PRESS RELEASE from Obama for America

For Immediate Release                                                                
CONTACT: Obama for America Press Office

February 13, 2012        

 
Chicago, IL – Today, Obama for America announced the launch of the Truth Team, a new national effort by President Obama supporters online and on the ground to promote the President’s achievements, respond to attacks on his record and hold the eventual Republican nominee accountable.  More than a million people took action as part of the Fight the Smears initiative during the 2008 campaign; the goal of the Truth Team is to double that number, reaching two million grassroots supporters who will communicate the President's record and fight back against attacks before the Democratic National Convention this fall.
 
Beginning today with events across the country and continuing through the election, the Truth Team will engage grassroots supporters to spread the truth about the President's record and respond to Republican attacks.  The program will be housed at BarackObama.com/TruthTeam, with individual websites - KeepingHisWord.com, KeepingGOPHonest.com, and AttackWatch.com - serving as quick, comprehensive resources to help set the record straight.  Designed to put responsibility for spreading the truth in the hands of the President's supporters, the websites contain videos and information on the President's record, and fact checks on Republican claims about the President and themselves.  The sites also contain tools for sharing materials via Facebook, Twitter and email, and empowers supporters to take further action by volunteering, writing letters to the editor, sending postcards to undecided voters with information about the President's record, and more.  The goal is to ensure that when Republicans attack President Obama’s record, grassroots supporters can take ownership of the campaign and share the facts with the undecided voters in their lives.
 
Republican Super PACs have committed to spend a half billion dollars on negative ads to defeat the President.  But from the start, the Obama for America campaign has relied on grassroots supporters to spread the truth, and today’s announcement builds on and expands that effort.
 
Truth Teams will be announced today in many states including Iowa, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina and Wisconsin with events being held in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Minnesota, Nevada, Ohio and Virginia.  National supporters including the National Education Association (NEA), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW) and the United Steelworkers Union (USW) will be participating in this effort.
 
To find out more about the Truth Team, please visit: Barackobama.com/TruthTeam
 
Below is an email from Stephanie Cutter to our supporters:
 
Subject: Sit back or fight back
 
SUPPORTER -
 
If we've learned anything from the Republican primaries, it's that this is no ordinary election.
 
The GOP candidates are spending a huge amount of time attacking President Obama -- no surprise. But instead of basing their attacks on our differences of opinion, they've chosen to run on claims about his record that just aren't true.
 
Mitt Romney says that, despite 23 consecutive months of job growth under the President's watch, he's made the recession "worse." Rick Santorum says that the Affordable Care Act, which was based in part on Republican proposals and provides millions of Americans with access to affordable, private health insurance, is a government takeover of health care. They're not acting alone: With the newfound power of outside groups, these lies can be instantly amplified with millions of dollars in special-interest ad spending.
 
If the other guys are going to run a campaign based on misrepresenting the President's record -- and their own -- we have two options: sit back and let these lies go unchallenged, or fight back with the truth.
 
We're fighting back. Today we're introducing a new resource for grassroots supporters who want to make sure that when voters go to the polls in November, they know the truth -- and you should be a part of it.
 
Will you sign up to be a member of the Truth Team? [Links to: http://www.barackobama.com/truth-team]
 
The website has three sections to reflect the team's goals: Keeping his word, where we'll communicate about President Obama's record and promises kept; Attack Watch, to fight back against false attacks on the President; and Keeping GOP Honest, where we'll debunk the Republicans' false claims about their own records.
 
In short, it's the grassroots communications team of the Obama 2012 campaign. We'll provide resources for you to learn everything you need to know and tools to help you share it with undecided voters in your life.
 
Communicating about the President's record -- and that of our opponents -- is what I do full-time. But people don't just want to hear from campaign statements or ads -- they want to hear from the family and friends they trust.
 
The President needs folks on board to roll up their sleeves, stand with him, and get the truth out all over the country.
 
So the next time you hear Mitt Romney accusing the President of "crony capitalism" or someone asking, "What has President Obama really accomplished?" you'll know what to do.
 
