http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/ 15 en-us Copyright 2009 Mon, 03 Nov 2008 09:55:56 -0500 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=4.21-en http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss The Fact Checker is shutting up shop on Nov. 4. Over the last 15 months, I have checked some 200 claims and statements relating to the presidential campaign, and received 18,000 comments, many of them vehemently disputing my verdicts. Pinocchios have entered the campaign lexicon, and are sometimes used as a verb, e.g. "You were Pinocchio'ed for that statement." I will leave it up to readers to decide whether the whole experiment has been worthwhile. For this farewell edition, here are a few of my personal favorites from the long, winding campaign trail. Barack the Recidivist ""We have more work to do when more young black men languish in prison than attend colleges and universities across America." --Barack Obama, July 12, 2007 Obama repeated this hoary old chestnut several times, mainly in front of African American audiences. It's untrue. Four Pinocchios. *** Rudy's Prostate "I had prostate cancer, five, http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/11/farewell_edition.html?wprss=fact-checker http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/11/farewell_edition.html Candidate Record Mon, 03 Nov 2008 09:55:56 -0500 Obama Infomercial. "For my energy plan, my economic plan, and the other proposals you'll hear tonight, I've offered spending cuts above and beyond their cost." --Barack Obama infomercial, October 29, 2008 Barack Obama has outlined a series of new spending initiatives ranging from health care to education to the war in Afghanistan that could end up costing $1 trillion over his first term, according to independent experts. In his half-hour infomercial on Wednesday evening, the senator from Illinois repeated earlier assurances that he had "offered spending cuts" to pay for every cent of the post-election bonanza that he plans to shower on his fellow Americans. Do Obama's figures add up? The Facts Obama's claim is artfully worded. Note that, in contrast to his Republican rival, he does not claim that he will balance the federal budget after four years. That seems a virtually impossible task -- given the fact http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/10/obamas_spending_cuts.html?wprss=fact-checker http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/10/obamas_spending_cuts.html Barack Obama Fri, 31 Oct 2008 19:39:34 -0500 Columbia University professor Rashid Khalidi. "I don't care much about an old, washed-up unrepentant terrorist, and his wife who was on an FBI top 10 wanted list. But we should know about their relationship, including apparently information that is held by the Los Angeles Times concerning an event that [William] Ayers attended with a PLO spokesman." --John McCain, Interview with Radio Mambi, October 29, 2008 On the eve of Halloween, the McCain campaign has come up with a new villain to scare away votes from Barack Obama. He is Rashid Khalidi, professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University, and an Obama associate from his days at the University of Chicago. Regarded as a mainstream scholar by many American Middle East experts, Khalidi has been denounced as an "extremist" by some Jewish groups because of his pro-Palestinian views and sharp criticism of Israel. The Republican candidate is now tying to http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/10/john_mccains_trick_or_treat.html?wprss=fact-checker http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/10/john_mccains_trick_or_treat.html Candidate Watch Thu, 30 Oct 2008 18:13:44 -0500 Palin in Ohio, October 29, 2008. "We're building a nearly $40 billion natural gas pipeline -- which is North America's largest and most expensive infrastructure project ever -- to flow those sources of energy into hungry markets." --Sarah Palin, Vice Presidential Debate, October 2, 2008 "That pipeline will be a lifeline -- freeing us from debt, dependence, and the influence of foreign powers that do not have our interests at heart." --Sarah Palin, Toledo, Ohio, October 29, 2008 In a major speech Wednesday on how to achieve energy independence, Sarah Palin drew attention once again to a huge natural gas pipeline project that will connect Alaska with the Lower 48. The pipeline has been under discussion for more than three decades -- but work has not yet begun and there is still no guarantee that it will ever be built. So what exactly has been accomplished during the two http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/10/palin_and_the_maybe_pipeline.html?wprss=fact-checker http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/10/palin_and_the_maybe_pipeline.html Candidate Watch Wed, 29 Oct 2008 18:31:21 -0500 Campaigning in the rain. "And when it comes to the issue of taxes, saying that John McCain is running for a third Bush term isn't being fair to George W. Bush... Not even George Bush proposed a plan that would leave out 100 million middle class families." --Barack Obama, Chester, Pa., October 28, 2008 It has reached the stage of the "closing arguments." As he tries to clinch his case for a vote against John McCain on Nov. 4, Barack Obama repeats the claim that his rival's tax plan provides no benefit for "100 million middle class families." But where does the Land-of-Lincolner get his figures? The Facts The principal McCain tax cut for middle-income Americans is a doubling of the dependent exemption, from $3,500 to $7,000, to be phased in over the next decade. In other words, if you are a married couple with two children, you will http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/10/john_mccain_and_the_middle_cla.html?wprss=fact-checker http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/10/john_mccain_and_the_middle_cla.html