You Should Know: Five Facts About Tim Pawlenty
Today kicks off the first of a week-long blog series leading up to next Monday’s New Hampshire Republican presidential debate. Each day, we’ll give you five things you should know about each of the Republican 2012ers.
Without further ado, meet presidential hopeful Tim Pawlenty – a candidate whose calculated ambitions are matched only by his failed economic stewardship as governor of Minnesota.
Tim Pawlenty’s legacy for Minnesota is simple: economic and fiscal ruin. When he left office, working- and middle-class families were paying higher taxes, the budget had hit record deficits, and funding for schools had been slashed.
Now, Tim Pawlenty’s agenda as a presidential candidate is just more of the same.
Here are five things you should know about Tim Pawlenty:
1) Under Governor Pawlenty, taxes increased for 90 percent of Minnesotans. During Tim Pawlenty’s tenure as Minnesota governor, taxes decreased for the wealthiest 10 percent and increased for 90 percent of middle and lower-income families. This shift in tax burden came as a result of local funding cuts enacted by Tim Pawlenty that prompted local governments to raise property taxes. (PoliGraph, MPR, 4/29/11)
2) Tim Pawlenty would sign the Republican budget that would end Medicare as we know it. When asked, Tim Pawlenty said that he supported a bill that would eliminate Medicare and double the out-of-pocket health care costs to seniors. (Washington Post, 5/26/2011)
3) Tim Pawlenty left Minnesota with a projected $6.2 billion budget deficit. Less than a year after leaving office, Minnesota was facing a $6.2 billion budget deficit, making Tim Pawlenty the first Minnesota governor in history to pass on such a massive shortfall. (Minneapolis Star Tribune, 12/4/2010)
4) Despite his rhetoric, Tim Pawlenty relied on borrowing and the Recovery Act to try to fix the deficits he created. In an attempt to plug budget shortages, Tim Pawlenty withheld $700 million in funding from Minnesota state accounts, including state colleges and universities, as well as roughly $500 million in payments to K-12 schools. (Minnesota Post, 9/7/2010) And although he aggressively opposed the Recovery Act, “nearly one-third of Tim Pawlenty’s budget fix would rely on $387 million in federal stimulus money.” (Minnesota Star Tribune, 2/16/2010)
5) As president, Tim Pawlenty would cut taxes for corporations and the wealthy – a policy nightmare that would explode the deficit and lead to program cuts across the board. Tim Pawlenty would provide a windfall payday to corporations and the wealthy, cutting corporate taxes by 20 percent and millionaires’ taxes by 10 percent – a prescription for higher deficits and fewer benefits.(Think Progress, 6/7/2010)
When Pawlenty steps onto the debate stage next Monday night, he's going to try to present himself as a smart policymaker and fiscal stalwart. With your help, we can show voters that's not the case. Make sure to share this with your networks on email, Twitter, and Facebook.
June 8, 2011
You Should
Know: Five Facts About Michele Bachmann
We're kicking off Day Two of our blog series about the Republican 2012ers with a Tea Party favorite who regularly takes luxuries with things like facts and the truth. That (yet-to-be-declared) candidate is Rep. Michele Bachmann.
A three-term member of Congress from Minnesota, Michele Bachmann is founder of the House Tea Party Caucus and a prolific fundraiser. She supports further tax cuts for millionaires, slashing critical benefits and services for families, and repealing health reform -- no matter the crater it would leave in the deficit.
And her penchant for banner news headlines makes her a dark horse for the Republican nomination.