If you're ready to fight lies with the truth, sign up now:
 
http://www.barackobama.com/truth-team
 
Thanks,
 
Stephanie
 
Stephanie Cutter
Deputy Campaign Manager
Obama for America

---

---

For Immediate Release:                                                          

Manchester – Today, Obama for America New Hampshire held a press conference call to launch the Truth Team, a new national effort by President Obama’s online and on the ground supporters to promote the President’s achievements, respond to attacks on his record and hold the eventual Republican nominee accountable. 

The effort includes three websites, KeepingHisWord.com, KeepingGOPHonest.com, AttackWatch.com all available through Barackobama.com/truthteam, and a network of state and local officials serving as Truth Team leaders, including Rep. Candace Bouchard (Concord), New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley, former Senator Peter Burling (Cornish), Senator Lou D’Allesandro (Manchester), former Executive Councilor Beverly Hollingworth (Hampton), New Hampshire State Employees Association (SEIU Local 1984) President Diana Lacey, Leader Terie Norelli (Portsmouth), Rep. Cindy Rosenwald (Nashua), Rep. Steve Shurtleff (Concord), Rep. David Watters (Dover) and NEA-NH President Rhonda Wesolowski (Newfields).

 

 

Representative Candace Bouchard said, “As a Catholic, I cannot believe what I am hearing. The President is committed to both respecting religious beliefs and increasing access to important preventive services.  This is just one issue on which it is important to set the record straight, and I appreciate the opportunity to do so. The Truth Team will play an important role in the campaign between now and November.”

 

Beginning today with events across the country and continuing through the election, the Truth Team will engage grassroots supporters to spread the truth about the President's record and respond to Republican attacks.  The program will be housed at BarackObama.com/TruthTeam, with individual websites - KeepingHisWord.com, KeepingGOPHonest.com, and AttackWatch.com - serving as quick, comprehensive resources to help set the record straight.  Designed to put responsibility for spreading the truth in the hands of the President's supporters, the websites contain videos and information on the President's record, and fact checks on Republican claims about the President and themselves.  The sites also contain tools for sharing materials via Facebook, Twitter and email, and empower supporters to take further action by volunteering, writing letters to the editor, sending postcards to undecided voters with information about the President's record, and more.  The goal is to ensure that when Republicans attack President Obama’s record, grassroots supporters can take ownership of the campaign and share the facts with the undecided voters in their lives.

 

To find out more about the Truth Teams, please visit: Barackobama.com/truthteam.

###

• WisDems Chair Mike Tate
• Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett                 
• State Senator Jon Erpenbach
• State Senator Bob Jauch
• State Senator Jen Shilling
• State Senator Lena Taylor
• State Assemblyman Cory Mason
• State Assemblywoman Chris Taylor

“From ending the war in Iraq to passing comprehensive health care reform, President Obama has done what he said he’d do, he’s done his part,” said Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. “Now it’s up to all of us who support the President to make sure our friends, neighbors and colleagues understand what he’s accomplished and how committed he is to fighting for the middle class.  Make no mistake, the President’s opponents will stop at nothing to defeat this president, and it will take all of us to stand up to the distractions, distortions, and lies Republicans will come up with to try and remove President Obama from office. ”
 
“We’ve already seen baseless, negative attacks on the President’s record and the election is nearly nine months away,” said WisDems Chair Mike Tate. “There’s one thing we know for sure, and it’s that Mitt Romney and the Republicans will say anything to win. When it comes to the Republicans and their allies, winning comes first and the truth comes second.” 
 
The Truth Team is a network of supporters of the President who are committed to promoting the President’s accomplishments, defending his record against unfounded attacks and holding the Republicans accountable for their record.  The Truth Team websites will serve as a quick, comprehensive resource to help set the record straight and share that message with others, including fact checks on Republican claims, personalized emails to friends and family and other social media tools.  This effort is part of the Obama campaign’s commitment to engaging supporters at the grassroots level to spread the word about the President’s record and help voters find the facts to pushback on Republican attacks.
 
