Former Vice President Joe Biden kicked off his third campaign for president with a speech in Pittsburgh that contained a few false and misleading statements.
Biden’s Campaign Kickoff Claims
Issues: labor unions
Puerto Rican Teamsters Stories are Bogus
Q: Did a Teamsters strike hinder aid efforts in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria?
A: No. Stories claiming so misrepresented an actual quote from an Air Force colonel.
AFL-CIO
Large federation of labor unions is strongly Democratic.
American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees (AFSCME)
A labor union that represents more than 1.6 million public sector employees and retirees.
Romney Hits Turbulence With Boeing Case
A Mitt Romney ad running in South Carolina distorts the truth by claiming that the National Labor Relations Board told Boeing Corp., “You can’t build a factory in South Carolina because South Carolina is a right-to-work state.” That misstates the facts. The NLRB’s acting general counsel actually dropped the case. And South Carolina’s right-to-work law wasn’t the focus of the now-dismissed complaint. The acting general counsel had claimed Boeing was punishing workers in another state for union activity.
Flipping Through DNC Playbook on Romney
The Democratic National Committee casts Mitt Romney as an untrustworthy flip-flopper in a lengthy Web video, but pads a long list of examples with some falsehoods and distortions. It’s true that Romney has changed or modified his position on some major issues — including abortion, a federal assault weapons ban and Reaganomics, as the DNC says. But the video strains the truth …
A ‘Job-Killing’ Law?
When it comes to truth in labeling, House Republicans are getting off to a poor start with their constantly repeated references to the new health care law as “job-killing.” We find: Independent, nonpartisan experts project …
AFSCME’s Misleading Tax Attack
AFSCME, the big labor union, is running a misleading ad attacking one of the GOP’s premier House candidates. In an attempt to protect a vulnerable freshman Democrat, Rep. John Boccieri of Ohio, AFSCME badly misrepresents his Republican challenger’s stance on taxation. AFSCME’s ad …
New Mexico and Arkansas Races
In episode 13 of FactCheck Radio, we look at a Republican ad that was condemned by the head of the GOP in New Mexico. Plus, we debunk labor union ads attacking Democratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, and we update listeners on claims about Muslims and the health care law.
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Cadillac Plans and Unions: Who Benefits?
When the White House and congressional Democrats agreed last month to scale back a Senate-passed tax on high-value health plans, it was widely portrayed as a giveaway to labor unions. For example, the New York Post reported that it was a "sweetheart deal" that would save union members $60 billion, and on its editorial page called it a "bribe" and a "big, fat wet kiss for labor unions," a view quickly echoed by Republican leaders.