Organizations: Crossroads GPS

Crossroads GPS: “Spending”

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A Crossroads GPS ad linking Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) to President Obama’s policies, particularly the Recovery Act, tries to paint a picture of wasteful spending that drove up the national debt without creating jobs. But the ad misrepresents projects funded by the stimulus, and in reality, Recovery Act spending is responsible for millions of jobs and for helping to stave off an even deeper recession. Meanwhile, it was Bush-era policies and the Great Recession that drove up debt, while spending growth under President Obama has been historically low.

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Crossroads GPS: “How”

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A Crossroads GPS ad dishonestly blames Sen. Jon Tester’s (D-MT) votes in favor of the Affordable Care Act, the Recovery Act, and several bills to raise the debt limit for the ballooning national debt. In reality, Bush-era policies and the recession caused deficits to skyrocket, while the health care law actually reduces the deficit and the stimulus insulated the economy against even more drastic job losses. Meanwhile, raising the debt limit doesn’t cause higher debt – it simply allows the government to pay off obligations already incurred, thus avoiding the severe economic consequences that could come from a default.

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Crossroads GPS: “Everyday”

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Crossroads GPS dishonestly blames Rep. Joe Donnelly’s (D-IN) votes in favor of the Affordable Care Act, the Recovery Act, and several bills to raise the debt limit for the ballooning national debt. In reality, Bush-era policies and the recession caused deficits to skyrocket, while the health care law actually reduces the deficit and the stimulus insulated the economy against even more drastic job losses. Meanwhile, raising the debt limit doesn’t cause higher debt – it simply allows the government to pay off obligations already incurred, thus avoiding the severe economic consequences that could come from a default.

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Crossroads GPS: “Stopwatch”

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An ad from Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS starts by asking, “Why isn’t the economy stronger?” The ad blames our economic troubles on the national debt, which Crossroads claims is rising because of President Obama’s spending. However, the acceleration of debt since Obama’s inauguration is largely a result of the massive recession he inherited from President Bush, who presided over historically weak economic growth even before the economic collapse. Moreover, while federal spending growth has been relatively slow on Obama’s watch, costly policies from the Bush administration continue to drive the deficit today.

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Crossroads GPS: “ObamaClaire”

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In an ad titled “ObamaClaire,” Crossroads GPS vilifies Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) for supporting the Affordable Care Act, which the group claims will “slash” Medicare benefits and “restrict seniors’ access to medical care.” These are stale falsehoods that have been thoroughly discredited – and, in fact, the GOP Medicare scheme authored by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) retains almost all of the health care law’s savings. Meanwhile, Crossroads GPS ignores the significant benefits for seniors in the Affordable Care Act and the severe consequences that repeal would have for millions of Americans.

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Crossroads GPS: “Basketball”

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In an ad titled “Basketball,” Crossroads GPS portrays a working mother whose adult children are living at home because they “can’t find jobs to get their careers started.” The woman says that she now regrets voting for President Obama because, as her family’s struggles demonstrate, “things have changed for the worse” under his administration. Despite the ad’s softer tone, however, it relies on the usual distortions of Obama’s record on the economy, health care, and the debt.

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Crossroads GPS: “Obama’s Promise”

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An ad from Crossroads GPS features clips of President Obama describing his policies and accuses the president of breaking his promises to the American people. However, Crossroads’ attempt to use Obama’s words against him backfires, as the ad repeatedly misrepresents the facts about the president’s record.

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Crossroads GPS: “Hole”

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Accusing Berkley of “voting for tax hikes” that will worsen Nevada’s high unemployment rate and struggling housing market, Crossroads GPS offers no evidence stronger than a pre-recession vote from 2007 on a never-enacted budget that proposed to let the Bush-era tax cuts expire. The ad also hits Berkley on a vote for a clean energy bill — the American Clean Energy and Security Act, also never enacted – which it claims would cost American families $1,600 a year. But that figure (as the very article Crossroads cites kindly explains) isn’t an estimate of ACES; it’s for a generic cap-and-trade program. CBO’s estimate for the actual legislation Berkley voted on was closer to $175 per household per year, and it found that the bill could actually save low-income households money. Finally, the ad blames Berkley for supporting a 2009 budget that supposedly “pushed deficits sky high,” a nonsensical accusation given that the deficit was already projected to skyrocket before President Obama took office thanks to a variety of Bush-era policies.

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Crossroads GPS: “Similarities”

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An ad from Crossroads GPS attacks former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine (D), now a Senate candidate, over his gubernatorial record. Accusing him of a “billion-dollar spending spree,” the ad fails to explain that Kaine’s proposal was for how to spend a pre-recession budget surplus, nor does it mention that Virginia’s Republican-controlled House wanted to borrow money to spend even more on transportation projects. Crossroads also blames Kaine for turning that surplus into a “$3.7 billion shortfall,” but never mentions that Kaine successfully cut billions out of the state budget to avoid running a deficit. As for the “tax hike” Kaine supposedly “pushed,” it was a proposal supported by the state Senate to pay for that transportation spending Virginia’s House Republicans wanted to finance through long-term borrowing.

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Crossroads GPS: “Remember”

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Crossroads GPS links Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT) to President Obama, alleging that Democratic policies that both supported are responsible for “trillion-dollar deficits.” However, the projected deficit was already over $1 trillion at Obama’s inauguration as a result of Bush administration policies, including expensive tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans. The only example of a “budget-busting” policy cited in the ad is the Affordable Care Act, which actually reduces deficits over time.

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