Issues: Taxes

Americans For Prosperity: “Bill Nelson: Stop Wasteful Spending”

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Americans for Prosperity warps Sen. Bill Nelson’s (D-FL) voting record, misrepresenting the impact of legislation he supported (health care reform and the Recovery Act) and offering dishonest descriptions of legislation he opposed. The ad claims Nelson voted “against stopping more taxpayer-funded bailouts,” citing a vote to allow the auto rescue to proceed – a successful move that has saved jobs in the auto industry and throughout the economy. AFP also accuses Nelson of voting “against American-made energy” on the basis of his opposition to faster offshore drilling permits one year after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill hurt tourism on Florida’s Gulf Coast.

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Americans For Prosperity: “Real Facts Real Solutions”

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In an ad attacking Senate candidate Tim Kaine’s record as governor of Virginia, Americans for Prosperity combines misplaced blame for financial woes caused by declining revenues in the Great Recession with outright falsehoods about Kaine’s response. Faced with impending shortfalls, Kaine cut billions in spending to leave Virginia with a balanced budget, not with the $4.2 billion shortfall AFP claims. Meanwhile, the most significant of the tax increases Kaine proposed (many were never enacted) were attempts to pay for desperately needed transportation upgrades that Virginia’s Republicans wanted to finance by going deeper into debt.

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Americans For Prosperity: “Doing Fine”

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Americans for Prosperity follows closely in the footsteps of pro-Romney super PAC Restore Our Future, taking President Obama’s comment that “the private sector is doing fine” out of context in order to leave voters with the impression that the president is out of touch with economic reality. Full context reveals, however, that Obama was speaking specifically about how public-sector job losses are impeding economic recovery – something that’s backed up by facts. As the private sector has gained 4.5 million jobs over 29 straight months of growth, state and local government have been forced to lay off employees, with the GOP crowing about shrinking government all the while.

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Concerned Women For America: “Care”

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In an ad from the conservative Concerned Women for America, Dr. Ami Siems delivers a monologue riddled with misleading statements about the Affordable Care Act. No matter how many times conservatives say it, the law does not increase the deficit – it reduces it. And those “Washington bureaucrats” cannot deny or ration care. Perhaps the biggest problem with the ad is that it uses a seemingly neutral figure to argue that the law “just isn’t fixing things,” but this is not Dr. Siems’ first go-round as a conservative mascot. She appeared in 2009 anti-reform ad paid for by Americans for Prosperity in which she advanced several falsehoods.

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Restore Our Future: “Doing Fine?”

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The pro-Mitt Romney super PAC Restore Our Future released an ad exploiting President Obama’s comment that “the private sector is doing fine.” While Restore Our Future might have voters believe that the president’s statement is evidence of a callous or out-of-touch approach to economic recovery, the full context reveals that Obama was speaking specifically about how public-sector job losses are impeding economic recovery – something that’s backed up by facts. As the private sector has gained 4.3 million jobs over 28 straight months of growth, state and local government have been forced to lay off employees, with the GOP crowing about shrinking government all the while. That’s a reality that disproportionately impacts women and African Americans – something that Restore Our Future’s ad neglects to mention when it’s wielding accusations about women’s unemployment “under Obama.”

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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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Americans For Prosperity: “Tell Tester: Start Supporting Montana”

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Americans for Prosperity seeks to link Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) to President Obama, calling Tester “one of Barack Obama’s favorite senators” and using a meaningless statistic to suggest that Tester casts his votes to please the president rather than to serve the people of Montana. The ad’s dishonest tactics cast doubt on its implications, however; the Affordable Care Act didn’t institute “government-run health care,” and although the debt ceiling had to be raised to allow Congress to pay its bills, Tester voted against the bank bailout.

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60 Plus Association: “Tell Bill Nelson To Stop The Wasteful Spending”

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A 60 Plus Association ad blames Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) and President Obama for a host of economic woes faced by the Sunshine State, but Florida’s unemployment rate and struggling housing market are all symptoms of the global recession that tanked the national economy. Thanks in part to the Recovery Act, which 60 Plus says “failed,” the jobs picture is improving both in Florida and across the nation. Meanwhile, Republican Gov. Rick Scott – not Nelson – held up a program that would have helped Florida homeowners avoid foreclosure.

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Crossroads GPS: “Cheap”

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Crossroads GPS attacks Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-ND) over his support for the Affordable Care Act. Using the GOP’s long-debunked assertion that the health care law adds $700 billion to the debt, the ad ignores the fact that the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office has repeatedly found that the law will reduce the deficit. The ad also repeats the worn-out claim that Obamacare cuts $500 billion from Medicare, and omits important details when it warns about a “new tax on Ohio manufacturers.”

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Crossroads GPS: “Change”

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Crossroads GPS targets Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) with worn-out attacks based on her support for the Affordable Care Act. Despite the ad’s insinuations, Obamacare doesn’t cut Medicare benefits; the Independent Payment Advisory Board established by the Affordable Care Act to control Medicare costs can’t ration care; and the health care law actually helps control rising health care costs.

Read more after the jump.