From the Michigan Land Use Institute, via Helpful Reader Eric, "Bush Campaign Chair Fabricated Job Loss Number"

On April 8 Marc Racicot, President George W. Bush’s national campaign chairman, startled Michigan by announcing what sounded like an ominous fact. After dedicating the Bush-Cheney campaign’s state headquarters near Detroit, Mr. Racicot said that if Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry’s proposal to raise vehicle fuel mileage standards went into effect Michigan would “lose 105,000 jobs.” 

Mr. Racicot’s statement, meant to diminish Mr. Kerry’s standing in a swing state crucial to the campaigns of both candidates, was picked up by the state and national media. His comment was reported in the Detroit Free Press, The Detroit News, ABC News, and other print, broadcast, and Internet media.

But according to an investigation by the Great Lakes Bulletin News Service, Mr. Racicot’s assertion is at best a serious misrepresentation of a Pennsylvania economist’s two-year-old study, and at worst a deliberate fabrication. It also ignores the fact that many experts believe that improving fuel mileage would actually create more jobs, not eliminate them, and that the United Auto Workers supports Mr. Kerry and does not see his proposals about fuel efficiency as a threat to its members.