Factcheck.org and Jake Tapper jump on Obama's ad to cover for McCain

[ProSense]

Here's Factcheck.org:

Obama's Overstatement

August 4, 2008

An Obama ad says McCain's campaign got $2 million from "Big Oil." The total is actually $1.3 million.

Summary

Obama released a TV spot saying McCain's campaign got $2 million from "Big Oil" while McCain proposed "another $4 billion in tax breaks" for the industry.

The truth is that McCain's campaign has received $1.33 million from individuals employed in the oil and gas industry, not $2 million. Obama himself has received nearly $400,000, according to the most authoritative figures available. We find the $2 million figure is based on a mistaken calculation.

Furthermore, McCain is not proposing new tax breaks specifically targeted to the oil industry. He's proposing a general reduction in the corporate income tax rate, which Democrats figure would benefit the five largest oil and gas companies by $3.8 billion.

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It bears repeating, as we've reminded readers before, that oil companies themselves don't make donations. It's illegal under federal law for corporations to donate directly to candidates and has been since 1918. The ad refers to donations from executives and employees of oil companies, given either directly or through company-sponsored political action committees, or PACs.

Both candidates accept donations from individual employees of oil companies. In fact, when Obama claimed in an ad last March that "I don't take money from oil companies," we criticized him for being a little too slick. The CRP puts Obama's total from oil and gas donors at $394,465.

Summary: Obama's ad is not factual. In fact, he's a "little too slick."

Citing Factcheck.org, Jake Tapper weighs in:

So, in other words, that $2 million figure is hardly authoritative. Some might even call it bogus.

What does the Center for Responsive Politics have to say? It appears factcheck.org and Jake Tapper are grossly misrepresenting CRP’s conclusion:

By CRP's count, the Victory Fund has collected $976,350 through June from oil/gas interests. It's hard to know how much of that is already included in the $1.3 million that CRP says McCain has collected. If none of the money were double-counted, the total would be about $2.3 million -- $300,000 more than Obama's ad says McCain got.

So what's the bottom line? According to the Center for Responsive Politics -- that's us -- John McCain's campaign had collected $1.3 million from oil and gas interests through June. If you add in the money being collected by the Republican Party to support McCain's candidacy, the total figure could be $2 million, as Obama's campaign claims, or it could be a little less or a little more. But until the accounting is sorted out between the McCain campaign and the Victory Fund, we can't put a precise dollar figure on it.

Good luck fitting all of this into a 30-second TV ad.

more

So according to CRP, McCain’s take from Big Oil could be a little more or a little less that $2 million. Maybe Obama can add the word “about” to cover the plus or minus.

Video: "Pocket" TV Ad

Then there is this issue:

Hess Corporation "Office Manager" And Her Husband Both Gave $28,500 To Elect McCain

Multiple Oil Company Executives Gave Huge Contributions To Electing McCain Just Days After Offshore Drilling Reversal

Oilman greases skids for McCain campaign

Among the donors from John B. Hess' company are an office manager and her husband, who pony up $57,000.
August 5, 2008

On June 10, John B. Hess, a top executive at the oil company with his family name, summoned friends to the 21 Club, a former speakeasy in Manhattan, and delivered $285,000 to John McCain and the Republican National Committee.

A week later, McCain traveled to Texas and announced his support for offshore oil drilling.
Hess Corp. is an East Coast gasoline retailer with major refining and exploration operations, some of which happen to be offshore in the Gulf of Mexico.

Hess was one of half a dozen hosts who tapped friends for the maximum $28,500 donation to the GOP. Others included investor Henry Kravis and hedge fund mogul Paul E. Singer.

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Most Hess donors were company attorneys, vice presidents or, like John Hess, board members. But one, Alice Rocchio, listed her job as office manager, and she gave $28,500, as did her husband, Amtrak foreman Pasquale Rocchio.

As for Factcheck.org's attempt to give McCain cover on tax breaks for Big Oil, Think Progress smacks down that argument:

There is nothing dishonest about pointing out the fact that McCain’s plan to cut the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent would give nearly $4 billion in tax breaks to the six largest oil companies. Ensuring that corporations pay dramatically fewer taxes is an integral part of McCain’s regressive tax plan that skews its benefits heavily toward the wealthy and offers little for the poor and middle class.

This Wonk Room analysis demonstrates the massive benefits for oil companies in McCain’s tax plan:



Just since McCain’s embrace of offshore drilling in June, donations to his campaign from the oil and gas industry have skyrocketed. He has received $881,450 in the last 6 weeks alone.

The McCain campaign may claim to “stand up” to the oil industry, but McCain’s own plans are the stuff of Big Oil’s dreams.

Factcheck.org should get out of the business of fact checking if its going to continue explaining away McCain’s distortions and spinning Obama’s claims as false. Here is Factcheck.org's take on McCain’s “Celeb” ad:

A new McCain ad calls Obama a celebrity (true) who says he'll raise taxes on electricity (false).

Here is Factcheck.org covering for Bush in 2004:

• Kerry: New Kerry Ad Exposes Bush’s January Surprise
  
  
• Factcheck: Kerry Falsely Claims Bush Plans To Cut Social Security Benefits

Luckily, at the start of Bush's second term, Democrats were ready and successfully beat back Bush's attempts to privatize Social Security.

Sure Factcheck.org get some things right, but it appears it's only to build enough credibility to get away with spin.

[redqueen]

1. Thanks...

K&R

[ProSense]

4. This is the key point that no one should over look:

Factcheck.org:

An Obama ad says McCain's campaign got $2 million from "Big Oil." The total is actually $1.3 million.

Center for Responsive Politics:

If you add in the money being collected by the Republican Party to support McCain's candidacy, the total figure could be $2 million, as Obama's campaign claims, or it could be a little less or a little more.

[redqueen]

5. Fact Check ain't so particular about their facts, it seems. (nt)

[Pryderi]

2. DO WE HAVE TO FACT CHECK FACTCHECK.ORG NOW????!! N/T

[ProSense]

3. YES! n/t