Fact-checking Pelosi’s criticism of Boehner

In their effort to hold a congressional majority, Democrats keep saying that if the Republicans take power, they will return to the policies of former President George W. Bush and the previous Republican majority in Congress — policies that Democrats blame for helping cause the current recession.

The office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., used this argument in responding to a Sept. 23, 2010, event in which House Republicans unveiled a “Pledge to America” — a statement of policy principles that House Republicans intend follow.

A Sept. 23 post on Pelosi’s “Gavel” blog said, “Answering a question this morning about the preamble to the GOP”s ‘Pledge to America,” House Republican Leader John Boehner admitted to American workers, their families and small businesses, ‘We are not going to be any different than we”ve been.’ Finally, we get the truth. Congressional Republicans want to return to the same failed economic policies that cost us 8 million American jobs, doubled our national debt, hurt millions of Americans, and wrecked our economy.”

The post included an eight-second video clip in which Boehner says, “And the point we make in this preamble to our Pledge is that we’re not going to be any different than we’ve been.”

We checked Boehner’s actual comments and found Pelosi’s blog post had distorted what he said.