Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

analysis:

Political polygraph: Putting campaign claims to the test

The old joke goes something like this: How can you tell when a politician is lying? His lips are moving. But not all political utterances are created equal. Some can be winked at as spin and others as half-truths. Then there are outright lies. Here is the worst of this political season — so far? — and where each falls on the spectrum.

HALF-TRUTH

TV ad for Republican U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid “voted to use taxpayer dollars to pay for Viagra for convicted child molesters and sex offenders.”

CONTEXT

During the health care reform debate, Senate Democrats opposed a measure to prohibit the federal government from paying for sex offenders’ Viagra. Democrats’ opposition was for procedural reasons — voting for it likely would have killed health care reform entirely. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., who introduced the legislation, opposed reform. Nothing in the new law prevents sex offenders from receiving subsidized Viagra, but nothing allows it either. Health exchanges, which convicted sex offenders will be allowed to buy into like other Americans, could cover prescriptions such as Viagra when they take effect in 2014, but it is unclear whether they will.

LIE

Nevada Democratic Party mailer: Republican state Senate District 5 candidate Michael Roberson wants to deny women access to birth control and investigate women who have miscarriages.

CONTEXT

In a questionnaire for the Nevada Concerned Citizens group, Roberson described himself as “pro-life.” Roberson never said he wanted to investigate women or keep them from obtaining birth control. Rather, he said he opposed the distribution of birth control and abortion counseling in public schools and supported legislation that would protect life from conception to death. Even Roberson’s opponent, Democrat Joyce Woodhouse, admitted the mailers are “not good political pieces.”

HALF-TRUTH

Reid TV ad: Angle opposes enforcing restraining orders that protect victims of domestic violence.

CONTEXT

In the Assembly, Angle voted against a bill that would conceivably make it easier for police to enforce restraining orders issued in another state. She raised concerns at the time that police in Nevada wouldn’t be able to verify a restraining order’s existence. But that’s not the same as opposing restraining orders.

LIE

Angle TV ad: Reid voted to give “special tax breaks to illegal aliens.”

CONTEXT

Angle uses a series of votes Reid made against Republican amendments during the 2006 debate on comprehensive immigration reform to support her claim. Those amendments would have denied several tax credits to immigrants who achieved legal status under the bill’s “pathway to citizenship,” even after they achieved that legal status. Reid has not voted to give any tax breaks to illegal immigrants.

LIE

Nevada Democratic Party mailers: Republican state Sen. Barbara Cegavske and Assembly candidate Tim Williams support convicted rapists’ and other felons’ possession of handguns.

CONTEXT

The mailers cite candidate surveys for the advocacy group Gun Owners of Nevada, which asked whether candidates support repealing state laws that require legal gun owners to get permits to carry the firearms in a concealed manner. Both Cegavske and Williams answered yes. State laws on concealed weapon permits are separate from provisions that designate who can own or possess a gun. And state and federal laws prohibit a felon from possessing a firearm.

HALF-TRUTH

TV ad for GOP gubernatorial candidate Brian Sandoval: Democrat Rory Reid is “skipping his day job” as a Clark County commissioner, including being absent from 140 votes over 19 months.

CONTEXT

The number of missed votes, 140, is correct, but in this case context is everything. That number represents an estimated 3 percent of the 4,000 or more votes taken by the commission during that period. County Commission meetings typically last six to eight hours. Reid’s campaign said he has missed only two meetings since January 2009. The rest of the missed votes occurred when Reid took a break to “get a drink of water, make a phone call or check on one of his kids,” spokesman Mike Trask said.

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