Crossroads GPS: “Roadblock”

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Crossroads GPS presents Heidi Heitkamp as an obstacle to Mitt Romney’s agenda in an ad called “Roadblock,” stressing that “every single vote” on the repeal of health care reform and the extension of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy will be crucial. The ad is highly dishonest about each of those policies, falsely claiming that ending Bush’s upper-income tax breaks means taxing small businesses, and accusing Heitkamp of “cutting Medicare spending” even though her opponent voted twice for the same Medicare savings.

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Crossroads GPS: “Blew It”

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Crossroads GPS attacks former Maine Governor Angus King with caricatures of his actual policies and ideas, and comes up short at every turn. The wind energy project he was involved with cut local taxes in half; his education cuts amounted to less than 2 percent of planned school aid; and he reduced Maine’s tax burden over his tenure, while returning the state’s budget to health. He supports the Affordable Care Act, but GPS misrepresents the law’s provisions.

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Crossroads GPS: “Both”

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Crossroads GPS doubles up in an ad hitting both President Obama and Tim Kaine for spending, deficits, taxes, and looming defense cuts brought on by the failure of a deficit-reduction super committee to reach a deal. The group also uses an out-of-context quote from Kaine to suggest he blindly supports the president’s policies. In reality, the recession created budget deficits on the state level, while Bush-era Republican policies are largely responsible on the national level. Spending growth is low under Obama, and Kaine cut billions to leave Virginia with a balanced budget. And while both Kaine and Obama supported the debt limit deal that created the super committee and imposed sequester as an incentive for compromise, both support finding a way to avoid the defense cuts.

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Congressional Leadership Fund: “Swept”

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The Congressional Leadership Fund criticizes Gary McDowell (D-MI) for supporting state-level tax increases and President Obama’s Recovery Act, suggesting that McDowell’s agenda “helped sink Michigan’s economy.” But the tax increases, which were accompanied by spending cuts, were part of a compromise to close the deficit and keep the state government operating. And the Recovery Act created jobs — in America, not China — and helped prevent an even deeper recession.

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Congressional Leadership Fund: “Duck Hunt”

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Congressional Leadership Fund attacks congressional candidate Pete Gallego (D-TX) over the support he has received from the League of Conservation Voters, saying that a long-dead climate change bill the group supported would have killed jobs even though it was projected to boost the economy at minimal cost to consumers. The ad also accuses Gallego of shooting down tax cuts, citing a series of bills on which Gallego primarily voted for things like preventing tax evasion and funding trauma centers. Finally, the ad’s suggestion that Gallego is “targeting jobs” is linked to an interview in which he expressed a desire for the wealthy to pay their fair share – a proposal that wouldn’t harm the economy.

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Crossroads GPS: “Down”

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Crossroads GPS would like Ohio voters to forget the Bush recession ever happened and attribute all of their recent economic troubles to Sen. Sherrod Brown (D). But while the recession destroyed millions of jobs nationwide, Ohio’s unemployment rate has fallen by almost a third during the recovery, which has featured consistent private-sector job growth. The recession was also a significant factor, along with other Bush administration policies, to high deficits over the last several years.

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Americans for Tax Reform: “Charlie Wilson – Control”

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Americans for Tax Reform attacks Rep. Charlie Wilson over rising national debt, blaming him for “reckless spending,” when in reality, the recession and policies like the Bush tax cuts are the guilty parties. Wilson’s vote for the bank bailout helped prevent a potential depression, and his vote to raise the debt limit didn’t cause new spending — it prevented the economic catastrophe that would have resulted from a default on federal debts.

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U.S. Chamber Of Commerce: “What’s Tim Kaine’s Plan For Virginia”

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Claiming Virginia Senate candidate Tim Kaine supports “higher taxes” and “fewer jobs,” an ad from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce attacks him over his support for a cap-and-trade plan and health care reform. But the taxes Kaine proposed during his tenure as governor of Virginia were designed to pay for much-needed transporation upgrades that Virginia’s Republican-controlled House wanted to pay for with long-term borrowing, and although Kaine spoke about the need for a plan to address the threat climate change poses to Virginia, he has not endorsed a specific plan. The Affordable Care Act, meanwhile, leaves the private system intact and does not raise taxes on most Americans.

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American Future Fund: “Hoosier”

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American Future Fund accuses Rep. Joe Donnelly (D-IN) of abandoning “Hoosier values” by supporting “Obama’s costly policies,” such as the Affordable Care Act and the Recovery Act. However, the health care law actually reduces the deficit, and the stimulus bill helped rescue the economy from a deeper recession. Furthermore, AFF suggests that the economy is not improving, but the facts show otherwise: The private-sector has now added 4.7 million jobs in the last 31 months.

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U.S. Chamber of Commerce: “A Serious Threat To Jobs”

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The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s argument against Wisconsin’s Tammy Baldwin (D) distorts her record on health care, energy, and tax policy. The insurance-industry-funded Chamber attacks Baldwin for supporting a health care bill that included a public option, ignoring consistent popular support for the proposal. Baldwin’s opposition to the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy does not amount to raising taxes on small businesses (a claim the Chamber supports by citing a biased report on a flawed study commissioned by the Chamber itself). And, finally, Baldwin opposed Republican energy legislation that would have stymied efforts to make offshore drilling safer.

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