Issues: Recession

Crossroads GPS: “No Dice”

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Crossroads GPS accuses Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) of supporting “billions in wasted spending projects that didn’t help Missouri,” citing as evidence Recovery Act grants that went to California, Vermont, and Texas. However, those three projects cost less than $30 million combined, and the Recovery Act funds were distributed all across the country to help turn the economy around. The ad further misleads by blaming McCaskill, instead of costly Bush policies and the recession, for driving up the debt.

Read more after the jump.

Restore Our Future: “Another Month”

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In an ad titled “Another Month,” Restore Our Future mashes up news headlines and video clips of President Obama to paint a misleading picture of the economy. In reality, the private sector has gained 4.5 million jobs over the last 29 consecutive months of growth, including 172,000 in July. While the continuing decline in government employment has slowed the recovery, the economic situation has improved significantly since Obama inherited an economy that was shedding hundreds of thousands of jobs per month in early 2009. That turnaround was aided by the Recovery Act, which helped stave off a deeper collapse, created jobs, and cut taxes for millions of working Americans.

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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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Crossroads GPS: “Holes”

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Crossroads GPS attempts to take Virginia Senate candidate Tim Kaine to task for both ‘soaring spending’ and ‘devastating’ cuts to spending on higher education during Kaine’s tenure as the state’s governor. But the budgetary reality of Kaine’s tenure was largely determined by the foibles of the global economy, which saw Kaine into office during a period of strength before enduring a massive recession that devastated state revenues and forced the governor and the legislature to make tough decisions about cuts. Ultimately, Kaine balanced every budget during his tenure.

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Crossroads GPS: “People Over Government”

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Crossroads GPS is attacking Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) over taxes, attempting to cast her support for ending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans as a determination to increase taxes on small businesses. But what McCaskill has actually “voted repeatedly” to do is to cut everyone’s taxes on their first $200,000 of income, and to revert to Clinton-era rates on the 1.4 percent of Americans who earn enough to benefit from the top-end Bush tax cuts. In addition to the standard conservative conflation of rich people and small businesses, the GPS ad misleads about the tax impact of health care reform, and implies that it’s McCaskill, and not a massive global economic crisis, that’s hurt Missouri’s manufacturers.

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Americans For Prosperity: “A One Term Proposition”

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An ad from Americans for Prosperity features a flurry of TV news clips about rising debt in the past few years and connects them to President Obama’s statement in February 2009 that “If I don’t have this done in three years, then there’s going to be a one-term proposition.” However, recent deficits have been fueled by Bush policies and the recession, and the ad takes the president’s words completely out of context. In fact, Obama was talking about whether efforts to rescue the economy would lead to economic progress. Since that interview, massive monthly job losses have turned into steady private-sector growth, including 4.5 million new private-sector jobs in the last 29 months.

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Crossroads GPS: “News”

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Crossroads GPS attacks President Obama’s economic record with a clip of a CBS News report stating that “this is the worst economic recovery America has ever had.” Blaming the president for high unemployment, the ad fails to acknowledge the severity of the Bush recession, which caused the economy to continue to shed hundreds of thousands of jobs in the first months of the Obama administration, and the GOP-favored public-sector downsizing that’s led to government layoffs. Far from ‘failing,’ the Recovery Act helped avert an even more severe economic collapse.

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Crossroads GPS: “Calendar”

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An ad from Crossroads GPS suggests that Rep. Martin Heinrich (D-NM), who is running for the Senate, is responsible for an “explosion” in debt since he took office. But the main drivers of the debt in recent years are Bush policies, such as tax breaks for the wealthy, and the recession – not policies that Heinrich voted for since he took office in 2009. In fact, the Recovery Act helped prevent an even worse economic collapse, and the Affordable Care Act reduces the deficit.

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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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U.S. Chamber Of Commerce: “Sherrod Brown – Own It”

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In an ad going after Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce complains that Brown supported the Affordable Care Act’s “higher taxes,” even though the health care law won’t raise taxes on most Americans and provides tax credits for millions. Citing Brown’s votes in favor of the Wall Street reform law and against a bill to increase drilling leases, the Chamber accuses the senator of supporting more regulations and opposing energy exploration, ignoring the devastating financial collapse and the Deepwater Horizon accident that had occurred just a year before.

Read more after the jump.