The Campaign Ads thread

These are terrific Tarantula but unfortunately the blind will not see and the deaf will not hear.

A reality check on campaign ads: President Bush

By Brian Williams
Correspondent
NBC News
April 06, 2004

NEW YORK - When President Bush's ad says, "I'm George W. Bush, and I approve this message," and the message begins with the White House as the backdrop, it's a home-field advantage John Kerry cannot match.

And then the gloves come off as the ad, entitled "Troubling," opens with this:

"John Kerry's record on the economy: Troubling."

The ad continues: "He opposed tax relief for married couples 22 times. Opposed increasing the child tax credit 18 times. He even supported increasing taxes on Social Security benefits."

Longtime journalist Brooks Jackson runs the Web site Factcheck.org. NBC News asked him to do exactly that with the Bush campaign spots. If all that is true, then what's Kerry doing running for office?

Not so fast

"What's troubling, of course, is that it's not all true," says Jackson. "What's troubling to me are ads like this one.... It tends to be shades of gray, twisting things, subjective use of facts ?- selective use of facts."

Jackson cites another example from that same ad, which says, "Kerry supported higher taxes over 350 times."

"If you look carefully, what they have done, go back and count not just votes that Kerry cast that might have raised taxes above current levels," he says. "They counted votes that would have kept them at current levels, and they count votes that would have cut taxes. That number is so bogus."

"What they are talking about here is votes he cast that would have made taxes higher than they might have been .. if some other amendment had passed."

In other words, procedural trickery that included some votes counted twice.

The 50-cent gas tax

Another Bush ad, entitled "Wacky," takes an almost slapstick shot at Kerry, saying: "Some people have wacky ideas like taxing gasoline more so people drive less. That's John Kerry. He supported a 50-cent-a-gallon gas tax."

"Here's what's wrong with that ad," says Jackson. "One quote, two newspaper clips a decade ago, never voted for it, never sponsored a bill, doesn't support it now and they would have you believe he still favors that."

[..]

Bush Ad Is "Troubling" Indeed
The President's ad recycles bogus claims [..]

Summary

A Bush Cheney '04 ad released April 1 repeats several misleading claims that FactCheck.org has de-bunked before. It also adds something new, saying Kerry repeatedly opposed tax breaks for married couples and families -- breaks that Kerry has repeatedly and consistently said he would preserve.

Analysis

Bush released yet another attack on Kerry April 1, an ad appropriately named "troubling." The Bush ad recycles a couple of bogus claims we've de-bunked before -- a misleading claim that Kerry voted for "higher taxes" 350 times and a claim that "Kerry's plan will raise taxes by at least $900 billion." We pointed out previously that the 350-vote figure is so off base that it actually counts some Kerry votes for tax cuts as votes for "higher taxes." And as we said earlier , the only tax "plan" Kerry has proposed is to repeal Bush's tax cuts for those making $200,000 a year or more, while giving some additional tax breaks to those further down the income scale.

Read on ...