Leonie Haimson, the executive director of Class Size Matters, recently wrote an open letter to President Obama that appeared in the Washington Post, saying, “If you disagree with what Romney said, you should rein in your own education secretary and ask him to take back his erroneous statements on the subject.”
Obama Campaign ‘Truth Team’ Conflates Smears with Criticisms, Citing Disputed Study
(Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Photo)
An email from the Obama campaign encapsulates the problem when political campaigns seize the language of fact checkers, muddying the waters.
In the note, sent later in the day today, Obama campaign deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter invites supporters to “report an attack” at theTruth Team report page.
“Received a robo-call or an email forward full of falsehoods?” the page asks. “Found a misleading leaflet in your mail? Tell us about it, and help fight back against the attacks on President Obama and his record.”
Cutter in her email hammers Mitt Romney for saying “Since President Obama assumed office three years ago, federal spending has accelerated at a pace without precedent in recent history,” which she refutes with a Market Watch blog saying that federal spending is rising at the slowest pace since President Eisenhower.
Here’s the problem: the Market Watch item has been refuted by several fact checkers as severely flawed, notwithstanding its citation by White House press secretary Jay Carney along with the assertion that reporters should “not buy into the BS that you hear about spending and fiscal constraint with