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A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

Stories by Eugene Kiely

Director, FactCheck.org

Social Security Scare

Social Security Scare
October 3, 2012

Seniors beware: The Obama and Romney campaigns are making false claims about taxing Social Security benefits:

Vice President Joe Biden told seniors in Florida that Romney’s tax plan “would raise taxes on your Social Security.” But that’s not part of Romney’s tax plan. It’s the Obama-Biden campaign’s latest misrepresentation of a nonpartisan study. The group that did the analysis disputes the campaign’s interpretation of its work.
The Romney campaign and the National Republican Committee falsely claim that Biden “repeatedly voted for higher taxes on Social Security benefits.”

Obama’s Deficit Dodge

Obama’s Deficit Dodge
September 28, 2012

President Obama is falsely claiming that his administration’s policies are responsible for “about 10 percent” of the deficits “over the last four years.” The cumulative deficit during that time is nearly $5.2 trillion. Obama signed two bills — the 2009 stimulus and the 2010 tax cut — that alone cost $1.6 trillion during that time, or nearly a third of the cumulative four-year deficit.
How could he have been so wrong? Although he said “the last four years,”

Romney Ad on China Mangles Facts

Romney Ad on China Mangles Facts
September 25, 2012

A Romney ad strains the facts when it suggests the Obama administration’s refusal to “stand up to China” and label it a currency manipulator has cost the U.S. 2 million jobs. The jobs figure is unrelated to currency manipulation. It is an International Trade Commission estimate of jobs that could be created if China enforced U.S. intellectual property rights.
Actually, intellectual property rights are a high priority of the Obama administration, and in 2010 it won what it called “significant intellectual property rights enforcement initiatives”

Romney, Obama Court Moms, Distort Facts

Romney, Obama Court Moms, Distort Facts
September 20, 2012

Mitt Romney and President Obama each distort the facts in TV ads aimed at young mothers:

Romney’s ad falsely attributes the nation’s $16 trillion debt all to Obama when it says “your share of Obama’s debt is over $50,000.” The total public debt was $10.6 trillion when Obama took office, and he inherited a $1 trillion-plus deficit in his first year.
Obama’s ad claims Romney’s tax plan “could take away middle-class deductions for child care, home mortgages and college tuition,”

NRCC Attack Ad Misleads Iowa Voters

NRCC Attack Ad Misleads Iowa Voters
September 18, 2012

A Republican TV ad falsely claims that businesses “are forced to drop health care coverage” and families are “losing health care benefits” under the new federal health care law. “That’s what’s happening,” the ad says. But that’s not happening now. The claim is based on a July survey of corporate executives and human-resource officers who were asked if they expect their companies to drop insurance coverage in the next one to five years.
The survey found that “9% of companies representing 3% of the workforce anticipate dropping coverage in the next 1-3 years.”

Romney’s Bogus ‘Apology’ Claim

September 14, 2012

FactCheck.org Director Brooks Jackson talks to WCBS radio about a false claim that Mitt Romney repeatedly made after the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya and the U.S. embassy in Cairo, Egypt.
Romney said the Obama administration issued an “apology for American values” after the attacks. That’s not true. Romney was referring to a statement issued before mobs attacked either in Egypt or Libya. Furthermore, the word “sorry” or “apologize” doesn’t appear in the statement.