We’ve noticed that the most deceitful attack ads often come from candidates who are most desperate. For example, consider the claim by Pennsylvania’s unpopular Republican Gov. Tom Corbett that his opponent “is promising to raise middle-class taxes.”
Sen. Mitch McConnell claims in a TV ad to have “shocking” video evidence from Alison Lundergan Grimes’ “own staff” to prove “Grimes is lying” about her support for coal. He doesn’t.
At an Oct. 13 Arkansas Senate debate, Rep. Tom Cotton claimed that Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor “voted for every one of Barack Obama’s tax increases.” Pryor called this a “whopper,” and countered that he “voted against every budget that President Obama has offered.” We find that both are not telling the whole story.
Sen. Mark Begich has portrayed his Republican opponent, Dan Sullivan, as soft on sex offenders and tough on women’s rights. Sullivan has accused the Democrat of hurting taxpayers and ignoring veterans. Both candidates and their allies have twisted the facts.
A TV ad from Democrat Jim Mowrer claims Iowa Rep. Steve King “did vote to raise his own pay by $20,000 a year and take perks like free health care for life.” That’s a double whopper.
The North Carolina Senate race pits incumbent Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan against Republican challenger Thom Tillis. While the two campaigns have aggressively attacked each another, they’ve had a lot of help from outside supporters as well.
Sen. Mark Begich makes the bogus claim in two ads that he “voted against President Obama’s trillion-dollar tax increase.” He voted against a GOP resolution that set forth Obama’s spending levels for fiscal year 2013 but without the president’s policy language.
In an interesting twist, Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell is under fire from his Democratic opponent, Alison Lundergan Grimes, for “personally” taking “$600,000 from anti-coal groups.” But that’s a huge stretch.
Democratic TV ads in Iowa have repeatedly misrepresented Republican Joni Ernst’s position on Social Security, claiming she “would privatize Social Security” or that she has “proposed privatizing Social Security.”
Colorado’s Senate race pits Democratic freshman Sen. Mark Udall against Republican Rep. Cory Gardner, who is in his second term in the House.