UPDATE: Feingold ad not fake, Belling says
Here is Belling's statement about the ad.
Funny that the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (the Russ Feingold campaign team) links to it. Although it's a retraction, Belling still gets the last laugh.
________________
Mark Belling isn't running for office but PolitiFact Wisconsin has declared his "Pants on Fire."
Yesterday, Belling said that Russ Feingold's "Garage Door" ad was fake, that Feingold wasn't really standing in front of his home in Middleton.
Less than 24 hours after Belling made the claim, PolitiFact, "a partnership of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and PolitiFact.com, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Web site of the St. Petersburg Times," has responded, putting the assertion to the test.
In a new TV ad, U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold goes back in history, reviving images from his successful 1992 campaign when he painted promises on his garage door in Middleton. Facing a tough re-election battle, the Wisconsin Democrat tells voters he owns the same house and is still the small-town fella they elected 18 years ago -- except that today he posts promises on a website instead of his garage.
It’s not exactly what you would call an attack ad. But it was enough to open the door for an attack by WISN-AM talk radio host Mark Belling.
"I’m going to make an accusation here, and I am very confident that I am correct in my accusation," Belling said in the first hour of his Sept. 28, 2010 program. "That ad is a fake. That ad is a fake. Feingold is not standing in front of his house in this new ad. They faked it."
Belling said he checked out the ad himself and cited an expert source he said he could not identify.
...While our primary focus at PolitiFact Wisconsin is fact-checking the promises, claims and accusations made by elected officials and candidates, we will also examine the words of other voices who shape the political discourse.
This was a strong accusation: Did a U.S. Senate candidate aiming to show off his roots back home fake the scene from a far-off TV studio?
Good grief.
"While our primary focus at PolitiFact Wisconsin is fact-checking the promises, claims and accusations made by elected officials and candidates, we will also examine the words of other voices who shape the political discourse."
Apparently, Belling has a lot of political clout.
Gee, less than 24 hours after Belling made the claim on his radio program, PolitiFact Wisconsin has published its findings.
That's remarkably fast.
Why such a quick reaction? How did that happen?
Obviously, it was critical that Belling's accusation did not stand. It had to be debunked immediately.
The Journal Sentinel obliged.
PolitiFact Wisconsin published its analysis at 2:14 PM today.
JSOnline posted the "Pants on Fire" declaration at 2:26 PM, about half an hour before Belling's program begins, in its "NewsWatch" box.
What timing!
...Belling declined to name his source, other than to say he was involved in video production and shared his suspicions.
"I have no proof,’’ Belling said. "I'm making an accusation that it's faked, and they can confirm or deny it."
So, we asked Feingold. Was he standing in his driveway when the ad was shot?
"I’m trying not to laugh," Feingold said. "Yes."
After spending the night at his Middleton house, Feingold said, he attended the dedication of a war memorial in Sauk Prairie on Aug. 28 while the production crew set up in the driveway. Then he returned home to shoot the commercial.
His campaign provided a still photo shot during the filming that shows Feingold in front of the house with a crew member identified as Rob Wernette, a freelance grip from Milwaukee.
An employee for the WisPolitics.com website also saw the ad being filmed, with Feingold standing in his driveway. Jeff Mayers, president of Wispolitics, said one of his employees saw Feingold filming the ad in front of his home and the employee confirmed it when contacted by PolitiFact Wisconsin.
Feingold said plenty of folks passed by the house during the two-hour filming, some beeping and giving him a thumbs up.
Feingold complained that he has received a lot of "cheap shots,’’ but that "this is the dumbest one of all time.’’
Oh come on.
"Cheap shots"?
Feingold has been dishing out a steady stream of truly cheap shots at his opponent, Ron Johnson.
St. Russ isn't without flaming pants.
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