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Viral Spiral
FactCheck Mailbag
FactCheck Mailbag, Week of March 19-25.
See letters from previous weeks“ Criticizing the Democrats for citing the only available study on gun purchases for its age seems wide of the target. ” -
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2012 Players Guide
Author Archives: Justin Bank
Shot off the Mark
Earlier this week Americans United for Safe Streets, the gun safety advocacy group financially supported by New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg, released a television ad attacking former Attorney General Bob McDonnell of Virginia, a Republican running to be the state’s governor. The ad features Omar Samaha, whose sister died in …
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Cost of Illegal Immigrants
Q: Do illegal immigrants cost $338.3 billion dollars a year? More than the Iraq war? A: A chain e-mail that makes this claim is loaded with errors and misleading assertions. Published studies vary widely but put the cost to government at a small fraction of that total.
Obama’s Prime Time Pitch
President Obama sometimes strayed from the facts or made dubious claims during his hour-long evening news conference March 24. He said his budget projections are based on economic assumptions that “are perfectly consistent with what Blue Chip forecasters out there are saying.” Not true. The average projection by leading …
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Posted in Articles
Tagged AIG, budget, economy, military, President Obama, Prime Time Speeches
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More Upstate Insults
The campaign to fill the vacant House seat in New York’s 20th congressional district is the race that keeps on giving – giving false and misleading ads, at least. Two new spots, one from Democratic businessman Scott Murphy and another from his foe, Republican state Assembly Minority Leader Jim Tedisco, both …
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Posted in Articles
Tagged economy, Jim Tedisco, jobs, Scott Murphy, special election, TV ads
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First Salvo of 2012?
On Friday, the Democratic National Committee released an ad attacking Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina for not accepting $700 million in stimulus funds. Sanford is considered a potential Republican candidate for president in 2012. The ad is correct to say that Sanford is "turning down millions in recovery act …
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Posted in The FactCheck Wire
Tagged Democratic National Committee, Mark Sanford, stimulus bill, television ad
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U.S. Oil Reserves
Q: Are anti-drilling forces blocking access to the world’s largest oil reserve in the western U.S.? A: The Bakken Formation touted in a chain e-mail isn’t the world’s largest oil reserve. The amount of oil it contains, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, is less than one one-hundredth of the …
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Picking a Big Game Fight
Back in September, we analyzed an ad from the environmental group Defenders of Wildlife that attacked Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin for "aerial hunting" of wolves. Though its facts were essentially correct, we pointed out that the Alaskan government called the hunting "predator control" and said its purpose was …
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