A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

Newt’s Erroneous Ethics Alibi

December 8, 2011

Newt Gingrich falsely claimed the House ethics panel that voted to reprimand him in 1997 was “a very partisan political committee.” He was also off base when he said the inquiry was “a Pelosi-driven effort.”
In fact, the House Committee on Ethics is the only House panel evenly divided by party. And Pelosi was a relatively junior House member and not in a leadership position at the time. It’s true she was one of four members on the subcommittee that conducted the investigation,

Pelosi’s True Spin

June 29, 2011

Nancy Pelosi accurately — but misleadingly — said more private jobs were created last year than under Bush. Her statement was true. But it's also true that there were still 2,065,000 fewer private jobs in May than there were when Obama took office
At last year's pace of job creation, it would take until February 2017 just to regain the jobs lost since the high point reached under the previous administration. And it would still take until 2015 to regain all those jobs even under the faster pace of job growth during the last 15 months.

GOP Exaggerations in Iowa

March 31, 2011

Several Republicans testing the presidential waters in Iowa made more than a few statements that we found all wet. Among the dubious claims …

Dems’ ‘Halfway’ Hustle

March 7, 2011

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."

Chain E-mails of 2010

December 22, 2010

In episode 42 of our podcast, we look back at the top chain e-mails of 2010. And yes, they were false.

For more on this episode, see:
The Viral Spiral of 2010 Dec. 21

Obama, Pelosi, Pence and McConnell

November 12, 2010

In episode 37 of our podcast, we look at President Barack Obama’s hour-long interview on "60 Minutes," some misleading statements from congressional Republicans on the Sunday shows, and a whopper from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

 
For more on the stories discussed in this episode, see:
Obama on ’60 Minutes’  Nov. 9
Sunday Replay  Nov. 8
Pelosi Pablum on ‘Fiscal Discipline’  Nov. 10
 

Pelosi Pablum on ‘Fiscal Discipline’

November 10, 2010

In a Nov. 9 opinion piece for USA Today, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi presented a lengthy list of Democratic accomplishments since assuming control of the House and Senate in January 2007 — including "restoring fiscal discipline to the Congress." That one stopped us.
The fact is the federal government ended fiscal year 2009 with a $1.4 trillion deficit — the highest deficit as a share of the gross domestic product since 1945. And it only dipped slightly to $1.3 trillion in the fiscal year that just ended on Sept.

Down-to-the-Wire Deceptions

October 31, 2010

Attack ads, and the misinformation that comes with them, continue to swamp the airwaves. In fact, spending on ads in these midterm elections could top $3 billion, said Evan Tracey, whose Kantar Media-owned Campaign Media Analysis Group tracks political ads running nationwide. That cracks the $2.7 billion spent in 2008 – when a presidential race as well as the usual congressional ones were eating up airtime.
A brief rundown of some misleading assaults we’ve found in the last few days:
DSCC Hits Murkowski
Among other things,

NRCC Overstates Dems’ Voting Record with Pelosi

October 15, 2010

A number of new TV ads by the National Republican Congressional Committee purport to tell us how often a Democratic incumbent voted with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. But the ads overstate …

Bachmann Decries Rumors, Then Spreads Them

September 18, 2010

At Friday’s conservative Values Voter Summit, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann spoke out against "falsehoods and rumors" about the tea party movement. We applaud any call to combat misinformation — but Bachmann would do well to guard against falsehoods and rumors herself. In the same speech, she complained about "Speaker Pelosi, who has been busy sticking the taxpayer for a $100,000 bar tab for alcohol on the military jets that she is flying." That’s a totally off-base assertion that we addressed back in March.