Fact check: Bill Clinton at the DNC. CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Former president Bill Clinton's stem-winding nomination speech was a fact-checker's nightmare: lots of effort required to run down his many statistics and factual claims, producing little for us to write about. Republicans will find plenty of Clinton's scorching opinions objectionable. But with few exceptions, we found his stats checked out. Overselling 'Obamacare' The worst we could fault him for was a suggestion that President Obama's Affordable Care Act was responsible for bringing down the rate of increase in health care spending, when the fact is that the law's main provisions have yet to take effect.
Clinton said that "for the last two years, health care costs have been under 4% in both years for the first time in 50 years. " Actually, the major provisions of the 2010 law — the individual mandate, federal subsidies to help Americans buy insurance, and big reductions in the growth of Medicare spending — haven't yet taken effect. Other exaggerations. FACT CHECK: Flunking geography, history. WASHINGTON (AP) — Voters didn't always get the straight goods when President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney made their case for foreign policy and national security leadership Monday night before their last super-sized audience of the campaign. A few of their detours into domestic issues were problematic too.
Romney flubbed Middle East geography. Obama got Romney's record as Massachusetts governor wrong. At the same time, they injected a little more accuracy into two leading misstatements of the campaign: Romney's claim for months that Obama went around apologizing for America, and the president's assertion, going back to his State of the Union address in January, that the U.S. military's exit from Afghanistan will yield money to rebuild America.
A look at some of their statements and how they compare with the facts: ROMNEY: "Mr. President, the reason I call it an apology tour is because you went to the Middle East and you flew to Egypt and to Saudi Arabia and to Turkey and Iraq. In position to surprise, Romney has sharp answers in first debate. Mitt Romney and President Obama after Wednesday's presidential… (Win McNamee / Getty Images ) DENVER — In the first presidential debate of the fall campaign, neither Mitt Romney nor President Obama appeared to land a knockout blow or commit the sort of serious blunder that would instantly change the presidential race. The Republican challenger held his own during a 90-minute encounter that revolved almost exclusively around domestic issues. Romney, offering sharper answers than Obama and seizing control of the debate at several points, was never ruffled, repeatedly predicting that Obama would provide more “trickle-down government” if he were reelected in November.
He defended himself against charges from Obama that his tax cut plan would favor the wealthy. For his part, Obama tried to bury his opponent in the very thing that Romney is said to crave: data. “Math, common sense and our history shows us that's not a recipe for job growth,” Obama said. “Look, I've been in business for 25 years. How Do Religious Americans Vote? According to These Charts, That Depends On Their Race. Those certainly sound like stereotypes. But, according to a new study from the Pew Forum On Religion and Public Life, which analyzed all of the organization's polling data from 2012, they are actually true. About 35 percent of the nation's registered voters are Democrats, while 28 percent are Republicans and 33 percent identify as independent.
But a growing number of independents have started leaning toward the GOP since 2008, Pew reports, noting the share of registered voters who either identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party has declined from a 12-point advantage in 2008, to a 5-point advantage in 2012. The evolution in voter identification charted by Pew makes it clear the extreme partisanship that took hold of politics following President Barack Obama's election in 2008 - peaking with GOP leaders declaring their main mission was to make sure Obama is a one-term president -- has obviously affected voters' perception of the parties. No Ron Paul revolution at convention - James Hohmann. TAMPA, Fla. — The Republican establishment has quelled the Ron Paul Revolution, at least for 2012.
Using a mix of charm and procedural hardball, Mitt Romney’s campaign and his allies who control the Republican National Committee have ensured that the Texas congressman will neither speak nor be formally nominated at next week’s convention. It’s a significant victory for Romney, who could have been faced with a raucous rebellion from the Paul crowd if he hadn’t extended an early, and diplomatic, olive branch to what’s become a key constituency. Continue Reading The libertarian septuagenarian controls the state delegations from Nevada, Iowa and Minnesota. But a candidate needs five states to be officially recognized on the floor.
Paul supporters have made claims to Louisiana, Massachusetts, Oregon, Oklahoma and Maine. But Romney’s coterie of lawyers skillfully used the rules and interpersonal negotiations to peel each away. (Also on POLITICO: GOP delegate tracker) No Ron Paul at the RNC. Next week's Republican National Convention just got one billion percent less interesting… Using a mix of charm and procedural hardball, Mitt Romney's campaign and his allies who control the Republican National Committee have ensured that the Texas congressman will neither speak nor be formally nominated at next week's convention. It's a significant victory for Romney, who could have been faced with a raucous rebellion from the Paul crowd if he hadn't extended an early, and diplomatic, olive branch to what's become a key constituency.The libertarian septuagenarian controls the state delegations from Nevada, Iowa and Minnesota.
