Dick Gephardt has been attacking Howard Dean for giving “huge tax breaks” to Enron. But Gephardt has failed to show that Enron got any special treatment.
Month: December 2003
Republican Economist Asks ‘Retraction’ – But Our Facts Stand
A Republican economist on the Joint Economic Committee says FactCheck.org made “multiple and blatant factual errors” in an article we published Dec. 5. We don’t think so.
Puncturing a Republican Tax Fable
Republican National Chairman Ed Gillespie said “80% of the tax relief for upper income filers goes to small businesses.” That’s untrue – and a classic example of a statistical distortion gone amok.
Facts Take a Bath at Democratic Debate
Political junkies tuning into the most recent Democratic candidates debate Dec. 9 in Durham, NH should not believe all that they heard.
Liberal Group Attacks Dean on Gun Control
A new liberal group is running a TV ad in Iowa attacking Howard Dean for his record on gun control. The ad says Dean was endorsed repeatedly by the National Rifle Association for governor of Vermont — which is true. Dean’s position has shifted a bit since then, however.
Attack Ad by Anti-tax Group Too Close for Dean’s Comfort
An anti-tax group started running an attack ad Thursday Dec. 4 in Iowa and New Hampshire saying “Howard Dean says he’ll raise taxes on the average family by more than nineteen hundred dollars a year.” Dean calls the ad “false,” but we find it is mostly right.
Is this a great job, or what?
In my 33 years of covering Washington and national politics, I’ve had some of the best jobs in American journalism — including the development of “adwatch” and “factcheck” stories for CNN. And with the launch today of FactCheck.org I hope to continue my professional lucky streak. This is going to be a fun job — and somebody has to do it.
There already have been lots of dubious factual claims and outright falsehoods tossed around in the Presidential campaign: Howard Dean falsely claiming that most middle-class taxpayers got no tax cut,
George Bush As Herbert Hoover? Oh Come On!
In what it called the first salvo in a $10-million advertising campaign aimed at defeating President Bush, the liberal group MoveOn.org released a TV ad that is misleading on several counts. It falsely implies that tax cuts failed to create jobs, falsely implies that the economy is still losing jobs, and exaggerates the severity of an historically mild economic downturn.
RNC Fails to Document Ad’s Claim
In a TV ad supporting the President the Republican National Committee went four words too far, not-very-subtly implying that Democrats who have criticized him are something close to traitors.
Edwards Ad Stretches Truth with Claim About Multimillionaires’ Taxes
John Edwards’ latest TV ad leaves the impression that multimillionaires pay lower tax rates than salaried government workers or secretaries. While that can be true sometimes it is not usually the case.