Issues: Energy

American Future Fund: “Janesville”

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American Future Fund is regurgitating Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) claim that the closure of a General Motors factory in his hometown proves President Obama’s economic policies failed. The timeline of events does not support AFF and Ryan’s claim, as the plant’s closure came under President Bush. More importantly, AFF and Ryan both omit some of then-candidate Obama’s 2008 comments to Janesville auto workers: Obama stressed the plant would have to retool its assembly line to make fuel-efficient cars rather than SUVs and trucks, because GM and the larger auto market were all shifting sharply in that direction. Indeed, Ryan lobbied GM throughout 2008 to retool the Janesville plant, while also claiming that government action could lower gas prices and help save truck assembly plants. Market forces and chronology render AFF’s ad highly dishonest.

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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.

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American Future Fund: “Frustrating”

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American Future Fund (AFF) is trying to convince New Mexico voters that Rep. Martin Heinrich is responsible for the effects of the Great Recession, which started wreaking havoc on the economy well before Heinrich took office in January 2009. In the process, AFF throws out a misleading statistic on New Mexico’s unemployment and criticizes Heinrich over his support for the stimulus, which prevented an even greater economic catastrophe, created American jobs, and cut taxes for millions.

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Not So Slick: Conservatives Mislead On Gas Prices And Domestic Energy

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When an improving economy and recent instability in the Middle East pushed gasoline prices up from artificial lows caused by the recession, conservatives conveniently attributed higher costs to President Obama’s policies. In reality, the president has little control over the price of oil, which is traded on a world market, and neither increased drilling nor the Keystone XL pipeline would have much of an impact on gas prices. Despite conservative rhetoric about the president’s supposed hostility to the oil and gas industries, domestic oil production is at its highest in nearly a decade; there are more rigs in operation than any time since 1985; and American crude oil exports are the highest they’ve ever been.

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U.S. Chamber Of Commerce: “Congressman Heinrich Says He’s Standing For New Mexico Families”

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An ad from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce attacks New Mexico Senate candidate Martin Heinrich for allegedly voting to raise energy costs “by nearly $1,000 per year” and opposing “American energy exploration.” It’s true that Heinrich voted in the House for the American Clean Energy and Security Act, but nonpartisan experts concluded that the bill would have a minimal cost to consumers. Meanwhile, Heinrich’s “energy exploration” vote was against speeding up the process to restart drilling permits just a year after the Deepwater Horizon spill, when safety reviews were still being conducted.

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Crossroads GPS: “Suffered”

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Crossroads GPS attempts to link “three years of crushing unemployment” to President Obama’s “failed” investments in clean energy through the Recovery Act. In addition to misrepresenting the program that provided loans for Solyndra and other companies, Crossroads GPS conveniently overlooks what really ‘crushed’ the job market: a historically devastating recession that was destroying hundreds of thousands of jobs per month when Obama was inaugurated. Since then, the avalanche of job losses has turned into steady growth, with the private sector gaining 4.5 million jobs over the last 29 months. The ad also blames Obama for the rising debt without noting the disastrous fiscal impact of Bush policies, such as tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans, and the recession.

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U.S. Chamber Of Commerce: “Shelley Berkley, In The Wrong Corner For Small Business In Nevada”

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An ad from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce targets Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV) for supporting health care reform and clean energy legislation. The ad asserts that the Affordable Care Act “hurts small businesses,” citing as evidence a Gallup survey of small business owners that, in fact, contains no mention of the health care law. Of course, the Chamber’s misrepresentation of ACA is predictable considering that health insurers paid it more than $100 million to oppose reform. The ad’s demonization of a clean energy bill supported by Berkley is similarly problematic, relying on a biased analysis from the right-wing Heritage foundation to exaggerate the legislation’s potential impact on Nevada families.

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Crossroads GPS: “Show”

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A Crossroads GPS ad attacks Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) by tying him to President Obama’s agenda, in the process leaving viewers with the wrong picture of the deficit-reducing Affordable Care Act and the American Jobs Act, the latter of which would have been financed by a surtax on millionaires. The ad also misleads on Brown’s vote to invoke cloture on an early version of climate change legislation, failing to mention that he was joined by a majority of Senate Republicans and relying on analysis from the conservative Heritage Foundation to represent the bill as a job-killer.

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Americans For Prosperity: “Wisconsin Moving Forward”

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American For Prosperity targets Wisconsin senatorial candidate Tammy Baldwin by linking her to former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, citing a handful of House votes in the past several years as evidence of Baldwin’s support for “wasteful spending.” In each case, however, AFP misses the mark. Efforts taken to rescue the economy helped stave off an even worse, deficit-deepening collapse, while other policies such as the Affordable Care Act actually reduce future deficits.

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American Crossroads: “Behind”

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American Crossroads’ attack on former Gov. Tim Kaine (D-VA) attempts to paint him as self-serving and ambitious at the expense of the Virginians who elected him. To that end, Crossroads insinuates that his decision to serve as Democratic National Committee chairman during his final year as governor is connected to the state’s job losses, rather than the nationwide recession, and they snatch multiple clips of Kaine out of context to deceive voters about how he talks about his public service.

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