Here are five things you should know about Michele Bachmann:
1) Michele Bachmann voted for the Ryan Republican plan that ends Medicare as we know it. Along with nearly every other House Republican, Michele Bachmann voted “yea” to pass the Ryan plan that would eliminate Medicare as it currently exists and double, on average, seniors’ out of pocket costs for health care. (New York Times, 4/15/2011)
2) Michele Bachmann supported an extreme proposal from the Republican Study Committee to cut Medicare benefits more than the Ryan plan, eliminate close to 1 million jobs, and slash critical funding for first responders, low-income families, law enforcement, and schools. Fox News’ Chris Wallace asked Rep. Bachmann about her support for the Republican Study Committee plan, which would “cut $700 billion more than Ryan from Medicaid. …[R]aise the Social Security retirement age for people who are now 59. And …change Medicare to a voucher system for those who are now 59.” Rep. Bachmann replied that “both Paul Ryan and the Republican Study Committee were making very good responsible choices, they're trying to get America's house to balance. That's what we have to do.” (FOX News Sunday, 5/1/11)
3) Michele Bachmann opposes raising the debt ceiling and would rather pay off creditors in China and Japan before providing Medicare and Social Security payments to seniors. On Fox News, Rep. Bachmann said that she opposes raising the debt ceiling, a decision which could cause America to default on its obligations and fall backward into a deeper recession. Instead of ensuring that Americans receive benefits they rely on, like Social Security and Medicare, she said that our country “can pay-off our debt obligations first, so we don't miss any debt payments. But then maybe we can't afford to pay for, you know, certain extra employees or extra programs. In other words, we actually cut back.” (FOX News Hannity, 4/11/2011)
4) Michele Bachmann supports making tax cuts for the rich permanent, even though doing so would add billions to the deficit. As part of Rep. Bachmann’s “ten-point economic fix-it” plan, she listed one of the main points, “Make all the Bush tax cuts permanent.” (U.S.News & World Report, 11/11/2010) Note that the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that making the Bush tax cuts permanent would increase the deficit by at least 75 percent.
5) Michele Bachmann wants to repeal health reform, despite the fact that repeal would increase the deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that repealing the Affordable Care Act would “probably increase federal budget deficits over the 2012–2019 period by a total of roughly $145 billion (on the basis of the original estimate), and through 2021 “brings the projected increase in deficits to something in the vicinity of $230 billion.” Michele Bachmann voted for the GOP proposal to repeal reform and dismissed this negative impact on the deficit. (Congressional Budget Office, 1/6/2011)
Monday night, Michele Bachmann will join other GOP presidential hopefuls at the New Hampshire debate. While many Americans are just getting to know who she is, her vision for the future is crystal clear – and we need to make sure voters know the facts.
Help us spread the word with your friends, family, neighbors,
and coworkers. If you’re using Twitter, make sure to use the
hashtag #youshouldknow.
June 9, 2011
You Should
Know: Five Facts About Newt Gingrich
Welcome to Day Three of our series on the 2012 Republican presidential hopefuls. Today we’re talking about a GOP party elder, whose years in politics are rivaled only by the number of times he's reversed his position on the issues. Day Three belongs to Newt Gingrich.
A former Georgia congressman and Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich has developed a reputation for opportunism, blind partisanship, and political expediency—especially when he's trying to sell a new book. Now, in a quest to reinvent himself as a Republican primary contender, Gingrich is flip-flopping on Medicare, opposing help for those looking for work, belittling the science of climate change, and misrepresenting his own experience in business.
His record makes it clear that Newt Gingrich is laser focused on one thing only: what's good for Newt Gingrich.
Here are five things you should know:
1) Newt Gingrich admitted that Republicans wanted to get rid of Medicare but because of political concerns, it would be better to let it “wither on the vine.” At a 1995 Blue Cross/Blue Shield conference, Gingrich (confusingly) compared Medicare to Russian bureaucracy, and then went on to say, “We don’t get rid of it in round one because we don’t think that that’s politically smart, and we don’t think that’s the right way to go through a transition. But we believe it’s going to wither on the vine because we think people are voluntarily going to leave it –voluntarily.”(New York Times, 7/20/96)
2) Newt Gingrich criticized the Ryan Republican plan that would end Medicare as we know it but then flipped his position after widespread Republican outcry. After claiming that he was against the Republican Medicare plan that would impose “radical change,” Gingrich then reversed himself and said that he “made a mistake.” He said Ryan’s plan is "one I am happy to say I would have voted for. I will defend." (LA Times, 5/18/11)
3) Newt Gingrich called aid to the automakers “an irresponsible and dangerous use of taxpayer money.” When asked if he thought that American automakers should receive assistance to help them restructure and turn themselves around, Gingrich said, “I don't see how any bailout is going to fix the fundamental problems they have competing today, which means they'll be back in six months for another bailout. This is an irresponsible and dangerous use of taxpayer money.” (Washington Times, 1/19/09) Today, Detroit’s Big Three are all turning a profit.
