Rick Foglesong

Review of Americans for Prosperity “Stop the Spending” Ad

July 5, 2012

Political ads come in two forms: candidate ads and third-party ads.  In the former, we know who the campaign contributors are, and candidates for federal offices must appear in their ads and say, “I’m so-and-so and I approved this ad.” 

In third-party ads, on the other hand, we don’t know who the contributors are, and we don’t know whether the candidate benefitting from an ad, approved that ad.  These are typically attack ads, telling viewers whom to vote against, but not whom to vote for.

Today, I assess a third-party ad attacking Democratic U.S. Senator Bill Nelson.  The ad was sponsored by the group Americans for Prosperity. The group’s web site describes what it’s for and against, but not exactly who makes up the organization.  Upon further research, I learned the group is funded and run by the conservative Koch brothers from Kansas, who are oil and gas billionaires. See: http://americansforprosperity.org/

The ad uses the theme “Stop the Spending.”  Its main claims against Sen. Nelson are that he “voted for the wasteful $800-billion Obama stimulus he said would jump-start the economy,” and that he was “the deciding vote for Barack Obama’s trillion-dollar healthcare law.” Both bills are characterized as wasteful spending. 

Was the $800-billion stimulus  plan, in fact, “wasteful spending”?  It’s not, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.  The CBO says the the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, more commonly known as the stimulus bill, “lowered the unemployment rate by between 0.7 percentage points and 1.8 percentage points, increased the number of people employed by between 1.4 million and 3.3 million, and increased the number of full-time-equivalent jobs by 2.0 million to 4.8 million compared with what would have occurred otherwise.” (CBO, “Estimated Impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on Employment and Economic Output from April 2010 Through June 2010,” August 2010, p.2; http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/ftpdocs/117xx/doc11706/08-24-arra.pdf

Likewise, is the Obama healthcare plan wasteful spending?  Again, it’s not, if you read the Congressional Budget Office findings.  Obama’s plan, according to the CBO, will increase the number of non-elderly Americans with health insurance by about 32 million in 2016.  And, it will reduce the federal budget deficits by an estimated $210 billion between 2012 and 2021, due largely to Medicare cost savings. (Statement of Douglas W. Elmendorf, CBO Director, “CBO’s Analysis of the Major Health Care Legislation Enacted in March 2010,” before the Subcommittee on Health Committee on Energy and Commerce, U.S. House of Representatives, March 30, 2011, pp.1-2);    

http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/ftpdocs/121xx/doc12119/03-30-healthcarelegislation.pdf

Although the CBO’s findings  are estimates, they are at least based on thoughtful research by experts with no political leaning or agenda. The same cannot always be said for third-party ads. And viewers should take notice.