Topic: Newsmax
A Jan. 23 Newsmax article by David Patten describes the so-called "Dirty Dozen" things President Obama plans to do. But Patten doesn't come clean by telling the truth about them.
For instance, Patten claims that Obama will "hike taxes," about which he adds: "Obama promised to cut taxes for 95 percent of Americans -- quite a feat, considering that only about 60 percent of Americans earn enough to pay taxes in the first place." In fact, Obama has said that his tax credits will go to "working Americans"; further, Patten seems to have forgotten that "working Americans" also pay FICA taxes for Social Security and Medicare, as well as federal excise taxes.
Patten also asserts that the Employee Free Choice Act "seeks to take away workers’ free choice," adding: "The act would eliminate the confidential balloting in which workers now determine whether they want to be unionized." In fact, as we've noted, the EFCA does not eliminate secret balloting.
Patten's article rates each of these so-called "dirty dozen" things by several criteria, including "Likelihood that the measure soon will be implemented," "Potential impact on the country, once the measure is enacted," "Future political impact on the GOP and its supporters," and a "GOP Misery Index" that's an average of the three measures. But at no point does Patten explain how these numbers were calculated, suggesting that he just made them up.
