Issues: Economy

U.S. Chamber of Commerce: “CA-24 Lois Capps”

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An ad from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce features a business owner suggesting that she is unable to hire more people because of uncertainty associated with federal policies, even though ample evidence suggests that consumer demand has the greatest impact on business hiring. The ad then attacks Rep. Lois Capps (D-CA) for voting for a cap-and-trade bill that would boost the economy at minimal cost to consumers, the Wall Street Reform bill, which seeks to prevent another financial collapse, the Affordable Care Act, which doesn’t “cut” Medicare benefits, as the ad suggests, but rather finds savings by reducing future Medicare spending.

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U.S. Chamber of Commerce: “CA-9: Jerry McNerney”

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An ad from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce features a business owner suggesting that she is unable to hire more people because of uncertainty associated with federal policies, even though ample evidence suggests that consumer demand has the greatest impact on business hiring. The ad then attacks Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-CA) for voting for a cap-and-trade bill that would boost the economy at minimal cost to consumers, and the Affordable Care Act, which doesn’t “cut” Medicare benefits, as the ad suggests, but rather finds savings by reducing future Medicare spending.

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The Week In Conservative Attack Ads

After last week’s wave of House ads, conservative outside groups focused most of their attention on the Senate this week. Of the 14 ads we fact-checked, eight of them targeted Senate hopefuls (five from Karl Rove’s Crossroads groups and three from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce), compared to only two hitting House candidates (both from the Congressional Leadership Fund). We also answered presidential ads from Restore Our Future, Americans for Job Security, and American Future Fund. Finally, Americans for Prosperity joined the conservative campaign to oust three Florida Supreme Court justices.

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Crossroads GPS: “Stamp”

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An ad from Crossroads GPS complains that Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) is a “rubber stamp” for spending, citing the Wall Street bailout, the Recovery Act, and the Affordable Care Act. The ad doesn’t acknowledge, however that the bipartisan bank bailout and the stimulus both rescued the economy from an even more severe downturn, while the Affordable Care Act reduces the deficit.

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American Future Fund: “Promises”

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American Future Fund highlights examples of President Obama making similar statements in 2008 and 2012, as if it’s somehow discrediting that, after a term marked by Republican obstructionism, the president would still have any of the same goals that he campaigned on four years ago. To drive the point home, AFF closes with Obama’s statement in 2009 that “If I don’t have this done in three years, then there’s going to be a one-term proposition.” However, the ad leaves out crucial context: Obama was responding to a question about efforts to rescue the economy, and he suggested that he would lose if voters did not see the economy “starting to make some progress.” Three years later, the economy has added 4.6 million private-sector jobs over 30 consecutive months of growth.

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Restore Our Future: “Kindergarten”

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An ad from pro-Romney super PAC Restore Our Future complains about high federal debt and the slow economic recovery, asking if America is going “forward” or “backward.” Restore Our Future fails to note, however, that 4.6 million new jobs have been created over 30 consecutive months of private-sector growth, or that GOP-favored public-sector downsizing is dragging down the recovery. In addition, it’s Bush-era policies plus the global recession that set the U.S. on a path towards an explosion of the federal debt.

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Americans For Job Security: “Running”

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Americans for Job Security portrays the economy as still mired in recession, using a woman’s voiceover to suggest that President Obama has failed “to turn the economy around.” But while the economy has yet to dig out of the massive, nearly unprecedented hole created by the 2007-08 financial crisis, it has certainly turned around. The economy was hemorrhaging nearly a million jobs each month when President Bush handed over to Obama, and today the economy has been adding jobs for 30 months – two and a half years straight. Just as the ad’s depiction of the recent past is inaccurate, its insinuations about our immediate future are not supported by the evidence.

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Crossroads GPS: “When”

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Crossroads GPS mimics a DirecTV ad campaign with a stern narrator following a progression of cause and effect starting with the decision to elect Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH). But where the original ads are zany and played for laughs, GPS uses the familiar format to sell voters on misinformation. Brown’s vote for the Affordable Care Act isn’t preventing Ohio manufacturers from hiring, as the ad suggests. Indeed, that sector has been the cornerstone of Ohio’s recovery, showing steady job gains since the recession brought on by the financial crisis.

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Crossroads GPS: “Big”

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Crossroads GPS accuses Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV) of supporting “the largest tax increase in American history,” as well as “a plan to raise taxes on nearly a million small businesses next year.” Both charges are based on the scheduled expiration of the Bush tax cuts, and both are false. The Bush tax cuts were passed with an end date – an agreement in late 2010 extended them for two years – and allowing them to expire would not be the biggest tax increase ever. In addition, Berkley only wants to phase out tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans, which would not affect many actual small businesses or harm job creation.

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Crossroads GPS: “Addicted”

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Accusing Virginia Senate candidate Tim Kaine (D) of being “addicted” to spending, Crossroads GPS cites a budget Kaine proposed as the outgoing governor of Virginia. The plan, which would have made some tough spending cuts in order to balance Virginia’s recession-ravaged budget, would have raised the maximum state income tax rate by just one percentage point, a trade-off for preventing even deeper cuts to essential services. The ad also refers to the looming defense cuts triggered by the failure of the deficit reduction super committee. Kaine supported the creation of the super committee in a deal to raise the debt ceiling, but has laid out a plan for preventing the upcoming defense cuts.

Read more after the jump.