Candidate Watch Tue, 28 Oct 2008 19:09:26 -0500 Douglas Holtz-Eakin. "In a previously uncovered interview from September 6, 2001, Barack Obama expressed his regret that the Supreme Court hadn't been more 'radical' and described as a 'tragedy' the Court's refusal to take up 'the issues of redistribution of wealth.' No wonder he wants to appoint judges that legislate from the bench." --McCain economics adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin With just over a week to go until the election, the McCain campaign is stepping up its efforts to portray Barack Obama as a closet "socialist" bent on implementing a major redistribution of wealth in American society. The Illinois Democrat's remarks to "Joe the Plumber" on "spreading the wealth around" are Exhibit A in the Son of Karl Marx argument. Exhibit B is a newly-discovered interview that Obama gave to a Chicago public radio station back in 2001 in which he mentioned the R-word several times in a generally positive context. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/10/obamas_redistribution_bombshel.html?wprss=fact-checker http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/10/obamas_redistribution_bombshel.html Candidate Watch Mon, 27 Oct 2008 16:56:13 -0500 Palin on CBN. "To withhold medical intervention for a baby who is born alive as a result of a botched abortion and to allow that child to die without the medical intervention that that child deserves, it's appalling to me and I think it should concern voters." --Sarah Palin, interview with Christian Broadcasting Network, Oct. 21, 2008. According to Sarah Palin, Barack Obama's position on abortion is "so far left, it's way beyond the mainstream." The Republican vice presidential hopeful says that she is "most troubled" by Obama's opposition, as an Illinois state senator, to a "Born Alive" bill that would have guaranteed medical protection to children born as a result of a bungled abortion. The Obama campaign describes the Palin attack as "dishonest" and "insulting." Is it true that Obama was ever in favor of withholding medical treatment for babies born alive as a result of a botched http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/10/is_obama_guilty_of_infanticide.html?wprss=fact-checker http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/10/is_obama_guilty_of_infanticide.html Candidate Watch Fri, 24 Oct 2008 16:47:00 -0500 Kennedy and Khrushchev, Vienna, June 1961. "Mark my words. It will not be six months before the world tests Barack Obama like they did John Kennedy. The world is looking. We're about to elect a brilliant 47-year old senator president of the United States of America...Watch, we're gonna have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy." --Joe Biden, Seattle Fundraiser, October 19, 2008. "I sat in the cockpit on the flight deck of the USS Enterprise off of Cuba [during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis.] I had a target. I know how close we came to a nuclear war and I will not be a president that needs to be tested. I have been tested. Senator Obama has not." --John McCain, Harrisburg, PA, October 21, 2008. John McCain has seized on an unguarded comment by Democratic vice-presidential hopeful Joe Biden at a Seattle http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/10/mccain_obama_biden_and_jfk.html?wprss=fact-checker http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/10/mccain_obama_biden_and_jfk.html Candidate Watch Thu, 23 Oct 2008 16:26:48 -0500 McCain "proud" of anti-Obama mailer. "Barack Obama Thinks Terrorists Just Need a Good Talking To." --John McCain mailer. Barack Obama "said [William Ayers] was just a guy in the neighborhood. He wasn't just a guy in the neighborhood. We need to know the full extent of that relationship." --John McCain, Fox News Sunday, Oct. 19, 2008. Politicians routinely twist each other's quotes. Sometimes, all it takes to construct a false straw man argument is the addition of a single, seemingly inconsequential word to an otherwise accurate quote. Take the common, four-letter, word "just." Surreptitiously inserting the "just" word into a quote can transform a bland statement into a falsehood or a dangerous policy position. The sentence "He is just a guy in my neighborhood" has an altogether different meaning from "He is a guy in my neighborhood." The Facts William Ayers is a former leader of the Weather Underground http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/10/just_a_four-letter_word.html?wprss=fact-checker http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/10/just_a_four-letter_word.html Candidate Watch Wed, 22 Oct 2008 13:52:05 -0500 Anti-McCain Medicare ad. "How would your Golden Years turn out under John McCain? His healthcare plan would cut Medicare by $800 billion. That means a 22% cut in benefits. Higher premiums and co-pays. More expensive prescription drugs. Nursing home care could suffer. After a lifetime of work, seniors' healthcare shouldn't be a gamble. Senator McCain's plan? It's not the change we need." --Obama "Your Golden Years" ad. Barack Obama has been telling seniors that their hard-won Medicare benefits are at risk if his rival wins the election. The message has been hammered home in a series of speeches and television ads, including the one shown above, set against the backdrop of spinning lottery balls. Is it true, as Obama claims, that the Republican presidential candidate is planning to "gamble" with Medicare benefits? The Facts The Obama claim rests primarily on a Wall Street Journal interview with McCain's top economic http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/10/obama_scares_seniors.html?wprss=fact-checker http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/10/obama_scares_seniors.html Candidate Watch Tue, 21 Oct 2008 