Obama vs. Romney Presidential Debate Fact-Check Part 3: Who Lied? On a brisk spring evening in March 1882, Robert Koch walked into the library at the University of Berlin, and prepared to change the course of medicine for all time. There were about 100 men gathered in the room, the greatest scientists in Germany. Koch barely acknowledged them as he began his demonstration. He showed his test tubes and cultures. He explained how he had tested and retested his work. There was no grandstanding, no theater. There was only evidence and explanation—and finally, a declaration. “All of these facts taken together can lead to only one conclusion,” Koch said. RELATED: Following Tuberculosis from Death Sentence to Cure Bacteria caused tuberculosis. To grasp the gravity of Koch’s discovery, we must first get our heads around this: To live in the 19th century was to experience infectious disease as a constant, to have death loom around any corner, and to always live in fear that a cold, a rash, or a cough might soon be the end of one’s days on earth.
Fact-Checking Obama, Romney Ahead of Debates: Blue Truth, Red Truth. No one would ever mistake the White House press briefing room for a courthouse or a confessional, so the blue curtains and official seal made an ironic backdrop this summer for President Obama’s impromptu homily on honesty in public life. “The truth of the matter is you can’t just make stuff up,” he told the scribblers who get paid to check his facts. “That’s one thing you learn as President of the United States. You get called in to account.” It was just what reporters wanted to hear, even if it was not exactly true. At the time, Obama was speaking about a campaign ad from Mitt Romney that falsely claimed that the President had eliminated the work requirement for welfare.
The ad was unmistakably deceptive. Cutter’s was a conditional accusation but an accusation nonetheless, and at the time it allowed the Romney campaign to take its turn playing truth teller. (MORE: Who Lies More? (POLL: Which Candidate Is Being More Truthful?) MORE: The Calm Before the Debate. Veep Debate Violations. Summary The Biden-Ryan debate was marked by some spirited claims that didn’t always match the facts. Ryan said Obama’s proposal to let tax rates rise for high-income individuals would “tax about 53 percent of small-business income.”
Wrong. Ryan is counting giant hedge funds and thousands of other multimillion-dollar enterprises as “small” businesses.Biden exaggerated when he said House Republicans cut funding for embassy security by $300 million. The amount approved for fiscal year 2012 was $264 million less than requested, and covers construction and maintenance, not just security.Ryan was wrong when he said a rise in the jobless rate in Biden’s hometown was “how it’s going all around America.” And both Biden and Ryan continued to twist the facts about Romney’s tax plan. Analysis The debate between Vice President Joe Biden and Rep. Small-Business Smackdown Biden and Ryan sparred over the effect of Obama’s proposed tax policies on small business and job creation. This is a mixed bag. Biden Vs. Ryan Vice Presidential Debate Fact-Check: Who Lied? The far-right Christian Patriarchy—brought to American audiences by the Duggar family—is on the verge of collapse after a series of alleged sex scandals involving the movement’s leaders.
Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar have put many years and a lot of work into putting a smiling, nearly normal-seeming face on the extreme Christian right. The couple adheres to a fringe strain of fundamentalist Christianity dubbed the “Christian patriarchy” or sometimes the “Quiverfull” movement, and while there is a lot of internal diversity to the movement, they generally preach a combination of beliefs that run counter to mainstream America: absolute female submission, a ban on dating, homeschooling, a rejection of higher education for women, and shunning of contraception in favor of trying to have as many children as humanly possible.
The strategy has been surprisingly effective, with Michelle Duggar being able to act like she’s just like any other reality TV star, giving sex tips and sharing recipes. VP debate: Five big dubious claims from the Biden/Ryan showdown. Photograph by Saul Loeb/AFP/GettyImages. I've got five fingers on each of my hands, and five seriously questionable arguments advanced by the vice presidential contenders earlier tonight: 1. Joe Biden on unemployment: "We can and we will get it under 6 percent. " I hope we can and I hope we will, but there's nothing the Obama-Biden administration has put on the table that would accomplish this on any reasonably short time frame. Indeed, even the White House's own claims about its American Jobs Act don't support a change on that scale.
Most likely the only thing that could help accomplish this would be a robust commitment to expansionary monetary policy, but again even the Fed's top dove Charles Evans isn't talking about policy on the scale that would be needed. 2. 3. 4. 5. Romney distorts truth on green jobs. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan, order food at a Wendy's restuarant in Richmond Heights, Ohio, on Tuesday. Romney boards his campaign plane in Bedford, Massachusetts. The Romney camp has decided to continue campaigning on Election Day. President Barack Obama gets emotional at his final campaign rally in Des Moines, Iowa, on Monday, November 5, on the eve of the U.S. presidential election. Obama's speech included references to his 2008 campaign and his victory in the Iowa caucuses, which helped catapult his political career.
