Romney attack rated mostly false, and other matters
A couple days ago I did a radio piece about the TV ad above that the super PAC associated with Karl Rove is running in Pennsylvania attacking President Obama.
One claim in the ad struck me as fishy – that despite Obama’s promise not to raise taxes on folks making less than $250,000 a year, his health care act had raised 18 different taxes. One of the few positive developments in presidential campaigns is the growth of independent truth-squading organizations, and now PolitiFact has rated the charge “mostly false.” Read why here.
I also wondered about the Obama Super PAC’s ad (below) which hammered Romney by presenting an employee of a Kansas City steel plant that closed after it was acquired by Bain Capital, the firm Romney headed years ago. I wondered because the plant closed six years after Bain got involved, two years after Romney left the firm, and because American steel firms that weren’t taken over by Bain didn’t exactly flourish either.
PolitiFact took a look at the claims about the plant in the Obama ad and a longer video and rated them “mostly true.” You can read their explanation here. It’s also useful to look at FactCheck.org’s exploration of the Bain Capital record on jobs, layoffs and profits done in January, when Newt Gingrich released a video on the subject.
Meanwhile, the corruption hit parade in Pennsylvania continues with suspension of a State Supreme Court Justice. This is Joan Orie Melvin, who faces several criminal corruption charges, not unlike her sister, the recently-convicted State Sen. Jane Orie. This is not good, both for the obvious reason that it undermines any remaining faith in the Pennsylvania judiciary, and because it makes it harder for the court to operate. These issues are explored by our own Mary Wilson here in her State House Sound bites blog.
And finally, ain’t this cute? Former Phillies pitcher Curt Schilling has a video game company that got a big government loan in Rhode Island and is having trouble making its payments.
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