Corker Runs Dishonest Ad
From WBIR.com: Last week, we started a new segment on WBIR and WBIR.com. It’s called “Heart of the Matter,” and it’s all about digging deeper and getting to the truth behind the campaign ads you see on TV. In this week’s story, we take a look at Republican Bob Corker’s TV advertisement criticizing Democratic opponent Harold Ford Jr.’s “friends” and his “liberal” voting record.
In the ad, Bob Corker says “they” want to raise your taxes to build a bigger government. He also says “they” ignore national defense.
“And now his friends in Washington and New York are attacking me,” Corker says in the ad. “They believe in higher taxes, weaker national security, and bigger government.”
WBIR asked the Corker campaign who believes in those things, and who is attacking Corker.
A spokesperson for the campaign blamed New York Senators Charles Schumer and Hillary Clinton, along with Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts and Harry Reid of Nevada.
But is that really what leading Democrats want? The Corker campaign says yes, telling WBIR that those specific Democrats fought against the repeal of the estate tax, or the “death tax” as Corker likes to call it.
But it’s not that simple. The estate tax is already in place, so if Democrats fight to keep it, they’re not really raising taxes.
However, the estate tax is scheduled to increase in 2010 from its current level, and many Republicans want to get rid of it before then.
Even if the tax increases in 2010, the first $2 million of a couple’s estate would be exempt from any tax. From there, the tax grows progressively as an estate does.
Many Democrats contend that ending the estate tax would only benefit the extremely wealthy (Factcheck.org 1; 2; 3).
On the issue of national security, another issue raised in this campaign ad, the Corker spokesperson says Senate Democrats fought the re-authorization of The Patriot Act.
It’s true that Senate Democrats did initially filibuster to block the Patriot Act’s re-authorization, over civil rights concerns. After agreeing on changes, the Senate voted to approve it by a margin of 89 to 10. All of the Democrats named by the Corker campaign voted for it (United States Senate).
On the issue of smaller government, the Corker campaign points out various Democrat-initiated spending that Republican members of Congress blocked.
However, Republicans in Washington currently can’t claim to have achieved any downsizing of the federal government.
Over the course of President George W. Bush’s first term, discretionary spending increased by $818 billion (Congressional Budget Office; Cato Institute; InflationData.org).
That’s more than any other president since the 60s, even after it’s adjusted for inflation.
“Washington needs change,” Corker says in the ad. “My opponent Harold Ford has already spent 10 years in Congress as Tennessee’s most liberal member.”
But that is not entirely true. Using the numbers cited by the Corker campaign, Ford was Tennessee’s most liberal member in 8 of the 9 years listed, not 10 (National Journal).
Yet the record shows Ford is no true-blue liberal; in 2005, he voted more conservatively than 92 percent of his fellow Democrats in the house.
“So just remember who’s paying for the attacks, what they believe in, and what’s at stake,” Corker says toward the end of the ad.
The bottom line is that this ad spends most of its time campaigning against Democrats in general and has very little to say about Corker’s position on the issues.
It’s mostly talking points with very little time spent on his race against Ford.
And that’s the heart of the matter.
