IOWA CAUCUS DAY.
FactCheck.org and PolitiFact.com's "Truth-O-Meter" Cut Through The C-R-A-P:
See FactCheck.org's website for these and many, many more eye-opening truths:
DEMOCRATS vs. The TRUTH:
The Whoppers of 2007
We review some notable political falsehoods and distortions of the year.
1) Obama's Creative Clippings
Selective, embellished and out-of-context quotes from newspapers pump up Obama's health plan.
2) Exaggerating Help for Troops
Clinton falsely claims guardsmen and reservists didn't have health insurance before she went to work.
3) Not Working 4 Edwards
A labor group's ad supporting Edwards misleads about plant closings.
4) Democrats Debate in Iowa
Richardson stands out for exaggerated and inaccurate claims.
REPUBLICANS vs. The TRUTH:
Republicans Debate in Iowa
More exaggerations and misstatements in the final GOP debate before the Iowa caucuses.
1a) Romney's Ridiculous Hyperbole
He predicts more change in the next 10 years than in the last 1,000. Not likely.
1b) More Mitt Malarkey
Romney repeats misleading claims about McCain's stand on immigration and his own record on taxes.
1c) Romney on Huckabee
His ad strains to create black-and-white contrasts from blurry shades of gray.
1d) Romney on Huckabee II
Romney attacks Huckabee again with false and misleading claims.
2) Huckabee Cut Crime and Taxes?
The truth is that violent crime was higher at the end of his term than when he took office, and he raised taxes more than he cut them.
MATCH THE CANDIDATE WITH THE FALSE or BARELY TRUE STATEMENT:
(hint: you can use some names more than once!)
A. Joe Biden
B. Mitt Romney
C. Barack Obama
D. Hillary Clinton
E. Bill Richardson
F. Tom Tancredo
G. Rudy Giuliani
1. "We reduced abortion. We increased adoptions by 135 percent."
2. "Gas prices have never been higher, and Exxon Mobil's profits have never been higher."
3. "Sixty-five percent of the Iraqi people now say it's okay to shoot an American soldier."
4. "...I received the endorsement of the NRA."
5. "If we went back to the obesity rates that existed in 1980, that would save the Medicare system a trillion dollars."
6. "I can't sign money. That's illegal."
7. "[I was responsible for] ending genocide in Bosnia."
8. "For every single illegal immigrant family in this country, it costs $20,000 — it costs us $20,000; $20,000 in infrastructural costs. They pay about $10,000 in taxes."
9. "Right now, an employer has more of a chance of getting hit by lightning than be prosecuted for hiring an undocumented worker."
10. "No, I did not (have illegal immigrants working at his mansion)."
11. "Sixty-five percent of the Iraqi people now say it's okay to shoot an American soldier."
12. "I saw my father march with Martin Luther King."
13. "People were hopeless. Sixty percent of the population, 70 percent of the population wanted to live somewhere else. . . . By the time I left, 70 percent wanted to stay."
Good as these are, they still pale in comparison to the Grand Poobahs of PoliticoSpeak:
FactCheck.org and PolitiFact.com's "Truth-O-Meter" Cut Through The C-R-A-P:
"Topping the list with not one but five bogus claims was former New York mayor and Republican contender Rudy Giuliani."Maybe it all comes down to who's the smallest liar?
from the article "Truth gets rubbery on the US presidential trail: fact-checkers" by Charlotte Raab
See FactCheck.org's website for these and many, many more eye-opening truths:
DEMOCRATS vs. The TRUTH:
The Whoppers of 2007
We review some notable political falsehoods and distortions of the year.
1) Obama's Creative Clippings
Selective, embellished and out-of-context quotes from newspapers pump up Obama's health plan.
2) Exaggerating Help for Troops
Clinton falsely claims guardsmen and reservists didn't have health insurance before she went to work.
3) Not Working 4 Edwards
A labor group's ad supporting Edwards misleads about plant closings.
4) Democrats Debate in Iowa
Richardson stands out for exaggerated and inaccurate claims.
REPUBLICANS vs. The TRUTH:
Republicans Debate in Iowa
More exaggerations and misstatements in the final GOP debate before the Iowa caucuses.
1a) Romney's Ridiculous Hyperbole
He predicts more change in the next 10 years than in the last 1,000. Not likely.
1b) More Mitt Malarkey
Romney repeats misleading claims about McCain's stand on immigration and his own record on taxes.
1c) Romney on Huckabee
His ad strains to create black-and-white contrasts from blurry shades of gray.
1d) Romney on Huckabee II
Romney attacks Huckabee again with false and misleading claims.
2) Huckabee Cut Crime and Taxes?
The truth is that violent crime was higher at the end of his term than when he took office, and he raised taxes more than he cut them.
MATCH THE CANDIDATE WITH THE FALSE or BARELY TRUE STATEMENT:
(hint: you can use some names more than once!)
A. Joe Biden
B. Mitt Romney
C. Barack Obama
D. Hillary Clinton
E. Bill Richardson
F. Tom Tancredo
G. Rudy Giuliani
1. "We reduced abortion. We increased adoptions by 135 percent."
2. "Gas prices have never been higher, and Exxon Mobil's profits have never been higher."
3. "Sixty-five percent of the Iraqi people now say it's okay to shoot an American soldier."
4. "...I received the endorsement of the NRA."
5. "If we went back to the obesity rates that existed in 1980, that would save the Medicare system a trillion dollars."
6. "I can't sign money. That's illegal."
7. "[I was responsible for] ending genocide in Bosnia."
8. "For every single illegal immigrant family in this country, it costs $20,000 — it costs us $20,000; $20,000 in infrastructural costs. They pay about $10,000 in taxes."
9. "Right now, an employer has more of a chance of getting hit by lightning than be prosecuted for hiring an undocumented worker."
10. "No, I did not (have illegal immigrants working at his mansion)."
11. "Sixty-five percent of the Iraqi people now say it's okay to shoot an American soldier."
12. "I saw my father march with Martin Luther King."
13. "People were hopeless. Sixty percent of the population, 70 percent of the population wanted to live somewhere else. . . . By the time I left, 70 percent wanted to stay."
Good as these are, they still pale in comparison to the Grand Poobahs of PoliticoSpeak:
I. "So when I was born, she [Clinton's mother, Dorothy Rodham] called me Hillary, and she always told me it's because of Sir Edmund Hillary." According to The New York Times (04/03/95), though:Hillary Rodham was born five years before Edmund Hillary became famous by scaling Mt. Everest in 1953. The year she was born [1947], Edmund Hillary was an obscure beekeeper in New Zealand.The Urban Legends site found the entire Clintonian explanation "rather incredible."
Back then, my local paper printed the best and shortest ever letter to the editor about this, which concluded by asking Hillary,"What did they call you for the first five years? "Hey, YOU"?
II. Al Gore in his concession speech in 2000, said, "As for the battle that ends tonight, I do believe, as my father once said, that no matter how hard the loss, defeat may serve as well as victory to shake the soul and let the glory out."
As the Wall Street Journal-Interactive pointed out on December 15, 2000, "POETIC LICENSE? Gore in his speech quoted his late senator father as saying, 'Defeat may serve as well as victory to shake the soul and let the glory out.' The same words are in the poem 'Victory in Defeat,' by Edwin Markham."
posted by Annie at 12:25 PM