4) Newt Gingrich has criticized unemployment insurance and said “it is fundamentally wrong. Despite that fact that individuals earn unemployment benefits as part of the workforce – which is why it’s called “insurance” – Newt Gingrich still opposes it: “It's fundamentally wrong to give people money for 99 weeks to do nothing.” (Fosters, 4/21/11)
5) Newt Gingrich said that climate change was the “newest excuse to take control of lives” and he questions efforts to avoid it. A conspiracy theory Glenn Beck would be proud of, Newt Gingrich claimed that the science of climate change is a ploy by left-wing intellectuals to “take control of lives,” and to create a “new bureaucracy to run our lives on behalf of the newest thing.” (US Election News, 6/1/11). However, Newt Gingrich has also questioned if the world is “better off to think through how to cope with [climate change] than we are to think through how to avoid it?” (Politico, 5/27/11)
Although many Americans recognize the name Newt Gingrich, not enough know the truth about his record. The stakes in 2012 are high, and Americans deserve leadership committed to our country’s best interests instead of a candidate’s political ambition — and we need your help to make that clear.
Spread the word about Newt Gingrich’s record on Twitter, Facebook, email, and through good old word of mouth.
You Should Know: Five Facts About Rick
Santorum
Today’s five facts on the Republican 2012ers are devoted to Rick Santorum – former senator from Pennsylvania, religious conservative, science agnostic, and economic ideologue.
After serving in both the U.S. House and Senate, Rick Santorum became known for his confrontational style and controversial positions on social issues. But even if you look beyond his dismissal of evolution, hostility toward homosexuality, and tendency to legislate specific religious beliefs, Rick Santorum is still out of the mainstream. He supports ending Medicare as it exists, privatizing Social Security, and allowing the United States to default on our debt obligations.
But because his platform is one that's been embraced by the Tea Party and extreme right, Rick Santorum could generate the momentum to make waves in the Republican primary.
Here are five things you should know:
1) Rick Santorum praised the Ryan Republican plan to end Medicare as we know it. Politico reported that “Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum may turn out to be Rep. Paul Ryan's strongest advocate in the presidential field,” and said that Santorum “gave the most full-throated defense of Ryan's Medicare plan of any Republican presidential candidate yet.” In a Pennsylvania speech, Santorum said that the Republican Medicare plan would give seniors “the resources to go out and choose what's best for themselves." What’s misleading about Santorum’s statement, however, is that the significant change under the Republican plan isn’t about choice, it’s about cost – and the Republican plan would cost seniors twice as much for the same benefits. (Politico, 6/6/2011)
2) Rick Santorum supports privatizing Social Security. Rick Santorum's support for privatization stretches back for years, a point he made clear in an op-ed as senator: “Personal retirement accounts provide individuals—not the government—with control and ownership. And they hold the promise of a greater return for future generations than what they are promised by today’s Social Security system.” Had Republicans been successful in privatizing Social Security in 2005, seniors’ benefits would be far less secure than they are today. (The Hill, 3/1/2005)
3) Rick Santorum would let the country default on its obligations if health care reform isn't defunded.Rick Santorum said that he would allow the country to default on its obligations as a means of defunding a bill that he opposes. After Fox News anchor Chris Wallace asked if Santorum would “let the country go into default on this issue,” he replied that he would “absolutely” allow the country to default as a condition of not defending health reform. (Fox News, 4/24/2011)
4) Rick Santorum dismissed concerns that the Bush tax cuts would disproportionately benefit the wealthy and add to the deficit – even though both turned out to be true. In 2003 amid the debate over the Bush tax cuts, Rick Santorum rejected criticism that it would mostly benefit the rich and provide little relief to lower- and middle-income families. He also rejected Democratic concerns about the tax cuts’ impact on the deficit, saying "What we need to do for an economic stimulus package is not look at what the cost is but what the impact will be on the economy" (Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, 1/8/03). The reality is that the Bush tax cuts mostly benefited the wealthy, had little impact on economic growth, and exploded the deficit (Washington Post, 8/1/2010).