The president and first lady Michelle Obama embrace Monday in Des Moines at his last campaign rally before the election. A young supporter listens to Obama at Monday's rally in Des Moines. Romney and his wife, Ann, greet supporters at a rally late Monday in Manchester, New Hampshire. Ann Romney wipes away tears during her husband's campaign rally Monday in Manchester. Romney arrives at Sunday's rally in Des Moines. U.S. Romney’s Clean Energy Whoppers. Mitt Romney made numerous bogus claims in the Oct. 3 debate about the $90 billion in grants, guaranteed loans and tax breaks for energy projects in the stimulus bill: Romney falsely claimed “about half” of the clean-energy companies that received U.S.
-backed loans “have gone out of business.” But 26 companies received loan guarantees under a loan program cited by Romney, and three of those have filed for bankruptcy. The three firms were approved for about 6 percent of the loan guarantees.Romney incorrectly claimed the “$90 billion in breaks to the green energy world” was provided “in one year.” It was over several years.He stated at one point that Obama put $90 billion “into solar and wind.” But only $21 billion went for renewable energy projects, “such as the installation of wind turbines and solar panels,” according to a White House document cited by the Romney campaign. Putting $90 Billion ‘Into Wind and Solar’? So, clearly, the $90 billion wasn’t just for wind and solar projects. Obama vs. Romney Presidential Debate Fact-Check: Who Lied? The second episode of Season 4 brought us another wedding ceremony for the ages, and ended with a bang.
[Warning: SPOILERS] In retrospect, we really should have seen it coming. I am referring, of course, to the Big Shocking Plot Twist at the end of Sunday night’s episode of Game of Thrones. The one that everybody is tweeting about on Twitter. The one that everybody will be talking about tomorrow. (WARNING: If you haven't seen "The Lion and the Rose" yet, stop reading now.
We got our first clue last week when Arya Stark and The Hound stumbled across a tavern in the woods. "Needle? " "Lots of people name their swords," Arya said. "Lots of cunts," The Hound replied. Turns out this vulgar little exchange was actually the first half of an elaborate joke. But what a punchline it was.
"Such a great sword should have a name," Joffrey shouts to his guests. "Widow's Wail," one of them shouts back. "Widow's Wail," Joffrey says. The king, in other words, is a c--t. Joffrey was the King of C--ts. Mass Revolt: Why Doesn't Mitt Romney Campaign in Massachusetts? Fact-checking 7 claims in Bill Clinton's convention speech. The 42nd President of the United States Bill Clinton addresses the audience at the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina, on September 5, 2012 on the second day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC). MLADEN ANTONOV/AFP/GettyImages (CBS News) CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- In his 49-minute speech Wednesday night at the Democratic National Convention, former President Bill Clinton cited several statistics and made a number of supposedly fact-based assertions.
Here's a look at which claims hold up under scrutiny and which don't. "Since 1961, the Republicans have held the White House 28 years, the Democrats 24. Since 1961, there have been five Republican presidents and five Democratic presidents - serving, as Clinton said, a cumulative 28 years and 24 years, respectively. Republicans: Richard Nixon: + 7.1 million Gerald Ford: +1.3 million Ronald Reagan: + 14.7 million George H.
Politifact points out that Clinton did not include public sector job growth in his calculations. The Fact Checker. Fact checking Mitt Romney’s acceptance speech at the GOP convention. In his acceptance speech for the Republican presidential nomination, former governor Mitt Romney focused more on his biography than his policy positions. But there were moments when his facts went awry or were missing important context. Let’s take a tour through the rhetoric. “And unlike the president, I have a plan to create 12 million new jobs.” This sounds like a pretty bold statement, especially considering that only two presidents — Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton — created more than 12 million jobs. But, in fact, the number is even less impressive than it sounds. The Congressional Budget Office is required to consider the effects of the so-called “fiscal cliff” if a year-end budget deal is not reached, which many experts believe would push the country into a recession.
But Moody’s Analytics, in an August forecast, predicts 12 million jobs will be created by 2016, no matter who is president. “I will begin my presidency with a jobs tour. (About our rating scale) Fact checking Bill Clinton’s speech and other Democrats at the convention in Charlotte. “We are not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact checkers.” — Former president Bill Clinton, quoting Romney campaign pollster Neil Newhouse Whew. In a previous life, The Fact Checker covered the Clinton White House and always marveled at Bill Clinton’s speechifying, his apparent command of policy and his sometimes slippery use of the facts.
We are going to offer an initial take on some of his claims — and those of other Democrats — and then may come back to others in the coming days. “He [Obama] has offered a reasonable plan of $4 trillion in debt reduction over a decade. . — Former president Bill Clinton “President Obama’s plan uses the bipartisan commission’s balanced approach. . — Rep. The repeated claim that Obama’s budget reduces the deficit by $4 trillion is simply not accurate. By the administration’s math, you have nearly $3.8 trillion in spending cuts, compared to $1.5 trillion in tax increases (letting the Bush tax cuts expire for high-income Americans) . — Clinton — Clinton. Fact checking the opening night of the Democratic convention. The Democrats launched their convention with a series of speeches that put the best possible gloss on the president’s economic record and took various shots at GOP nominee Mitt Romney. First lady Michelle Obama, who like Ann Romney gave a mostly personal testimonial about her husband, did not give us much material to fact-check.
