English – Page 492 – FactCheck.org

Scary Medicare Claims

September 26, 2012

A new TV ad in Florida harkens back to the notorious “death panel” falsehood. It wrongly claims Medicare benefits could be “rationed” and seniors denied treatment by the new health care law. In fact, the law specifically forbids rationing or restriction of benefits.
American Crossroads, a super PAC launched with the help of Karl Rove, adviser to President George W. Bush, attacks Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson in the ad, which features a gloomy gray-colored hospital bed with the word “rationed”

Obama’s Executive Orders

September 25, 2012

Q: Has President Barack Obama signed 900 executive orders, some of which create martial law?
A: No. Obama’s executive orders do not create martial law. And so far he has signed 139 executive orders — not 900.

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”

Overselling the Affordable Care Act

September 24, 2012

At the Democratic National Convention, former President Bill Clinton went too far when he suggested that the Affordable Care Act was the reason the growth in health care spending has been low in the past two years. On Connecticut Public Broadcasting, Managing Editor Lori Robertson explains that the slow economy is the main reason.
For more, see our Sept. 6 article “Our Clinton Nightmare.”

Sept. 21: Median Income, Obama, 47 Percenters

September 21, 2012

Who are the 47 Percent?

September 21, 2012

In a secretly recorded video at a May fundraiser, Mitt Romney told donors that 47 percent of Americans do not pay federal income tax and are “dependent upon the government.” Who are the 47 percent? Deputy Managing Editor Robert Farley explains on WCBS radio that most of them are working people who simply do not earn very much money.
For our article on Romney, see “Dependency and Romney’s 47 Percenters.”

Romney’s Stump Speech

September 20, 2012

To the strains of Kid Rock’s “Born Free,” Mitt Romney took to the stage at a minor league baseball park in Nashua, N.H., on Sept. 7 flanked by his wife, Ann, and delivered a standard — albeit slightly longer — version of his stump speech. But unless you were at Holman Stadium that day …

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,”

Brown ‘Lying’ About Abortion Stance?

September 20, 2012

An abortion rights group says that Republican Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts is “straight-up lying” in a new ad that says he is “pro-choice, and he supports a woman’s right to choose.” That’s wrong. Brown has consistently said he is a supporter of abortion rights dating back to 2004, and he urged the GOP this year to change its platform to be more inclusive of Republicans like him. The group’s complaint concerns a few votes on matters such as federal funding and religious conscience clauses that have angered abortion rights organizations and earned support from anti-abortion groups.

Obama’s Stump Speech

September 19, 2012

It’s the oldest form of political communication. Before there was Twitter or Facebook, before there were 30-second television ads, or super PACs, or even radio or newspapers — there was the stump speech. Ancient Greek politicians spoke directly to citizens …