5) Rick Santorum opposed the auto industry loan package, which helped Detroit’s automakers get back on their feet. Although federal assistance to automakers has proved to be the saving grace for an industry now turning a profit and hiring more workers, Rick Santorum equates that aid with gambling in Las Vegas. ‘If they were in Las Vegas, you could say Obama saw George Bush’s bailouts and raised him a nearly trillion-dollar stimulus, a bailout of the American auto industry and a government takeover of the health care industry.” (Politico, 1/27/2011)
Monday night on CNN, Rick Santorum will join the rest of the 2012 Republican to showcase their visions for America’s future. Because it's been years since he was in office, people don't have a clear picture of who Santorum is or what he stands for — and we need your help to ensure voters know what he believes.
Share these five facts with your
networks on email, Facebook, and Twitter. Make sure on Twitter
to use the hashtag #youshouldknow.
Next in our blog series on the Republican 2012ers is Congressman Ron Paul of Texas. More than 20 years ago, he ran for president on the Libertarian ticket, and now after decades in Congress, he's seeking the Republican nomination—just as he did four years ago. And even though Ron Paul’s opinions are still far from mainstream, he's at home on the debate stage with the rest of these GOP candidates.
In the House of Representatives, Rep. Paul is known by the nickname "Doctor No"—because he insists on voting against almost every bill that comes his way.
His greatest hits include opposing the auto industry loan package that helped save Detroit, demanding that the U.S. default on its debt and return to the gold standard, and declaring Social Security unconstitutional, no matter what the Supreme Court thinks.
Here are five things you should know about Ron Paul:
1) Ron Paul admitted that a low flat tax would be "punishing to the poor and middle class"—but supports it anyway. In 2007, when a reporter told Rep. Paul that a flat tax would harm the middle class, he replied, “Well, I know. That's why I don't want it." (NBC, Meet The Press, 12/23/2007) But by 2011, the Congressman had flip-flopped, saying he'd like to offer taxpayers the chance to pay a flat rate of 10 percent if they agree to receive no government services in return. No word on whether or not that means they'd be banned from driving on public roads. (Transcript from Ron Paul’s Speech At 2011 CPAC, RonPaul.com, 2/11/2011)
2) Ron Paul opposed the loan package that is successfully helping the auto industry recover. In a 2008 speech to the House of Representatives, Rep. Paul argued that Congress needed to repeal auto industry regulations rather than issue direct loans: "Congress should act to help that industry. We should be repealing costly regulations we have imposed on domestic auto manufactures." (Ron Paul Speech, House Of Representatives, 110th Congress, 12/10/2008)
3) Ron Paul favored a return to the gold standard, an idea rejected by nearly every economist and fiscal expert. As a matter of routine fact, requiring every U.S. dollar to be backed by gold would dramatically shrink the size of our economy. Such a move would take us back to a 19th-century time when recessions and depressions were more common and more severe than they are today. And yet Rep. Paul has advocated for exactly that—he even says it's what convinced him to run for Congress in the first place. According to the Washington Post, these views turned him into "something of a sideshow—he came to be seen as a crank, a radical, so far outside the mainstream he could be safely ignored." (Washington Post, 2/12/2011)
4) Ron Paul suggested that Social Security was unconstitutional. In a Fox News interview, Rep. Paul flatly said that the Supreme Court was wrong in 1937 when it ruled that Social Security was constitutional, saying that “the Constitution and the court said slavery was legal, too. And we had to reverse that. So, I'll tell you, just because a court in '37 went very liberal on us and expanded the role of government—no, I think the original intent is not a bad idea.” Fox News Sunday, 5/11/2011)
5) Ron Paul said it could be a "positive thing" for the U.S. to default on its debt. Although the U.S. has not missed a debt payment once in history, Rep. Paul told Think Progress that the country is already in default, suggesting some confusion about the definition of the term. He went on to say that not raising the debt ceiling—a move that would cause global economic panic—might be good for the country. "I think if you didn’t raise it, people say it would be the end of the whole system, but maybe people will say, '[H]ey, maybe they’re serious!' And maybe it would be a positive. That’s what we should do." (Think Progress, 6/6/2011)
Monday night, Rep. Paul will take part in the second Republican presidential debate. Help us spread the truth about his fringe views by sharing this with your friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers.