14:03:45 -0500 On the campaign trail. "Barack Obama's plan to raise taxes on some in order to give checks to others is not a tax cut; it's just another government giveaway." --John McCain, Concord, NC, October 18, 2008. John McCain hammered his Democratic opponent over the weekend for "phony tax cut" policies that will allegedly harm hard-working Americans such as his new-found friend, "Joe the Plumber." The Arizona senator claims that Obama has been going round the country promising to "cut income taxes for 95 percent of Americans" at a time when 40 percent of Americans pay no income taxes. According to McCain, welfare payments for non-income tax paying Americans will inevitably mean higher taxes for "folks like Joe." Is the Republican presidential candidate telling the truth about Obama's tax plan? The Facts Let's begin by putting the latest McCain "welfare" charge in context, with key passages in italics. [Obama] believes http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/10/fighting_for_joe_the_plumber.html?wprss=fact-checker http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/10/fighting_for_joe_the_plumber.html Candidate Watch Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:14:31 -0500 Presidential debate, Hofstra University, October 15, 2008. "The history in Colombia right now is that labor leaders have been targeted for assassination on a fairly consistent basis and there have not been prosecutions." --Barack Obama, Hofstra presidential debate, October 15, 2008. In between all the controversy over "Joe the Plumber," a foreign policy issue sidled its way into the final presidential debate earlier this week: should the United States conclude a free trade agreement with Colombia? John McCain calls the trade agreement "a no-brainer." Barack Obama opposes such an agreement, at least for now, on the grounds that the Colombian government has done little to stop the "targeted assassinations" of hundreds of Colombian trade unionists. The Facts Over the last two decades, Colombia has been one of the most violent countries on Earth. Trade Union activists have been frequent targets. According to Human Rights Watch, there have been more http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/10/obama_misleads_on_colombia.html?wprss=fact-checker http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/10/obama_misleads_on_colombia.html Candidate Watch Fri, 17 Oct 2008 15:06:39 -0500 Schools 10:44p.m. Obama claimed that he doubled the number of charter schools in Illinois. This is incorrect. When Obama was a state senator, he was a co-sponsor and key player on a bill that doubled the number of charter schools in Chicago, from 15 to 30. Generally, when Obama makes this point, he correctly notes that the bill affected Chicago, but in this case he wrongly expanded his achievement to the entire state. --Glenn Kessler Ads 10:42 p.m. Obama was wrong to state that "100 percent" of McCain TV ads have been negative. According to a survey by the Wisconsin Advertising Project at the University of Wisconsin, 73 percent of the ads McCain has aired since the start of the campaign have been negative while 61 percent of Obama's ads have been negative. According to a Nielsen survey, both candidates had roughly similar numbers of negative ads beteen June http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/10/final_presidential_debate.html?wprss=fact-checker http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/10/final_presidential_debate.html Live Fact Check Wed, 15 Oct 2008 20:12:24 -0500 McCain adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin. "I'm proposing to give our businesses a new American jobs tax credit for each new employee they hire here in the United States over the next two years. " --Barack Obama, speech in Toledo, Ohio, Oct. 13, 2008. Barack Obama "proposed a New American Jobs tax credit. That would be a $3,000 tax credit per new job in the United States over the next two years. This is going to be a very expensive proposal that's going to cost about $170 billion had it been in place in 2007." --McCain economics adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin, conference call, Oct. 13, 2008. Talk about "lies, damn lies and statistics." The Obama campaign says that a new proposal by the Democratic presidential candidate for a "jobs tax credit" for businesses that create new employment will cost the taxpayer no more than $20 billion a year. The McCain campaign has http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/10/jobs_baby_jobs.html?wprss=fact-checker http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/10/jobs_baby_jobs.html Candidate Watch Tue, 14 Oct 2008 17:44:01 -0500 On the campaign trail. "I'm very, very pleased to be cleared of any legal wrongdoing, any hint of any kind of unethical activity there. Very pleased to be cleared of any of that." --Sarah Palin, phone interview with Alaska reporters, October 11, 2008. Sarah Palin has insisted that a formal investigation into the "Troopergate" controversy in Alaska has exonerated her of "unlawful or unethical" activity. The Republican vice-presidential pick has told critics to read the report by an investigator appointed by the State Legislative Council to determine whether she had abused her power as Alaska governor to push for the firing of a state trooper formerly married to her sister. But the report's finding that Palin breached the Alaska Executive Branch Ethics Act is very clear. The Facts Within weeks of becoming governor of Alaska in November 2006, Sarah Palin began putting pressure on state officials to fire her http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/10/four_pinocchios_for_palin.html?wprss=fact-checker http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/10/four_pinocchios_for_palin.html Candidate Watch Mon, 13 Oct 2008 12:10:31 -0500