Myths & Facts About "Myth & Facts About AmericaSpeaks"

The organizers of AmericaSpeaks, tomorrow's "town hall meeting"/media event designed to focus attention on budget-cutting, have issued a document called "Myths & Facts About AmericaSpeaks: Our Budget, Our Economy." A number of excellent pieces have already been written about the slanted point of view in their materials, which are designed to manipulate attendees into advocated cuts in the social safety net. This document, however, warrants a response of its own.

The organizers present five alleged "myths," together with what they claim are the "facts." They've clearly been stung by the eloquence and visibility of their critics, but they to respond convincingly. A fair-minded review of their "myths" and "facts" led to the following assessment: Their response includes some real facts and a great deal of myth.

Their first statement suggests that there are actually two "myths" about their organization, one from the Left and one from the Right: "AmericaSpeaks: Our Budget, Our Economy is either (a) a liberal effort to raise taxes, or (b) a conservative effort to cut Social Security." This is an example of the false picture organizers have been promoting for weeks. They continue to insist they're getting equal criticism from conservatives and liberals. That's not true.

Fact: Their ideological slant is strongly right-wing, so virtually all of the criticism is coming from the center and the left. In fact, an exhaustive Google search failed to uncover any criticism from the right. Searches included "AmericaSpeaks wants to raise taxes," "AmericaSpeaks liberal front organization," and "AmericaSpeaks tax hikes." I also searched prominent right-wing sites like RedState, Townhall, and Drudge Report. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Not a single word of right-wing criticism. If it's out there, it's pretty hard to find. Centrist and liberal critiques, on the other hand, are plentiful and easy to find. In fact, they appeared prominently when we searched for right-wing criticisms. (I did find one comment about AmericaSpeaks in a TownHall blog post - TownHall's commenters are almost uniformly conservative - but it was positive, not critical.)

Organizers go on to state that "Our goal is not to advocate for any of the options, but rather to create a space where Americans can learn about a wide range of options and consider the trade-offs involved with putting our nation on a long-term, sustainable fiscal path. " That is a myth. As Dean Baker's critique and my own both demonstrate (addressing their content in different ways), conference materials are designed to lead people to the false conclusion that Social Security and other entitlement programs are breaking the Federal budget. (Nicole Woo of CEPR has a roundup of other problems with the materials here.)

Verdict: The claim that they are equally criticized by left and right is a "myth." The claim that they are merely "creating a space" for people to draw their own conclusions is another "myth."

Organizers add this "fact": "AmericaSpeaks: Our Budget, Our Economy is politically neutral." This is only a partial myth. Their effort is politically neutral, if only in the sense that they've been able to draw quite a few Democrats and some other traditionally liberal groups into the project. Their presence can be seen in some of the material, which does present alternate viewpoints at time. But the most crucial document - the participants' "workbook" - is highly slanted, as are a number of other materials. And with many economists believing it is too early to focus on the deficit, organizers have clearly adopted the political science dictum that media coverage can influence what people think about - deficits when stimulus spending is needed, for example - without having to exert too much control over their specific thoughts (although they do that, too).

Verdict: AmericaSpeak's position includes some fact but plenty of myth.

They address the economists' concern with their next listed "myth": "AmericaSpeaks will harm our economic recovery by encouraging deficit reduction in the short-term over job creation." Their stated "fact" reads: "The National Town Meeting will only consider long-term options that would begin after our economy has recovered. People may disagree about the appropriate steps that should be taken to support our nation’s economic recovery, but that discussion will not be the focus of the National Town Meeting. We believe it is important to plan ahead for the future and start finding agreement now, so that policies can be implemented in the years to come."

But their materials leave out some critical cost-saving ideas, underplay others, and emphasize cuts to Social Security. Their event is encouraging the public to worry about government spending, at a time when many economists believe more spending is needed. It's true that we can discuss long-range deficit issues without closing the door on shorter-term economic fixes. And their materials do discuss longer-term needs. But the slant in their materials leaves the clear impression that a) we must start acting now, and b) Social Security is a deficit nightmare.

Verdict: The organizers offer a little fact here, but it's laced with lots of myth.

Their last two stated "myths" involve criticisms I haven't heard all that much, and their position seems reasonable. One "myth" reads: "The timing of the Town Meetings is an effort to blame the deficit on the policies of the current or previous presidential administration." I hadn't heard that, and haven't seen any evidence to suggest that's true. If anything, the current Administration has been too willing to accept the script written by some of the event's backers, and anyone with sound economic judgment understands the fiscal recklessness of the last Administration.

Verdict: Organizers are right; their response to these two "myths" seem truthful. That's equally true for their last "myth": "AmericaSpeaks is associated with the (Republican) organization America Speaking Out." I've seen no evidence to suggest any connection beyond a similarity in names.

The takeaway? Some of the organization's defenses are accurate, although they often seem to address criticisms that virtually no one is making. Unfortunately, where it counts most, their "facts" are "myths" and their "myths" are "facts."

Confused yet? Just wait. That may be part of the plan - and the media campaign is just beginning.

Views expressed on this page are those of the authors and not necessarily those of Campaign for America's Future or Institute for America's Future