News · Press Release

Four Pinocchios: Republicans Slammed for “Bogus Claim” in Deceitful Ads

“Phony Tony” Gonzales taken to task for misrepresenting a vote in withering new fact check by the Washington Post 

A new fact check from the Washington Post today slammed AAN, House Republicans’ dark money group, with four Pinocchios for their “bogus claim” that House Democrats opposed an amendment that “was not even officially part of the motion and thus not the subject of the House vote.”  

Right at the center of this shameful falsehood is Rep. Tony Gonzales (TX-23). Just before the vote, Phony Tony asserted that he “offered a vote to provide Israel with emergency funds to protect itself against the continued attacks from Hamas.” As today’s Washington Post fact check points out, Tony’s claim couldn’t be further from the truth – “no vote took place on [Gonzales’s] amendment” and the procedural vote gimmick made “no mention of any amendment involving Israel’s security.”

“Phony Tony will try anything to distract Texans from his do-nothing record of voting against relief for families and small businesses,” said DCCC spokesperson Monica Robinson. “With no accomplishments to run on in 2022 and the Democratic economic recovery growing stronger by the day, it’s no wonder Tony Gonzales thinks he needs to trick voters to earn their support.”

Read more about Tony’s “bogus claim” and the deceitful Republican ads:

Washington Post: The bogus claim that Democrats voted against funding for Israel 
June 11, 2021
By Glenn Kessler

  • “There are serious votes — and then there are messaging votes. The messaging votes are designed for attack ads.”
  • “Democrats recently engineered a rule change that was intended to thwart the GOP’s ability to run such ads. But that hasn’t stopped this conservative group from running the attack anyway.”
  • “Under the rules of the House, Gonzales was only speaking about a draft amendment. No vote took place on his amendment.”
  • “The leading pro-Israel group, American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), is never shy about making clear its position on important votes involving Israel’s security. But the organization ignored the motion to recommit. ‘We do not take positions on procedural votes.’ said AIPAC spokesman Marshall Whitman.”
  • “If the word ‘shamefully’ needs to be used, it applies to this ad. The motion to recommit was designed for precisely this ad […] Never mind that the amendment that would have been offered in committee was not even officially part of the motion and thus not the subject of the House vote.”
  • “Under regular process outlined in a MOU, after a conflict Israel and the United States are expected to reach agreement on the level of funding needed to replenish Israel’s defense. Only then Congress acts to provide the appropriation. That’s the vote that counts — and the vote that AIPAC would score […] But, for now, AAN earns Four Pinocchios.”

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