If you're using Twitter, be sure to use the hashtag #youshouldknow.
June 12, 2011
You Should
Know: Five Facts About Herman Cain
Another day, another set of facts to set the record straight. Our blog series about the Republican 2012ers continues today with a look at a corporate executive with a stunning record of job loss and a man whose previous foray into elected politics was a 30-point disaster. But if you ask some observers of the first Republican debate, this candidate is the front runner. Meet Herman Cain.
Herman Cain is a current talk radio host, former CEO of Godfather's Pizza, and national Tea Party favorite. He wants to end Medicare as we know it, pay off China before issuing Social Security benefits, and enact a new lopsided tax that would hit middle-class families the hardest.
He's surging in the GOP primary—and just came in second in a recent Iowa poll.We’re not sure, however, that voters will be as welcoming once they learn his platform.
Here are five things you should know about Herman Cain:
1) Herman Cain supervised the firing of thousands of Iowa workers as a member of the Whirlpool Board of Directors. In 2006, under the direction of a board of directorsthat included Herman Cain, Whirlpool bought Maytag and promptly shut down its plant in Newton, Iowa—1,600 workers were laid off, and those who kept their jobs made less than before. Now an empty factory looms over the struggling town. (New York Times, 8/26/2007)
2) Herman Cain supports the Ryan Republican budget that would end Medicare as we know it. This bill would turn Medicare into a voucher system and double out-of-pocket health care costs to seniors. Nevertheless, Cain said, "I support Ryan’s plan 100 percent. We don’t need to come up with another plan." (FOX News, Fox & Friends, 5/26/2011)
3) Herman Cain wants to repeal and replace health care reform, despite the fact that it would increase the deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that repealing health reform would increase the deficit by roughly $145 billion between 2012 and 2019, and $230 billion through 2021 (Congressional Budget Office, 1/6/2011). Herman Cain ignores the facts, however, and believes that “it’s time to repeal and replace Obamacare with patient-centered, free market reforms.” (HermanCain.com, accessed 6/10/2011)
4) Herman Cain opposes raising the debt ceiling, and says we should pay Chinese creditors first before issuing seniors their Social Security and Medicare benefits. Cain's idea of paying for the deficit is to pay seniors their Social Security benefits only if there's money left after paying China, agreeing with a reporter who told him, "That's going to mean a lot of serious cuts for people while we're paying the Chinese creditors first." (American Spectator, 5/23/2011)
5) Herman Cain supports implementing the "fair tax" for everyone, which would hit middle-class families hard. In an interview with Fox News, Cain said, "The ultimate answer, in my opinion, is the fair tax, which is a fair tax for everybody, because as long as we still have this messed-up tax code, the politicians are going to use it to reward winners and losers." (FOX Your World with Neil Cavuto, 4/18/2011) But the Wall Street Journal editorial board said the fair tax is "the most radical reform imaginable," and one that would "hit hard the young, middle-income families" and "tax medical services and home prices." (Wall Street Journal,12/5/2007)
Herman Cain is new to the political process,and most people are still learning about him—but we need to do our part to make sure people know the truth about his views. Helpspread the facts by sharing this with your friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers.
If you're using Twitter, use the hashtag #youshouldknow.
June 13, 2011
You Should
Know: Five Facts About Mitt Romney
Seven days, seven candidates. Tonight is the New Hampshire Republican presidential debate, and we've saved the best five for last.
Today, we look at Mitt Romney.
Romney leads the GOP field in two key measurements: early polling and number of flip-flops. He's running on a promise to create jobs, but as a corporate executive, he closed down factories; as a policymaker, he presided over one of the worst state economies in the country. He opposed aid to the automakers then tried to take credit for their success; and he championed state health reform, yet opposes the national model it shaped.
Here are five things you should know about Mitt Romney:
1) Mitt Romney led Bain Capital to close American factories and cause hundreds of layoffs, but not before he pocketed huge fees. Between 1984 and 1999, Mitt Romney led Bain Capital, a private-equity firm that raked in massive profits through “leveraged buyouts, debt hedge funds, offshore tax havensand other financial strategies.” But the firm also “closed U.S. factories, causing hundreds of layoffs, or pocketed huge fees shortly before companies collapsed." (Los Angeles Times, 12/16/07)
2) As governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney had one of the worst job-creation records in the country – ranked 47th out of 50 states in job creation –gaining only 1 percent in payroll jobs during his term, compared to the 5.3 percent national average. At the end of then-Gov. Romney’s first year in office in December 2003, Massachusetts hit a low point—and things only got worse. According to Factcheck.org, “the number of jobs declined in seven of the remaining 36 months of his term.” Additionally, “[b]y the end of his four years in office, Massachusetts had squeezed out a net gain in payroll jobs of just 1 percent, compared with job growth of 5.3 percent for the nation as a whole.” (Factcheck.org, 1/11/2008)
3) Mitt Romney called for letting Detroit go bankrupt, but now claims credit for the auto industry’s turnaround. In a 2008 op-ed, Mitt Romney opposed providing assistance to Detroit’s automakers, writing that “If General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye” (Romney Op-Ed, New York Times,11/19/2008). Fast forward to present day when news broke of the auto industry’s historic turnaround—Mitt Romney’s spokesman said that President Obama’s plan for rescuing the auto industry was Romney’s idea first and modeled after a plan he advocated in 2008. (New York Times, 5/24/2011)
4) Mitt Romney said that he would sign the Ryan Republican plan that would end the Medicare seniors rely on. ABC News reports that,“On health care, Romney responded "yes" when asked if he would sign the plan written by Rep. Paul Ryan that would restructure Medicare if it reached his desk as President, but quickly added that he would be offering his own plan.” (ABC News,6/2/2011)
5) Mitt Romney first supported the Recovery Act, but now claims that it made the economy worse.According to the Boston Phoenix, Romney wrote in his book that “A stimulus package ‘was called for’ after the late-2008 economic downturn, and the Democrats’ stimulus ‘will accelerate the timing of the start of the recovery’”(Boston Phoenix, 2/10/2010). Having declared for 2012, Mitt Romney claims that “[o]ther presidents have inherited recessions before, but this president didn’t make it better, he made it worse.” Romney also said the stimulus package was a failure. (KSL,12/2/2009)
America got a good look at Mitt Romney back in 2008, but he's changed so many positions in the time since then, that he's largely unrecognizable from the candidate he was before. For that reason, we need your help spreading the truth about his record.
Share these five facts with your networks on email, Facebook, and Twitter. Make sure to use the hashtag #youshouldknow on Twitter.
Tonight during the New Hampshire debate, follow with us here in real time as we fact-check and fight back against the Republicans’ misstatements.