Hannity's Spreading the Heinz Ketchup Lie Again

[CO Liberal]

On his radio pukefest, he spoke about the plants the Heinz Company has overseas, implying that they are jobs that were once here that were outsourced.

This has been shown by Snopes to be a lie. I'll find the link and post it.

Someone need to hold Hannity accountable for his lies.

* * * * *

ON EDIT - From the Snopes site:

Claim: Senator John Kerry's wife owns Heinz, a company that outsources much of its work abroad.

Status: False.

Origins: In 1995, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts wed Teresa Heinz, whom he first met at an Earth Day rally in 1990. Born Teresa Simões-Ferreira in Mozambique to Portuguese parents, Mrs. Kerry was previously married for 25 years to Henry John Heinz III, who was a member of the founding family of the H.J. Heinz Company and represented Pennsylvania for twenty years in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate prior to his death in a plane crash in 1991. Mrs. Kerry inherited a Heinz family fortune estimated at over $500 million.

<snip>

Moreover, the Heinz Company's operations are not an example of the type of outsourcing that is currently a hot political issue (i.e., sending out work to offshore companies to provide services which a company might otherwise have employed its own staff to perform). Heinz is a U.S.-based global business which sells its products in dozens of other countries, and like other food companies it has to localize some of its production at factories located in its foreign market areas. (It makes little sense from either an economic or a freshness standpoint to be shipping fruits and vegetables and/or finished food products halfway around the world rather than producing them locally.) One wouldn't expect, for example, every can and bottle of Coca-Cola sold anywhere in the world — whether it be Australia, China, or Portugal — to be produced by U.S. bottlers.)

As the H.J. Heinz Company notes, well over half its sales come from foreign markets, and it therefore operates overseas facilities to serve those markets:
Currently, 60% of the sales of the H.J. Heinz Company are outside the United States and to accommodate those customers by providing facilities closer to those markets, the company maintains a number of overseas facilities that provide products for consumers in those markets. This allows Heinz to pack the freshest ingredients, tailor its recipes to local tastes and deliver the finished products in a timely and efficient manner. In the United States, Heinz makes its flagship ketchup in factories in Fremont, Ohio; Muscatine, Iowa; and Stockton, California.

Last updated: 30 March 2004

http://www.snopes.com/politics/kerry/heinz.asp

[actappan]

1. Snopes.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/kerry/heinz.asp

[radwriter0555]

2. Turn it OFF. Listening to hate radio and hate teevee is POINTLESS

and accomplishes nothing.

[leeman67]

3. and even if it WERE true...

It has nothing to do with Teresa Heinz-Kerry.

[jay-3d]

4. The Truth

Summary of the eRumor
The message says that the Heinz Company, owned by the wife of presidential candidate John Kerry, has 57 or its 79 plants overseas.
Kerry has criticized Bush for sending jobs abroad.







The Truth
First, the Heinz company has issued a statement clarifying that neither Teresa Heinz Kerry nor Senator Kerry has any involvement in the management or the board of the business.
It also says that neither Teresa Kerry nor any of the Heinz endowments or trusts holds any significant percentage of of shares of the company and that their holdings are less than four percent.
In other words, no controlling interest.
The statement also says that sixty percent of the sales of the company are overseas and that the foreign plants allow them to serve local customers with fresher ingredients.
In other words, their foreign operations are for the purpose of doing business on foreign land, which is not the same, for example, as an American factory firing its workers and having the same work done in another country by cheaper labor.

Teresa Heinz Kerry was married to the late Senator John Heinz III, a Republican from Pennsylvania.
He was killed in an aircraft accident in 1991, leaving his portion of the family fortune to his wife, estimated to be $500 million.

[Francis]

5. Let him keep it up

I hope it will upset the Heinz co and they no longer contribute to the republican party

[guitar man]

6. So

Heinz corp. donates almost exclusively to the GOP. Let him sit on that and spin.

[leeman67]

8. yes, isn't amazing that Heinz Co.

is willing to tolerate this shite and continue supporting the GOP, as they bite the hand that feeds it?

[enki23]

7. jesus. why in hell does he still have media exposure?

he does this shit ALL THE TIME. in this case, as in many other cases, i can only see too possible explanations. the first is that he is *still* ignorant regarding this issue, something easily cleared up by a two minute web search, in which case he is a lazy idiot. the second possible explanation is that he *does* know what he's saying is a fabrication, in which case he's a liar and an idiot.

[AspenRose]

9. I agree (holding him accountable), but good luck getting him to

SHUT UP long enough to let you get a word in edgewise.

[EST]

10. The problem with responding

in any official sort of way is that the idiots who keep him on the air regard any attention, even negative, as a good thing.

[liberalrecruiter]

11. Talking heads...

We call them "Calamity and Jane" -  Calamity's
ability to communicate fact is exceeded only by his lack of
interest in doing so. He's the new generation Rush Limbaugh:
too much hot air/not enough balloons. To take him seriously
and respond in that tone is to lend him credibility. Don't
bother. He's a mental lightweight who managed to kiss enough
appropriate ass to land him in his current position. Let's
face it. He's made it. And having a brain or conscience isn't
of any interest to him -so he just makes noise instead. 

But Jane - gee, he fascinates me. -He's one of the few people
I've ever seen who can actually hold himself up straight with
NO spine whatsoever!   

[liberalnurse]

13. Welcome to DU.......

Hi there! :pals:

[antigone382]

16. Beautifully written

And welcome to DU, btw.

[newyawker99]

17. Hi liberalrecruiter!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[yankeedem]

12. Were you the one that started the hannity.com thread?

It was worded the same way. The posters over there make Freepers look like geniouses.

[CO Liberal]

14. That Wasn't Me

I don't encourage people to visit his web site, because I don't want to see his hit numbers go up. I listen to his radio pukefest and report on the more stupid things he says.

[imax2268]

15. You know...

Let the brainless twits called the Republicans for BushCo listen to that crap and regurgitate it where ever they go...when we steam roll over them this November...they will not know what hit them...

Don't listen to that little shithead...it's all part of the right-wing smear machine...it's the only way they can win by trying to decieve people...