A conservative group called Americans for New Leadership has a new ad out in the Nevada Senate race, defending Republican nominee Sharron Angle on Social Security. There are just a couple small problems. As Jon Ralston pointed out, the ad makes two errors: Angle’s actual past statements on Social Security — and the proper spelling of the candidate’s name.
“Sharron Angle doesn’t want to phase out Social Security,” the announcer says. “She wants to phase out the way Harry Reid and Congress raid Social Security for their reckless spending.” A later piece of on-screen text says “Sharon (sic) Angle will protect Social Security.” The misspelling is especially amusing since right before this, photos are shown of Angle campaign signs that use the correct “Sharron.”
In fact, during the Republican primary Angle did say that she wanted to “phase out” out Social Security, and said that “getting out” of Social Security and Medicare was “not up for grabs” — that the only room for debate with her was the proper implementation and timeline for doing so. Since then — after she won the primary — Angle has shifted her position to wanting to allow people to use the same Social Security system as we know it, while also giving a choice of using a system of private accounts.
The TPM Poll Average currently gives Angle a lead of 46.0%-40.8%.
Eric Kleefeld
Eric Kleefeld joined TPM as an intern for the final months of the 2006 midterm elections, and then kept showing up for work. His other interests include guitars, old comic books and the politics of various English-speaking countries.
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