But a candidate needs five states to be officially recognized on the floor. Paul supporters have made claims to Louisiana, Massachusetts, Oregon, Oklahoma and Maine. But Romney's coterie of lawyers skillfully used the rules and interpersonal negotiations to peel each away. This really is a significant victory for Romney! Rick Santorum Blasts NCAA & Freeh Report On Penn State-Jerry Sandusky Sex Abuse Scandal (AUDIO)
Former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Penn.) and former 2012 GOP presidential hopeful doesn't think the Freeh report tells the whole truth on the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal. In a radio interview conducted by Dallas-Ft. Worth’s KSKY 660 AM Friday, Santorum did not go into specifics, but criticized the Freeh Report, which investigated the cover up of Sandusky's crimes. "My concern with the Freeh report... a lot of the conclusions in the Freeh report aren’t matched by the evidence that they presented," Santorum said. Sandusky was convicted of molesting and raping children over a 15-year period on June 22, 2012. "I understand the NCAA and what they did in reaction to that report," he added, "[but the NCAA] actually usually [does] their own internal investigation, their own fact checking.
Santorum attended Penn State. ThinkProgress notes that when the story broke last winter, Santorum said he'd be "rooting for" head football coach Joe Paterno and wished him the best. Rep. Yarmuth Introduces Constitutional Amendment To Overturn Citizens United. GOP Butt Plugs Are Accurate 3D Renderings Of Gallup Poll Data. These are 3D renderings of each GOP candidate's vote-approval rating in this year's presidential campaign. They're also functional sex toys. Matthew Epler had run out of ideas when his telecommunications professor at New York University gave him the assignment of representing data in a way that doesn't bore the average Joe to death. That is, until an ad for butt plugs popped up on his computer -- he swears he's not a creep and was on a music site. "The first thing that came to mind was, 'Hey, that's a line graph,'" Epler told The Huffington Post. "I found [in the butt plug] a way to represent data beyond just staring at a screen.
" Story continues below A 3D graph idea was born. The result: "Grand Old Party" butt plugs. "Of course everybody in class looked at me like I was crazy," he said. Epler, 30, decided each plug's height based on the length of each candidate's presidential bid, which is why the toys representing Bachman and Perry are so short. Need lube for these new toys? Racial Comments By Republican Candidates. Santorum "black" remark condemned, questioned.
Santorum's Racist Welfare Rant: 'I Don't Want To Make Black People's Lives Better' With Taxpayer Money. By Marie Diamond on January 3, 2012 at 1:10 pm "Santorum’s Racist Welfare Rant: ‘I Don’t Want To Make Black People’s Lives Better’ With Taxpayer Money" GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum has been trying to pull off an upset in the Iowa caucus, but he’s drawing criticism ahead of tonight’s contest for racially charged remarks he recently made about welfare recipients: At a campaign stop in Sioux City, Iowa on Sunday, Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum singled out blacks as being recipients of assistance through federal benefit programs, telling a mostly-white audience he doesn’t want to “make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money.” [...]It is unclear why Santorum pinpointed blacks specifically as recipients of federal aid.
The original questioner asked “how do we get off this crazy train? We’ve got so much foreign influence in this country now,” adding “where do we go from here?” Watch it: Did Rick Santorum Really Talk About Making ‘Black People’s Lives Better’ With ‘Somebody Else’s Money?’ Surging presidential hopeful Rick Santorum is under fire for a remark at a campaign event Sunday in Sioux City, Iowa, where he apparently brought up the plight of black people completely out of the blue.
Or did he? According to reports, Santorum said ”I don’t want to make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else’s money. I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money and provide for themselves and their families.” The comment was first reported by NPR’s Ted Robbins, who added, “Santorum did not elaborate on why he singled out blacks who rely on federal assistance. The voters here didn’t seem to care.” We tracked down a clip of Santorum’s comment, from Wichita, KS CBS affiliate KWCH, in which the anchor appears to be reading at least some copy from the NPR report, but the clip doesn’t include the question that prompted Santorum’s response. <div>Please enable Javascript to watch. The Santorum campaign has still not returned our request for comment. Gingrich: Founding fathers would have ‘violent’ reaction to pot growers. By Eric W. DolanWednesday, January 4, 2012 18:32 EDT Newt Gingrich said Wednesday that the founders of the United States would have dealt violently with marijuana growers, despite the fact that they grew the plant for commercial purposes themselves.