But here’s a roundup of other notable claims Tuesday evening. “Four years ago, America stood on the brink of a depression. Despite incredible odds and united Republican opposition, our president took action. And now we’ve seen 4.5 million new jobs.” — San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, in the keynote address Castro takes a debatable talking point from the Obama campaign — that 4.5 million private-sector jobs have been created since February 2010 (a year after the president’s stimulus bill was passed into law) — and makes it ridiculous. First, this statistic includes only private-sector jobs, which means the decline in government jobs is simply excluded. Biden’s incorrect claim that a Bain ‘bailout’ cost American taxpayers.
(Mark Stahl/AP) “Let me quote from a recent article. Quote, Romney was willing to go to extremes to secure federal bailout, end of quote, when Bain Consulting was on the verge of collapse. The way Bain Consulting reorganized cost the government and American taxpayers $10 million. Now, imagine that. --Vice President Biden, Lordstown, Ohio, Aug. 31, 2012 Back in July, when we first looked at this issue , we noted that the Obama campaign had very carefully and cleverly avoided saying directly that Mitt Romney obtained a taxpayer-funded bailout when he led a rescue of his old consulting firm, Bain & Co. But now Vice President Biden, seizing on a new report in Rolling Stone magazine , has dropped all pretense and declared that the deal “cost the government and American taxpayers $10 million.” Is this any truer than it was back in July? The Facts But though Rolling Stone repeatedly uses the phrase “bailout,” as we explained before this did not involve taxpayer funds or government funds.
Bill Clinton says TARP turned a profit. The financial crisis of 2008 spawned some new terminology -- "too big to fail" and the Troubled Asset Relief Program. TARP, as it's more commonly known, is the $700 billion in government money set up to rescue banks such as Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Bank of America, and a host of other financial entities, big and not so big.
There were dire predictions on TARP’s final cost to taxpayers. The Congressional Budget Office said it could top $350 billion. But the payback was higher than expected, which former President Bill Clinton mentioned during an interview on The Daily Show. Describing the atmosphere at the height of the financial crisis, Clinton said, "Everybody was all hands on deck and they did a lot of things, including the unpopular TARP bill to keep us from falling into a depression. This is something the former president has said before, so we decided to see if it is correct. It isn’t. Clinton is right only if you look just at the money that went to banks. Our ruling. Fact checking Obama’s and Biden’s speeches at the Democratic convention in Charlotte. In their defense of the administration’s policies Thursday night, President Obama and Vice President Biden sometimes took license with the facts or left out important information. Here are some highlights. “Independent analysis shows that my plan would cut our deficits by $4 trillion.
Last summer, I worked with Republicans in Congress to cut $1 trillion in spending.” — Obama President Obama repeated a claim made by former President Bill Clinton the night before, but even less accurately. Clinton referred to a “plan of $4 trillion in debt reduction over a decade.” Obama leaves off the time line, and makes it sound like the current $1 trillion deficit would be eliminated, resulting in a surplus. But, while the numbers seem large, the results are unimpressive. The $1 trillion in savings negotiated with Republicans, mentioned by the president, actually accounts for the bulk of his proposed reduction in spending.
Watch highlights of Obama’s speech to the DNC or see the full speech here: — Biden. PolitiFact | Sorting out the truth in politics. Bill Clinton says Barack Obama cut taxes for 95 percent of people through stimulus. Romney claims five studies back up his tax plan. Mitt Romney ad blames Barack Obama for Florida housing woes. Mitt Romney says Barack Obama has 'doubled' the deficit. Did Mitt Romney's Massachusetts rank 47th in job creation? Stephanie Cutter said Mitt Romney's platform won't protect the mortgage interest tax deduction for middle-class families. Obama says Romney called Russia our ‘No. 1 enemy’ Barack Obama says U.S. has gained a half-million manufacturing jobs. Limbaugh, GOP have it wrong: Health care law is not the largest tax increase ever. Julian Castro says seven presidents before Barack Obama sought universal health care. Democrats Stretch the Truth in Talk and Text - Check Point.
Fact Check: The $2,000 question. FactCheck.org | A Project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center. A Campaign Full of Mediscare. Obama’s ‘Outsourcer’ Overreach. Obama’s Deficit Dodge. Ryan’s VP Spin. Romney’s Sorry ‘Apology’ Dig. Romney’s Economic Exaggerations. Democratic Disinformation from Charlotte. Our Clinton Nightmare. Fact Checking Obama and Biden.