can lose a woman her job. The latest victim of the missing context trick is U.S. Department of Agriculture employee Shirley Sherrod. Her story shows the harm that can result from taking something out of context —

Mud and Oil Don’t Mix in Wisconsin Senate Race

July 20, 2010

With recent polls showing the Wisconsin Senate race tightening, the candidates have started the mudslinging — misrepresenting each other’s positions on drilling for oil in the Great Lakes. Never mind that federal law bans oil drilling in the Great Lakes.
Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold’s ad, “Just Say No,” accuses his GOP opponent Ron Johnson of being “willing to hand over the Great Lakes to the oil companies.” That is misleading, and goes beyond the facts. It’s based on a single interview in which Johnson talks about the need to drill "responsibly"

Obama Wrong on GOP, Small Business Criticism

July 20, 2010

In his weekly address, President Obama blasted Republicans for using "procedural tactics to block a simple, up-or-down vote" on loan help for small businesses. But that’s false.
Democrats have proposed no such "simple, up-or-down vote" on the small business benefits alone. What Republicans have blocked are votes on extending unemployment benefits, something Democrats once packaged with one part of Obama’s proposals to benefit small business. (And a number of Republicans say they’re not opposed to extending unemployment insurance benefits —

Sunday Replay

July 19, 2010

We found a larger-than-usual number of deceptions on the Sunday shows this week, from whoppers to cherry-picked statistics, on subjects as diverse as immigration, the Reagan tax cuts and the new health care law. Here’s our rundown.
A Tax Hike for 50 Percent of Small-Business Owners?
On CNN’s "State of the Union," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was wrong when he said that letting the Bush tax cuts expire for upper-income earners would affect "the income of 50 percent of small businesses."

A False Attack on a Palin-backed “Mama Grizzly”

July 17, 2010

One of Sarah Palin’s annointed "Mama Grizzlies" is under attack in Georgia — for not being conservative enough to suit Republican primary voters. But we find the attack is misleading and makes false claims.
In the race to be governor of Georgia, the Palin-backed candidate is Secretary of State Karen Handel. One of her main opponents in the July 20 GOP primary is Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine. His ad claims that as a Fulton County commissioner Handel presided over spending that "skyrocketed,"

Anti-Reid Ad Distorts Truth on Stimulus, Unemployment

July 16, 2010

American Crossroads — a political committee headed by former Republican National Committee chairman Mike Duncan — once again attacks Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada in an ad released July 15. The new ad, titled "Really? Harry Reprise," falsely claims that Nevada received less stimulus money than all but one state.
It also misrepresents the state’s first-in-the-nation unemployment rate, making it seem worse than it is.

On stimulus funding, the ad says: "Recent data show Nevada ranks 50th in the money received from Harry’s stimulus bill."

Maligning Maloney by Mailer

July 15, 2010

In a flurry of mailers sent to New York’s Upper East Side Democratic voters, challenger Reshma Saujani claims that incumbent Rep. Carolyn Maloney has taken $2.5 million from "special interests" while she has accepted none. Um, really? What about the $220,000 Saujani has received from Wall Street, her leading source of campaign funds?

Yes, Maloney has accepted more than $2.5 million from political action committees over the course of her career ($588,561 in this election cycle),