Clinton Campaign Still Using Dishonest Mailers

After Iowa and New Hampshire there was a lot of talk about how Clinton was using dishonest mailers which distort Obama’s positions on Social Security and abortion rights in order to pick up support. Lorna Brett Howard, the former President of Chicago NOW (National Organization of Women), changed her support from Clinton to Obama after she found that Hillary Clinton was lying about Obama’s record on choice. She makes the case for supporting Obama in these videos. Clinton has continued using this type of dishonest tactic.

Yesterday Marc Ambinder posted a copy of a mailer which contains inaccurate information on Obama’s positions. Factcheck.org responded this evening finding three areas in which the mailer “twists Obama’s words and gives a false picture of his proposals.” From their summary:

A direct-mail piece sent to voters by the Clinton campaign twists Obama’s words and gives a false picture of his proposals:

It says he “wants to raise Social Security taxes by a trillion dollars,” a big distortion. Obama has said a “good option” would be to apply Social Security payroll taxes to incomes over $97,500 a year, but that would only affect taxes paid by 6.5 percent of individuals and couples. And he hasn’t formally proposed such a move anyway.

The Clinton mailer says Obama has “no plan” for a moratorium on foreclosures such as the one Clinton has proposed. That’s true, but Obama has his own plan for homeowner relief. The mailer leaves the impression that Obama has “no plan” at all, which is false.It says Obama “voted for Dick Cheney’s energy bill that gives huge tax breaks to oil companies,” another distortion. By the time Congress passed the 2005 energy bill, it raised taxes on the oil industry more than it decreased them and also contained billions for alternative fuels research and subsidies for energy-efficient buildings and vehicles.

The remainder of the article provides further details on how these claims distort Obama’s actual positions. On Social Security, Clinton is misleading as to the impact of increasing the cap as Obama has discussed using a “donut hole” so that only those earning over $200,000 or possibly $250,000 would be affected. Clinton has also discussed a similar proposal, but after deciding it would be politically beneficial to attack Obama on this has avoided giving any specific answers as to what she would do with regards to Social Security.

Update: Clinton Fairy Tales On The Mortgage Crisis

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