On April 29, we wrote that there was no evidence that President Obama would cancel the National Day of Prayer and that, in fact, the White House had announced plans to recognize it. Still, we received skeptical e-mails over the weekend from people who had heard a recycled rumor claiming Obama wasn’t going to acknowledge the day.
Today, one e-mailer complained about the phrasing in a quote we had cited, in which the chairman of the National Day of Prayer Task Force,
General Motors’ Debt
Q: Did General Motors repay its TARP loan from the Treasury with other TARP money?
A: Yes. GM repaid the loan portion of the automaker bailout ahead of schedule, with interest. It used TARP money it had already received but hadn’t spent. And taxpayers are still stuck with GM stock that isn’t worth what was paid for it.
Over the Top on TARP
It’s always fascinating to watch history being rewritten before one’s very eyes. A fresh example comes courtesy of the National Republican Congressional Committee, in a cookie-cutter press release attacking Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia and a slew of his fellow Democrats.
We were sent a version of the release headlined "New Poll: Americans at Odds with Connolly’s [or other Democrat’s] Stimulus." It cites a new Pew Research Center poll that shows most Americans don’t believe the $787 billion stimulus bill,
Blackwell Blasts FactCheck
In an interview on "The Daily Show," Family Research Council fellow Ken Blackwell disagreed with host Jon Stewart about whether the Obama administration has an unprecedented number of "czars." (This is part two of the interview, available only online.)
Stewart: Not all the so-called czars were appointed by Obama, and again — and this is just from an organization called FactCheck.org, and just because they have "fact" in their title doesn’t necessarily mean anything — but again,
Twitter, and the Pennsylvania 12th
In episode 9 of FactCheck Radio, we debunk false tweets from the political parties on Twitter, and we look at dueling ads in a special election to fill a House seat in Pennsylvania.
(Click the play button below to listen to the podcast. Or subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.)
For more on the stories discussed in this episode, see:
Mis-Tweets on Twitter April 28
A False Hit on Critz April 22
Another False Tax Attack (And One That’s Just Deceptive) April 21
Mis-Tweeting in the News
In light of our article yesterday about false and misleading political claims on Twitter, we found this story on media mis-tweetment amusing:
Mediaite.com: Just after 9:30 @ABCWorldNews twittered this: BREAKING: President Obama will name Elena Kagan his nominee for the Supreme Court, @jaketapper reports. As you will see, he did not, and the tweet has since been deleted.
It was picked up by one @lensmith22 who RT’d it.
Shortly thereafter Jake Tapper responded…on Twitter: “@ABCWorldNews no I dont.”
National Day of Prayer: Still On
Q: Has President Obama canceled the May 6 National Day of Prayer?
A: No. This widely circulated falsehood echoes similar claims made last year when the president issued a pro-prayer-day proclamation but didn’t hold White House services as President Bush had done.
Mis-Tweets on Twitter
Mis-tweet
v. To use Twitter to mislead your followers.
For providing false and misleading information, a 30-second TV spot crafted by a seasoned media consultant is still king. But there’s another medium this campaign year that makes …
FactCheck Mailbag, Week of April 20-April 26
This week, readers sent us comments about sales taxes on home profits and the Webby awards.
In the FactCheck Mailbag, we feature some of the e-mail we receive. Readers can send comments to editor@factcheck.org. Letters may be edited for length.
Just the Facts 2010: Attack Ads
The 2010 elections are heating up. In California’s GOP gubernatorial primary, Steve Poizner launched a false ad attacking Meg Whitman. And the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee was wrong when it accused a Republican House candidate in Hawaii of pledging to protect tax breaks …