Finally, a Reality Check on Barrett and Falk Attack Ads that use GOP Great Recession against Democrats.

The Democrats are being blamed for the job losses created by the Republicans Great Recession.

I've been saying this for months, ever since Scott Walker started using this talking point a year ago, with no news media push back at all. If the papers, TV and radio stations had corrected Walker initially, we wouldn't be wasting our time reality checking the current wave of conservative media distortions.

I've never seen a party get so much positive political mileage out of an economic disaster they created. This is a must see for voters, and a perfect way for the candidates to frame their arguments in their own ads and future debates. Channel3000:



Oops! A funny thing about the ads one big argument about Mayor Barrett spending, is that Walker spent a similar amount as county executive.

Spending in Milwaukee County under Walker, who was Milwaukee County executive at the time, went up about the same amount over the same time period.

And here's the rest of the story:

"And jobs, going down," says the ad. "Unemployment got 27 percent worse."
WISC-TV found this is misleading … Unemployment dropped for the first four years of Barrett's term, then jumped in 2009 to 11.9 percent when the recession hit across the country. It now stands at 10.5 percent.

"And what about Kathleen Falk?" the ad asks. "Property taxes up every year. Unemployment tripled." The Republican Governors Association points out a jump from 1.7 to 5.2 percent during Falk's term. The details? Unemployment steadily crept up in the county, leveling off at just more than 3 percent. It nearly doubled in 2009 when the recession hit, and dropped back to about 5 percent … it's true that property taxes went up each year under Falk, although she limited most of the increases to 3 to 5 percent each year, which was generally lower than most counties in the state.