FactCheck.org: Rezko Reality


Selected quotes:

We find McCain's ad is careless with the facts and could easily leave a false impression....

It's untrue that Rezko got "$14 million from taxpayers" for himself, as the ad seems to be saying.

Moreover, the ad's claim that Obama wrote the letter as a favor to Rezko is without factual support.

Can support for a low-income housing project be a "favor" to the developer if the developer didn't ask for it? You decide.

As for that claim about Rezko helping Obama buy his house, well, we've dealt with that one before. ... McCain's ad... says Rezko "helped him buy his million-dollar mansion" by "purchasing part of the property he couldn't afford." That's true, but only because the seller wanted to sell the two parcels as a unit and the Obamas couldn't afford both. Rezko did not make a gift of any property to the Obamas. Furthermore, the fact that his wife sold her lot for more than she paid for it contradicts any suggestion that the Rezkos overpaid for their part of the deal as a way of getting the seller to lower the price to the Obamas for their part.

What About That Obama Ad?

As we mentioned, McCain's ad was prompted by an Obama attack ad released earlier in the day. In that TV spot, Obama criticizes McCain for not knowing just how many houses he owns. The answer depends on what you count as a McCain-owned home. We're going with our colleagues at PolitiFact.com, who decided that the McCain total is eight.

That was a nice touch at the end.

The overconfident on TPM want to dismiss the Rezko story as a non-issue.  As I've said elsewhere, I think that's dangerous.  I think the FactCheck smackdowns are useful to have on hand.

(FactCheck is nonpartisan, btw, and frequently hits Obama publicity for what it considers factual errors as well.)

Just for the record.  In case any of your Freeper or No Quarter friends should ask you.

FactCheck.org: Born In The U.S.A.