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A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

A Bogus Ad on Breast Cancer, Rove Vs. Brokaw, and Pelosi’s Promise

In Episode 3, we explore the false claims in an ad about breast cancer and health care legislation, look into a testy exchange between Republican strategist Karl Rove and “Meet the Press” host Tom Brokaw, and add context to an RNC ad that criticizes Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi for the ethics of members of her party.

Rove Vs. Brokaw, and Other Sunday Squabbles

Republican strategist Karl Rove and NBC’s "Meet the Press" guest host Tom Brokaw got into a tussle on that program Sunday over whether the Bush administration had planned to use oil money to partly fund the Iraq war. Rove also overstated opposition to Democratic health care legislation.
We’ll start with the health care claim. Rove, a former top adviser to President George W. Bush, said:

Rove, March 14: If you step back for a minute, it’s a pretty remarkable year that we’ve had,

Axelrod Wrong on Health Care Ads Claim

White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod incorrectly claimed that Republican Scott Brown “didn’t run one ad on health care in the entire campaign” against Democrat Martha Coakley. In fact, a Brown campaign TV spot attacking health care legislation ran heavily in the days before Tuesday’s Senate election in Massachusetts.
Axelrod, in an appearance alongside White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs on MSNBC’s “The Daily Rundown” on Wednesday, was trying to play down the role of the health care issue in Brown’s upset victory.