Fact Check Friday: Presidential Campaign Ads Scrutinized
NEW YORK (WCBS 880) - It's "Fact Check Friday," when WCBS 880 puts the presidential campaign ads under the scrutiny of Factcheck.org, a non-partisan, non-profit organization.
The first ad WCBS 880 asked Factcheck's Eugene Kiley about is Mitt Romney's TV ad claiming the Obama administration adopted "a plan to gut welfare reform by dropping work requirements.
Watch the ad:
Kiley told WCBS 880 the ad is false.
"What the Obama administration has done here has made some changes in the welfare law that would give the states some more flexibility in how they move people from welfare to work," Kiley said. "They're not gutting welfare reform. They're not dropping work requirements. They're still going to hold states accountable for increasing the number of people they move off the welfare rolls and into jobs."
Listen to Kiley's analysis of the ads
Podcast
Kiley said that by empowering states, the Obama administration is actually moving forward with something Republicans had been requesting.
Also making waves is not an official campaign ad, but rather one released by a so-called "SuperPAC." The ad features a former steelworker who essentially blames Mitt Romney for his wife's death.
A grieving widower in the pro-Obama TV spot says his wife contracted cancer and died "a short time after" Romney closed the steel plant that employed him, leaving his family without health coverage.
Watch the ad:
"This is one of these tough ads because your heart goes out to anyone who's in this situation," Kiley said. "Some of the facts don't really line up. She didn't die a short time after the plant closed. She died five years after the plant closed. And she didn't even lose her coverage after the plant closed. She didn't lose her coverage for a year or two later."
Have you had enough of political advertising? Do you think they should be regulated in some way? Sound off in our comments section.
