Americans For Prosperity: “Nevada Taxpayers First”

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Americans for Prosperity targets Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV) for supporting clean energy legislation and voting against a proposed balanced budget amendment to the Constitution. However, the American Clean Energy and Security Act would have had a minimal impact on most consumers, and actually would have decreased energy costs for low-income households. In addition, the constitutional amendment that Berkley opposed would make cyclical economic downturns more severe, while AFP’s use of “family budgets” to justify the ban on deficits fails to consider that most Americans rely on things like mortgages and student loans.

Read more after the jump.

National Federation Of Independent Businesses: “Government Regulations Hinder My Business”

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An ad from the National Federation of Independent Business follows Florida business owner Dean Mixon around as he blames government for hindering his businesses’ growth, then calls on Florida Sen. Bill Nelson to “start supporting Florida’s small businesses, not Washington bureaucrats.” In the process, NFIB flashes a series of “facts” on screen to give the impression that regulations are doing significant harm to the economy. Whatever Mixon’s personal experience has been with regulations, business owners and economists generally blame a lack of demand, not the current regulatory environment, for holding back growth.

Read more after the jump.

American Future Fund: “Bill Nelson, 1979”

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An ad from the American Future Fund attacks Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), over the national debt and over Nelson’s vote for the Affordable Care Act. What the ad leaves out is that the health care law reduces the deficit and improves care for seniors, while the national debt was been driven up by Bush policies – including tax breaks for the wealthy that Nelson opposed – and the recession.

Read more after the jump.

American Future Fund: “What Does The Wisconsin Flag Think About Tammy Baldwin?”

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In an ad featuring animated figures on the Wisconsin state flag, American Future Fund attacks Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), who is currently running for U.S. Senate. The two figures on the flag discuss Baldwin’s vote for the Affordable Care Act, which reduces the deficit and improves care for seniors, and the national debt, which has been driven up by Bush policies and the recession – not by Tammy Baldwin.

Read more after the jump.

FRC’s Tony Perkins Takes Tampa

In advance of next week’s Republican National Convention, party leaders are crafting an official platform that is “likely to be the most conservative in years,” according to Politico. The influence of the conservative movement – and social conservatives in particular – became apparent this morning when the platform committee rejected a proposal to recognize civil unions between LGBT couples.

In fact, Family Research Council (FRC) president Tony Perkins claims to have written the marriage plank of the platform himself. “You should read the entire plank on marriage, which I wrote. I’m very happy with it,” he said in an interview. Perkins also boasted that FRC had “help[ed] delegates hold the line on social issues,” and that he personally contributed to “amendments on conscience rights, abortion in health care, and stem cell research.”

Read more after the jump.

D’Souza: President Obama Thinks “We Are The Evil Empire”

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In an August 20 interview with Center for Security Policy president Frank Gaffney, anti-Obama author Dinesh D’Souza said:

Well, we normally thing we’re having a policy debate between liberals and conservatives who agree on about goals but disagree about means. And I think when you’re dealing with a Bill Clinton, for example, that is true. We all want a prosperous economy, we all want America to be a force for freedom in the world, we’d like America to stay number one as long as possible. See, I think Obama stands outside this consensus. And he does so, again, not because he’s a traitor but because he subscribes to a very radical Third World ideology that sees America as the rogue nation in the world. You’ll remember, Frank, as well as anyone else Reagan’s phrase “the evil empire,” referring to the Soviet Union. I think from Obama’s point of view, we are the evil empire, we are the one that needs to be contained. And this actually, once you put on these spectacles, you will see that pretty much everything Obama’s doing makes complete sense.

D’Souza is the president of Kings College, and a former scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and the Hoover Institution.

Read more after the jump.

AFA’s Bryan Fischer: Todd Akin “Absolutely Right” About Pregnancy From “Real, Genuine Rape”

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From the American Family Association’s “Focal Point” radio show, hosted by AFA director of issues analysis Bryan Fischer, on August 20, 2012:

FISCHER: So what Todd Akin is talking about is when you’ve got a real, genuine rape, a case of forcible rape, a case of assault rape, where a woman has been violated against her will through the use of physical force, where it’s physically traumatic for her, he says in those circumstances the woman’s body, because of the trauma that’s been inflicted on her, it may interfere with the normal functioning processes of her body that lead to conception and pregnancy. There’s a very delicate and complex mix of hormones that take place that are released in a woman’s body, and if that gets interfered with, it may make it impossible for her or difficult in that particular circumstance to conceive a child. That’s all Todd Akin is saying. The brute force trauma of that event may inhibit her body’s ability to have that act of rape result in conception. That’s all he’s saying and he’s absolutely right about that. [via Right Wing Watch]

Read more after the jump.

Restore Our Future: “Debate”

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The latest ad from Restore Our Future contrasts Mitt Romney’s “life in the private sector” with familiar distortions of President Obama’s record. In reality, the “failed stimulus” helped rescue the economy from the recession, kept the unemployment rate from rising even more, and cut taxes for millions of Americans. Obama also inherited a projected deficit above $1 trillion, driven by Bush policies and the recession, and Republicans have consistently rejected the president’s deficit-reduction efforts.

Read more after the jump.

Rick Santorum: Some Obama Policies Are “Antithetical To The American Experience”

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On the August 17, 2012 edition of Family Research Council president Tony Perkins’ Washington Watch Weekly radio show, former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) falsely claimed that President Obama had ‘waived’ work requirements for welfare recipients:

PERKINS: Well let’s take a – I want to get your take on the current state of affairs in this election as the Republicans go into their convention, I know you’re going to be one of the convention speakers, maybe you want to give us a little thought—a little highlight on what you might be talking about, a little preview. But where does the election currently stand today, you think?

SANTORUM: Well, you know, as you know, Tony, it always comes down to about a dozen states, and, you know, it’s how those candidates do in, you know, Pennsylvania, Ohio, you know, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Florida, Colorado, you know the states. And right now I’d say, you know, we’re looking at those polls, we’re probably a little bit behind. And that’s disconcerting to me given, you know, how outrageous this administration has been in its assault on the American values, everything from the values we just talked about to the values of free enterprise and the value of limited government and, you know, one of the things I’ll talk about at the convention is what the president’s doing with welfare and waiving a requirement that everybody in welfare is required to work. Those are the kinds of things that are, you know, antithetical to the American experience. It’s not who we are as a country, and one of the – you know, what I hope comes out of this convention is that we see very clearly crystallize in the eyes of the American public the clear and stark differences between Barack Obama’s America, and the America that, well, frankly, we built in generations past that created the greatest country in the history of the world.

The Week In Conservative Attack Ads

propublica-darkmoney-813On Monday we learned that just two conservative nonprofits have spent more on television ads in the presidential race than every super PAC combined. ProPublica’s tally of advertising data shows that Americans for Prosperity and Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS have aired a combined $59.9 million in “ads mentioning a candidate for president.”

There is plenty of action further down the ticket as well. Of the 14 ads Bridge Project fact checked in the last week, just two targeted President Obama. Eight came from Crossroads GPS, three from the 60 Plus Association (on which more below), two from AFP, and one from the Romney super PAC Restore Our Future. AFP’s ads (one in the Wisconsin Senate race, the other an explicit recommendation against voting for Obama) focused on debt and the health care law. The debt – and dishonest claims about its sources – were the focus of three of Crossroads GPS’ ads, while multiple ads disingenuously accused senators of voting to tax small businesses. A pair of Crossroads GPS ads in the Virginia Senate contest misrepresented Tim Kaine’s record as governor and his stance on defense spending.

Read more after the jump.