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FactCheck.org A Fictional View of the Filibuster:

“A $5-million TV ad campaign by People for the American Way portrays the Senate filibuster as a noble tool of American democracy. The ad uses footage from Frank Capra’s classic 1939 movie ‘Mr. Smith Goes to Washington’ - a famous scene in which the hero, played by James Stewart, engages in a 23-hour filibuster to prevent his expulsion from the US Senate on trumped-up corruption charges.

Real-life filibusters are another matter, however. They can be used for good or evil. In fact, segregationist Southern senators used filibusters to preserve the poll tax and block civil rights and anti-lynching legislation for generations. Among the real-life practitioners were the late Senators Strom Thurmond of South Carolina and Theodore Bilbo of Mississippi.”

FactCheck.org Social Security Ads: Risk or Protection?:

“A pro-Bush TV ad gets the central fact right about Social Security: by the time today’s young workers retire there are projected to be only two workers paying Social Security taxes for every one person receiving Social Security Benefits. Today there are 3.3 workers per beneficiary.

But a different ad opposed to Bush’s efforts uses a misleading photograph. It shows wild trading in commodities like cocoa futures to depict the risk that workers could face with private Social Security accounts. Actually, what’s being proposed is not investment commodities, but in far less risky stock and bond mutual funds, which would be broadly diversified.”

FactCheck.org Bush’s State of the Union: Social Security “Bankruptcy?”:

“As described by the ’senior administration official,’ the owners of personal accounts wouldn’t be able to touch the money while they are working, not even to borrow. The money would remain in the hands of the federal government, which would administer the personal accounts for a fee which the official said would be about 30 cents per year for every $100 invested.

And even at retirement, the government would control what becomes of the money. First, the government would automatically take back a portion of the money at retirement and convert it to a guaranteed stream of payments for life — an annuity. The amount taken back would depend on the amount of money the retiree requires to remain above the official poverty guideline. That’s currently $12,490 for a couple or $9,310 for a single person. Only after the combination of traditional Social Security benefits and the mandatory annuity payments from the private account equal the poverty level would any remaining portion in the account be ‘yours.’”

FactCheck.org MoveOn.org Social Security Ad: “MoveOn.org launched a false TV ad in the districts of several House members, claiming through images and words that President Bush plans to cut Social Security benefits nearly in half. Showing white-haired workers lifting boxes, mopping floors, shoveling and laundering, the ad says ‘it won’t be long before America introduces the working retirement.’

Actually, Bush has said repeatedly he won’t propose any cuts for those already retired, or near retirement. What MoveOn.org calls ‘Bush’s planned Social Security benefit cuts’ is actually a plan that would hold starting Social Security benefits steady in purchasing power, rather than allowing them to nearly double over the next 75 years as they are projected to do under the current benefit formula. The White House has discussed such a proposal, and may or may not adopt it when the President puts forth a detailed plan expected in late February.”

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