Keller @ Large: Don't believe everything you see in Trump and Haley's New Hampshire Primary ads
BOSTON - As the New Hampshire Primary ad wars boil over, we're putting some of their claims to the Truth Test, starting with a pair of commercials from the apparent primary frontrunners, Donald Trump and Nikki Haley.
"Americans were promised a secure retirement. Nikki Haley's plan ends that," says a new Trump campaign ad.
Retirement benefits have long been a major political hot button, and Trump is hitting it hard, correctly noting that Haley has called for changes in a Social Security system the feds say will run short on funds in less than a decade.
"How would you manage the entitlements?" the ad shows a Bloomberg TV interviewer (former WBZ NewsRadio anchor Joe Mathieu) asking Haley. "We say the rules have changed," she replies.
But while the Trump ad quickly cuts to shots of worried seniors, it omits what Haley went on to say: "We don't touch anyone's retirement or anyone who's been promised in but we go to people like my kids in their 20s when they're coming into the system and we say the rules have changed." Haley also calls for wealthy Social Security recipients to pay more.
And the ad also makes this undocumented claim: "Haley's plan cuts Social Security benefits for 82% of Americans. Trump will never let that happen."
A vague on-screen citation of CNN failed to lead to any mention of an 82% cut. So did a broader internet search.
WBZ-TV asked the Trump campaign to clarify, but they didn't respond. Perhaps the 82% figure was pulled from a poll from last year that found 82% oppose future benefit cuts for those now under age 50.
Meanwhile, a new Haley ad opens with a swipe at "the two most disliked politicians in America - Trump and Biden. Both are consumed by chaos, negativity and grievances of the past."
Biden fans might argue with that one. But the core of the Haley pitch is an effort to paint Trump as a loser who might even lose to Biden. "We need a new generation of conservative leadership to get it done," she says.
Maybe so.
But Trump didn't look like a loser Monday night in Iowa, and you wonder if that Haley message has already maxed out.
New Hampshire has a well-deserved reputation for making up its own mind regardless of the outcome in Iowa. But it seems likely Trump's big caucus win energized his New Hampshire base.
The big question may be - did it do the same for New Hampshire voters who would prefer to try something new?