There may be nothing more damning in a Republican primary than labeling your opponent a “Pelosi Republican.” That’s what Lee Zeldin does in a TV ad attacking his opponent, George Demos, in New York’s 1st Congressional District. But this is a case of mislabeling.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi mistakenly claimed that President Clinton launched an airstrike in 1999 after the House rejected the use of military force in a tie vote. Actually, U.S. and NATO forces had attacked Serbia five weeks before the House vote.
Nancy Pelosi was playing a semantic word game when she claimed there “was not a delay of the mandate for the businesses” in the new health care law. That was in fact the effect of a decision announced recently by the Treasury.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi seized on an old talking point, miscasting a now-famous quote by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell in 2010 about the goal of making Obama a “one-term president.”
On CNN’s “State of the Union” on March 10, host Candy Crowley asked the leader of the House Democrats if President Barack Obama’s stated commitment to helping return the House to Democratic power, with Pelosi at the helm, wasn’t the same as McConnell’s comment about his goal of making Obama a one-term president.
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,
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.
Several Republicans testing the presidential waters in Iowa made more than a few statements that we found all wet. Among the dubious claims …
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."
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
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