UPDATE: Rahall’s ad received Four Pinocchios from The Washington Post’s Fact Checker. The Post’s Glenn Kessler said Rahall “should be ashamed of this ad”:
It’s really time for Democrats to drop these repeated “Mediscare” references to a supposed $6,000 increase in premiums. It is so out of date as to be laughable.
But even without that claim, the use of Jenkins’ quote about Medicaid to make broad charges about Medicare is a ridiculous and misleading mix-up of policies. The Rahall campaign should be ashamed of this ad.
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Factcheck.org did not look kindly on Rep. Nick Rahall’s (D-WV) latest ad, accusing him of taking his opponent’s words out of context and twisting the facts in order to scare seniors:
Rep. Nick Rahall of West Virginia takes a quote from his Republican opponent, Evan Jenkins, out of context to falsely imply that Jenkins is “comfortable” with raising “seniors’ out-of-pocket costs” for Medicare by $6,000. Actually, Jenkins was talking about nominal copays for Medicaid — not Medicare.
The TV ad, titled “Listens,” is the latest example of what we call “Mediscare” — a distortion of an opponent’s position on Medicare to scare seniors.
It looks like Rahall is running scared since West Virginians have caught on to his anti-coal record and have begun to speak out in ads against the 38 year incumbent: