Channel 4's Raj Chohan is getting plenty of airtime around now thanks to "Reality Check," a first-rate series of televised packages (and a print component published in the Rocky Mountain News -- click for an example) that attempt to define what's truth, what's fiction and what's spin in political advertisements. Now, however, he's been put in the awkward position of potentially having to analyze a spot in which he actually appears.
The latest commercial from the campaign of Betsy Markey, a Democrat running in the Fourth District, hits hard against Markey's opponent, incumbent Republican Marilyn Musgrave. The first words intoned by the gloomy voiced narrator are, "They say the only things you can count on are death and taxes... and Marilyn Musgrave's lies." From there, the piece segues to attacks on a Musgrave spot that implies Markey became a millionaire by parlaying political contacts into folding green. Included are two quotes from a Chohan reality check, as well as an image of Chohan delivering it. That's completing the circle.
Look below for the accusatory Musgrave commercial and Markey's response, featuring Chohan's cameo. -- Michael Roberts
The commercial "authorized" by Marilyn Musgrave:
Betsy Markey's answer: