It is worth a wry smile or a whiplash when a
political ad runs immediately after a news report that makes a joke of the
commercial. So it was the other night. The news story was that job growth
and unemployment figures were back to October 2008 (the beginning of the
recession) and that the DOW was nearing record heights. The glowing report was followed immediately by a Cory Gardner commercial
. Gardner is the Republican who
will take on incumbent Colorado Senator Mark Udall in November.
The Gardner ad featured an angry
young adult woman, a college graduate, claiming that Udall had passed “massive
spending bills that crippled our economy “ and left us with 10% unemployment, high
student loans, and paying for health insurance “we cannot afford.”
Her message was a backpack stuffed with untruths.
Udall crippled the Colorado
economy? He was not even a senator when the crash occurred in during the Bush Republican
administration and in spite of a stonewalling GOP dominated Congress, the news
story was that the economy had pretty much recovered. The Metro Denver Economic
Development Corporation (Metro Denver EDC) presented the 2014 Metro Denver Economic
Forecast that concluded ” "2013 was a year of records in areas such
as employment growth, housing, commercial real estate, and the stock
market…”
High unemployment? The
Department of Labor shows actual unemployment figure in Colorado is
5.8%. Per the Metro Denver EDC,” The state restored all of the jobs lost
during the recession by the middle of 2013”.
What about college grads like
her? True, 10% of those of college age
are unemployed, but in her
age bracket of over 24, the unemployment rate is only 5.1 percent. Among workers with bachelor’s degrees like her,
only 3.3 percent are unemployed.
The ad continued, claiming
Udall left students with high student loans, yet the GOP in Congress, (including Rep. Gardner) voted against and prevented lowering interest rates and allowing
refinancing at lower rates. Gardner also voted to cut Pell grants, and to eliminate in-school interest rate
subsidies. (Gardner did submit a bill in May to increase tax deductions caps from $2500 up to $5K on loan interest, but it hardly offsets the his votes against more significant, immediate and direct measures).Through executive order, Obama tied loan payback to income level,
providing some relief. Her finger needs to point at Gardner, not Udall.
The ad hit Udall for forcing young people” to pay for health
insurance they could not afford’, yet Obamacare allows young adults under 26 to
remain on their parents’ plans and it subsidizes policies based on income, with
those earning less than $15,000 paying little to nothing. Cory Gardner ,who wants to repeal Obamacare, would return young people to the past, risking
a car or bike wreck or skiing accident that would put them in debt or cripple them with bad credit ratings for years to come.
Why such an ad?
Perhaps Gardner fears single women like
her, who swung the 2012 election blue because of his and the GOP’s anti reproductive rights planks, might do it again in 2014, and they are hoping
no one pays attention to the facts.
A version of this appeared in the Sky Hi Daily News July 11,2014 (www.skyhidailynews.com)
A version of this appeared in the Sky Hi Daily News July 11,2014 (www.skyhidailynews.com)
Links to data sources used in the posting:
No comments:
Post a Comment