Tag Archives: Republicans

FactChecking ‘The Pledge to America’

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Get a load of that title! Click for text, with pictures.

FactCheck.org is the website of a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics for voters

by monitoring the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases. Our goal is to apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and understanding.

They are a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania and not related to any political party.  They simply check facts.  In these midterm elections, they are a good place to turn for the truth behind the spin in any given campaign.  This post, for example, shows that both the Republican and Democratic candidates for Senator in Nevada are making false claims about each other.

So what about the Pledge to America that Republican Party leaders recently made?

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Checking Facts on the Gulf of Mexico Oil Disaster

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The April 20 explosion that started oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico has prompted a slew of claims and counterclaims about the disaster. What caused it, how it’s being handled, the history of drilling accidents in the area – all are subjects ripe for false or misleading statements by politicians and others.

We keep track so you don’t have to. Some of the lowlights so far, in no particular order.
* Some Republicans falsely claimed Obama was slowing the cleanup by not waiving the Jones Act, which actually doesn’t apply to the cleanup operations.
* Obama said he issued a six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf. Not quite. Much drilling continues.
* A Republican governor keeps saying the spill is the first big blowout in the Gulf, failing to note a 1979 disaster that continued for 10 months, and numerous smaller blowouts.
* A DNC ad claimed that a GOP lawmaker spoke for his party when he said BP deserves an apology. But that apology had already been rejected by other leading Republicans.
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There are plenty more where those came from. See our “Analysis” section for a roundup of the oil-spill whoppers we’ve encountered.

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What were Tuesday’s Elections About?

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There is no doubt that there is a lot of frustration across the country with Washington. There always is some simmering level of it. It’s in the nature of the American psyche to be suspicious of the establishment. But in their analysis of a small number of off-year and off-season election results on Tuesday, the media has really overstated the case. They’re looking for a story, I suppose. In fact, I don’t think that was much of an issue at all.
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Ambivalence re: A Petition to stop a Controversial Super Bowl Ad

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Liberal groups are petitioning CBS regarding a spot set to run during the SuperBowl.

The broadcast networks that air the Super Bowl have historically rejected advocacy ads. Yet CBS, which is airing the Super Bowl this year, has accepted an anti-choice ad by the ultra-conservative group Focus on the Family.

Focus on the Family’s “celebrate life” (read: anti-choice) ad features Heisman Trophy-winning college football star Tim Tebow. And CBS approved this anti-choice ad, even though the network has repeatedly rejected advocacy ads in past years including a 2004 MoveOn.org ad that went after then-President Bush’s fiscal irresponsibility and an ad the same year from the United Church of Christ showing them welcoming a gay couple who had been turned away from another church.

— via Credo Action

I have mixed feelings about this type of action.  I am uncomfortable with asking a network not to air an ad because I don’t like the message.  But what bothers me here is that CBS is airing this, but in 2004 it refused to air an ad from the United Church of Christ showing them welcoming a gay couple who had been turned away from another church because it was network policy not to accept “advocacy” advertisements.  CBS says it has revised its policy.  It’s a shame that the United Church of Christ, Planned Parenthood, or some other organization can’t try to buy time for a comparable spot putting forward a progressive viewpoint on some social issue.  That would test the network’s claim.

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Clear and Concise Plan

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In his response to the State of the Union Address Governor McDonnell said the Democratic solutions for solving problems like health care where “1,000 page bills that no one has read” and that their plans where clearly laid out on the RNC web site.  Well, here’s the President’s plan, including a four minute video summary.

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Economists on the Budget Freeze

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Here’s how one economist responded to President Obama’s idea of a spending freeze, which is likely to be a major topic of his State of the Union speech.

A spending freeze? That’s the brilliant response of the Obama team to their first serious political setback?

It’s appalling on every level.

It’s bad economics, depressing demand when the economy is still suffering from mass unemployment. Jonathan Zasloff writes that Obama seems to have decided to fire Tim Geithner and replace him with “the rotting corpse of Andrew Mellon” (Mellon was Herbert Hoover’s Treasury Secretary, who according to Hoover told him to “liquidate the workers, liquidate the farmers, purge the rottenness”.)

That economist is Princeton professor Paul Krugman, winner of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Economics.
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My Most Popular Tweets of the Last Seven Days

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Here are my top 10 Tweets of the last seven days that contain links shortened using ow.ly.

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  6. Check out the Crazy Heart trailer and The Weary Kind theme song. http://ow.ly/Xx0d
  7. Democrats’ Senate supermajority may be at its end after Massachusetts’ special election, polls show http://ow.ly/Y2wb If Brown wins,…
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  10. Higher Ed Faculties Are Liberal Because Conservatives Don’t Seek Academic Careers, Study Finds http://ow.ly/XYOY

Why Scott Brown May Win and Why It Shouldn’t Matter So Much

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The Coakley campaign should never have taken victory in the Massachusetts special election for granted, as many believe they did, at least early on. It’s common that in off year elections the opposition party suffers. Though Massachusetts is said to be a solidly Democratic state, those lines don’t mean as much as they used to, and this is a year in which people are upset about the economy and fired up by a lot of opposition fear mongering on health care reform. It’s always the angry that turn out, especially on a cold, damp day like today. Coakley doesn’t inspire passion. Brown does.

I hope I’m wrong and I’ve voted, marking my vote for Coakley. But even if she’s defeated, it shouldn’t matter as much as pundits are saying it does. Democrats are TERRIBLE strategists. Jon Stewart put it so well last night.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c
Mass Backwards
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show
Full Episodes		 Political Humor Health Care Crisis

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Still, there are a couple hours left, so GET OUT AND VOTE FOR MARTHA COAKLEY!

Martha Coakley for Senate

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President Obama and Martha Coakley

I’m afraid that I have to admit that I agree with Scott Brown.  The negative campaign ads directed against him by the Coakley campaign have been a bit much. The other night I was watching tv and the negative ads came on, one after the other. Many of them featured a dark ominous voice talking about the terrible things that would happen if Brown got elected. Then Copley herself came on in an ad and, to be honest, her voice seemed just a bit strident and annoying. But don’t be deceived. This election is about substance, not style; Issues, not rhetoric!

The fact is that Scott Brown spouts a lot of general, feel good rhetoric that needs to be interrogated and challenged. Brown accuses his opponents of running ads that attack him but don’t discuss the issues, but where is the discussion of the issues in his ads? He’s endorsed by the Tea Party Patriots. I am opposed to virtually every point in their agenda and think they are a little nuts. If they endorse him, I want to know why. What issues does he agree with them on? The answer is far too many.

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Consumers Union Seeks Support for Last Chance Effort on Health Care Reform

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HospitalI got this today from Consumers Union Action Fund. It’s worth passing along.

Dear Michael,

In just days, the future of your health care could come down to only one vote.

We’re at a turning point with the Senate bill. The voice of real people must be heard to make sure the bill emerges with the protections that give you freedom and security rather than endless financial uncertainty.

The Senate bill will expand coverage and save lives–but it can and must be improved. The fact remains, if the Senate bill dies in the next week, we can’t fight on to make the final bill better as the process continues. A defeat in the Senate only serves the giant insurance companies, who will continue denying you coverage, denying you care when you need it, and making big profits doing so. Continue reading →