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A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

Our Angry Readers

We’d like to respond to readers who disliked our article on Social Security’s red ink.
We’ve received dozens of complaints and criticisms, expressing disappointment and sometimes outright anger at our finding that Social Security is in fact contributing to the federal deficit, and that some Democrats are making a false claim when they assert it doesn’t contribute "one penny." ("Democrats Deny Social Security’s Red Ink," Feb. 25.)
Readers accused us variously of being stupid, ignorant, misleading,

No Secret: Bachmann Gets It Wrong

Rep. Michele Bachmann's claim that Democrats "secretly" hid $105 billion in health care spending is way off base. It's true that the new health care law contains many billions in future spending, but there was no secret about that.
The Minnesota Republican told "Meet the Press" host David Gregory that "secretly, unbeknownst to members of Congress, over $105 billion was hidden in the Obamacare legislation to fund the implementation of Obamacare." But the truth is that much,

Dems’ ‘Halfway’ Hustle

Democrats claim their $10.5 billion in proposed cuts are "halfway" to the GOP’s $61 billion. We give that arithmetic an "F."
President Barack Obama claimed during his March 5 radio address that "my administration has already put forward specific cuts that meet congressional Republicans halfway." And White House Chief of Staff William Daley repeated the "halfway" claim during his appearance on "Meet the Press." Earlier, Gene Sperling, director of the White House National Economic Council, told reporters: "The White House has been willing to move halfway to where they are."

Walker’s Tax Cuts

It’s not true that Gov. Scott Walker’s tax cuts are the cause of Wisconsin’s current budget deficit — a false claim widely spread by MSNBC‘s Rachel Maddow and repeated in numerous e-mails to us since we wrote about the state’s budget problems earlier this week. In fact, the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimates the tax cuts won’t add a penny to the current year’s $137 million deficit.
Here’s a typical question that we have fielded since our article ran:

Q: How do the $140 billion [sic] in tax breaks that Walker gave out in January 2011 affect the Wisconsin deficit?

Christie Misrepresents State Workers’ Contract

Chris Christie is misrepresenting the facts about New Jersey union contract negotiations under his predecessor.
Christie has been battling state unions since becoming New Jersey governor in 2010. On CBS’ "Face the Nation" Feb. 27, he exaggerated the generosity of contract terms negotiated (and renegotiated) by Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine’s administration. He also misquoted Corzine’s comments at a state worker rally. 
Christie and host Bob Schieffer discussed the budget showdown in Wisconsin and whether state workers had the right to collective bargaining.

A Big, Fat Mistake

Mike Huckabee cited a bloated statistic, claiming obesity disqualifies three out of four young Americans from military service. The actual total is closer to one in four.
The former Arkansas governor (and possible GOP presidential contender in 2012) was on "Fox News Sunday" on Feb. 27, explaining why he has defended First Lady Michelle Obama’s anti-obesity campaign against attacks by some fellow Republicans.

Huckabee: What Michelle Obama has proposed is that we recognize that we have a serious obesity crisis,

Dems, GOP Exaggerate Spending ‘Cuts’

Senate Democratic leaders, under pressure from Republicans to cut the budget, have been misleading the public by claiming they already have "cut" spending by $41 billion.
The fact is that the Democrats haven’t "cut" any spending. Congress hasn’t passed a budget for fiscal year 2011, and the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says federal spending continues to rise.
First a little background: House Republicans passed legislation in the early morning of Feb. 19 that would fund the federal government for fiscal year 2011.

Obama Bungles Budget Line

President Barack Obama messed up one of his favorite talking points about his 2012 budget proposal at a small business forum in Cleveland.
The president claimed that “I’ve designed a budget that freezes spending for five years and will help reduce the deficit by $400 billion over the next decade to the lowest level since Dwight Eisenhower was president.” That’s not even close to being true.
According to the fiscal year 2012 budget unveiled on Feb.

Rumsfeld on the World’s View of America

Donald Rumsfeld wrongly denied that the U.S. is viewed more favorably under President Barack Obama than it was under President George W. Bush. In fact, residents of several nations including Britain, Germany, France and China view the U.S. more favorably, according to a survey released last year by the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project.
Rumsfeld, who served as Defense Secretary under Bush, told CNN’s Candy Crowley that he didn’t think there was any evidence to support claims that residents of other nations have a more favorable opinion of America than they used to:

Crowley,

Prison for Lying?

A former candidate is going to prison for lying — but not for lying to voters.
We’ve often pointed out that the First Amendment gives candidates the right to say pretty much whatever they want to voters — whether it’s true or not. That’s why we make it our mission to help voters sort out fact from fiction.
But on Feb. 14, a federal judge sentenced former House candidate Tan Nguyen to one year and one day in federal prison for lying —