To find out more about the Truth Teams, please visit: Barackobama.com/truthteam

---

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  
February 13, 2012                  
CONTACT:                                    
David Blank, ARA
Avram Goldstein, HCAN
Eddie Vale, Protect Your Care
Jeremy Funk, Americans United
David Elliot, USAction
 
 
Washington DC – Leading national progressive groups including Alliance for Retired Americans, Health Care for America Now, Americans United for Change, Protect Your Care, and USAction today are answering the Obama 2012 campaign’s call to join the “Truth Team” by calling upon the groups’ collective membership in the millions to join the rapid response team that are prepared to attend events, write letters to the editor, and talk and send emails to their friends and family to push back against Republican misinformation designed to distort the President’s record standing up for the middle-class and up to the special interests.     SEE: http://www.barackobama.com/truth-team
 
Virtually every day Mitt Romney and fellow Republican politicians on the campaign are demonstrating their willingness to say anything – even things made up out of whole cloth -- to smear this President in a cynical effort to advance their radical agenda.  And Super PACS funded by secretive billionaires and Corporate interests are all too happy to put millions of dollars in advertising to wards amplifying the lies.   If these lies, smears, and distortions are not swiftly and forcefully met with the truth, the lies become accepted as truth.  Not on our watch. 
 
Edward F. Coyle, Executive Director of the Alliance for Retired Americans:  “Some politicians are creating a false biography of President Obama, and then running against an imaginary scenario rather than his actual performance.  “President Obama has a strong record of standing up for seniors and protecting and strengthening Medicare and Social Security, and the Alliance for Retired Americans intends to make sure that seniors know that in November. The Affordable Care Act, which allows seniors free preventive care under Medicare while saving them billions on their prescription drug costs, is Exhibit A.”
 
Ethan Rome, executive director of Health Care for America Now: “The Republicans will say or do anything to help the millionaires and billionaires who fund their campaigns, even if it destroys the middle class. They've run a relentless campaign of lies about the President and his administration, and we aren't going to tolerate it. We won't let the GOP get away with lying about the President's actions on health care reform, Medicare and Medicaid. Real lives are hanging in the balance.”
 
Eddie Vale, Communications Director, Protect Your Care:  “This effort is so important because the right has demonstrated time and time again that they're willing to say anything - even if it’s blatantly false - to smear this President's health care policies even when their candidates like Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich have supported them in the past.”
 
Tom McMahon, Executive Director, Americans United for Change: “Mitt Romney and his backers are on a desperate mission to distract the American people from politically inconvenient facts like the economy making a come back, the auto industry in the black once again, and millions of Americans finally getting the health coverage they need.  It’s become untenable for Romney to make a straight case for going back the same trickle-down, anything-goes-on-Wall Street policies that drove the economy in the ditch, so he’s resorted to distorting the truth, muddying the water and just plain making stuff up about the President’s record. Like claiming the Recovery Act made the economy “worse,” when in fact it led to over 3 million jobs and 23 straight months of private sector job growth. Like claiming the President “cut Medicare” benefits,  when in fact seniors are enjoying all the same benefits plus new ones like free cancer screening  and prescription drug discounts under the Affordable Care Act.  Like claiming “letting Detroit go bankrupt” would have led to a better outcome for the auto industry.   Like Romney’s claims that he will “save” Medicare and Social Security by privatizing them, gutting benefits and doubling seniors’ out-of-pocket costs.  Given all the Romney lies that have already been debunked, the next time he makes wild accusations on the campaign trail about the President’s record or his own that sound like it had to be made up – it probably was.  And we’ll do our part to call it out.”
 
"We know what President Obama has meant for America because our online members share their stories with us on a daily basis," said Alan Charney, USAction director of strategy and policy. "From the registered nurse in North Carolina whose home was saved to the young college graduate in Minneapolis with a pre-existing condition, the administration's policies have had positive, profound effects on our members across the country. The Republicans will try to spin this. But you can't spin the very real and heartfelt stories that Americans share with us every day. Telling the truth -- and telling these stories -- is the best way to keep the GOP honest."