He said at an town hall event in New Hampshire that decriminalizing drugs like marijuana would increase the rate of addictions and increase crime. “In general, I’d like us to be as drug free as possible and I think that it requires a much more serious approach.” Gingrich was later asked if former Presidents Thomas Jefferson or George Washington should have been arrested for growing marijuana. “I think Jefferson or George Washington would have rather strongly discouraged you from growing marijuana and their techniques with dealing with it would have been rather more violent than our current government,” he responded.
Both Washington and Jefferson grew marijuana on their Virginia farms. Watch this video from CNN, uploaded Jan. 4, 2012. Eric W. American High Society. Shocking Secret Photos Of Republicans! (9/11, Dictators, Oh No!) Ron Paul And Supporters Keep Up Delegate Battle Against Mitt Romney. Despite his repeated public vows to campaign all the way to the Republican convention in Tampa, Florida, Newt Gingrich bowed to the inevitable on Wednesday and exited the race for the GOP presidential nomination. Ron Paul, however, is far from doing the same. Without any of Gingrich's proclamations, and despite near-universal acceptance of Mitt Romney as the presumptive Republican nominee, Paul and his supporters have quietly boosted his delegate count and kept alive slim hopes that he can win the GOP nomination from the convention floor.
Paul's strategy has focused on the state level, where his supporters have been able to use their knowledge of arcane party rules and procedures to increase the number of Paul delegates, particularly through control of state party conventions. On Wednesday the Washington Post tallied Paul's gains in various states: At Massachusetts’ state convention less than half of Romney’s 27 chosen delegates won tickets to Tampa. Ron Paul - Gingrich a "Chickenhawk" Ron Paul calls Newt Gingrich a 'chickenhawk' - Mackenzie Weinger. Ron Paul came out swinging Wednesday against Newt Gingrich for calling him a dangerous candidate, dubbing Gingrich a chickenhawk who avoided the Vietnam War. “I don’t want to fight a war that’s unconstitutional, and I’m the dangerous person? You know, when Newt Gingrich was called to service in the 1960s during the Vietnam era, guess what he thought about danger? He chickened out on that, he got deferments and didn’t even go,” Paul said on CNN later in the morning.
Continue Reading Paul: Gingrich a 'chickenhawk' “So right now, he sends these young kids over there to endure the danger, and the kids coming back, the young people coming back and the ones in the military right now, they overwhelmingly support my campaign. We get twice as much support from active military personnel than all the other candidates put together. “If you’re looking to bringing new people in, the frustrated young people Obama had, you have to look at my campaign.
MJ Lee contributed to this story. Mayberry Misleads on Medicare. Would the sheriff of Mayberry mislead you about Medicare? Alas, yes. In a new TV spot from the Obama administration, actor Andy Griffith, famous for his 1960s portrayal of the top law enforcement official in the fictional town of Mayberry, N.C., touts benefits of the new health care law. Griffith tells his fellow senior citizens, "like always, we’ll have our guaranteed [Medicare] benefits.
" But the truth is that the new law is guaranteed to result in benefit cuts for one class of Medicare beneficiaries — those in private Medicare Advantage plans. The White House released the ad on the 45th anniversary of the Medicare program, and said it would run nationally on cable TV networks. Griffith, whose "Andy Griffith Show" was a TV comedy hit at the time Medicare was first enacted in 1965, explains the "good things" that the new health care law will mean for Medicare beneficiaries. "This year, like always, we’ll have our guaranteed benefits," he says. A Weasel Word. Eight of the Top Ten 2012 Super PAC Donors Are Republicans. By Ian Millhiser on April 23, 2012 at 3:20 pm "Eight of the Top Ten 2012 Super PAC Donors Are Republicans" Casino Mogul and Major Super PAC Donor Sheldon Adelson Last January, a study found that seventeen of the top twenty political donors are Republicans or conservatives.
Last night, USA Today published a similar roundup of Super PAC donors in the 2012 cycle, and they found exactly the same pattern. Eight of the top ten Super PAC donors are Republicans or corporations who donate exclusively to Republicans. Notably, the top three Super PAC donors are all Republicans, and their more than $45 million in contributions adds up to more than four times the total spending by the remainder of the top ten: These totals may also understate the total amount of spending by these wealthy right-wing benefactors because donors can keep their identities secret by funneling their money into non-profit arms of political organizations.
Pastor Dennis Terry Introduces Rick Santorum, Tells Liberals and Non-Christians to 'Get Out' of America. The Drywall Chronicles. Santorum, Bachmann Don't Endorse Romney. Rick Santorum: "Mitt Romney's going to be the nominee and I'm going to support the nominee whoever the nominee is.