Monthly Archives: May 2007

Unspinning the FairTax

Summary In our recent article on the second GOP debate, we called out Gov. Mike Huckabee as well as Reps. Tom Tancredo and Duncan Hunter for their support of the FairTax. We wrote that the bipartisan Advisory Panel on Tax Reform had “calculated that a sales tax would have to …
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Counter-rotating Tax Spin

Summary The Democrats’ proposed 2008 budget is being spun by both sides. Democrats claim it will not raise taxes by even a penny, while Republicans say it will impose the largest or second-largest tax increase in history. Obviously, the budget can’t be the largest tax increase in history and zero …
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GOP Candidates Debate, Round 2

Summary Claims, facts and figures flew at the second GOP presidential debate of 2008. Not all were true. For example: Mitt Romney claimed he didn’t raise taxes when he was governor of Massachusetts, failing to note that he increased government fees by hundreds of millions of dollars and shifted some …
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A False Ad About ‘Lawsuit Abuse’

Summary The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is running a TV ad alleging that "lawsuit abuse" is costing "your family" $3,500 a year. That’s false. The figure is from a study that estimates the cost of all lawsuits, not just abusive ones.   Even the author of the study cited by …
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Levitating Numbers

Summary In an earlier article we criticized Rudy Giuliani for saying adoptions went up 65 to 70 percent when he was mayor, when in fact adoptions at the end of his tenure were only 17 percent higher than at the start, and falling. His campaign still insists his claim is …
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Republican Candidates Debate

Summary Ten Republican candidates for president debated at the Reagan Library in California, the first GOP debate of the 2008 campaign. Here and there we found stumbles, spin and exaggerations, just as we did at the Democratic debate a week earlier. Giuliani claimed that adoptions shot up 65 to 70 …
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factcheck.org Wins 2 Webby “People’s Voice” Awards

Summary The Webby Awards named factcheck.org the best political Web site, and also the best on government, in the 2007 People’s Voice vote. Analysis The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences announced May 1 that voters in the annual Webby "People’s Voice" competition chose factcheck.org as winner in both …
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