Author Archives: Emi Kolawole

McCain Ad “Promise”: Promises Same Falsehood

The McCain-Palin campaign released a new ad called “Promise,” which the campaign says will air nationally. But it contains a whopper we’ve addressed a few times: The ad claims Sen. Barack Obama “voted to cut off funding for our troops.” But a McCain campaign press release announcing the ad cites …
More >>

Posted in The FactCheck Wire | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off

Home Foreclosures and Voting

Q: Are the Republicans really trying to keep people from voting whose homes are in foreclosure? A: Republicans deny they have any such plans, and a voting rights group says those with homes in foreclosure can’t be barred from the polls anyway.

Posted in Ask FactCheck | Tagged , , , | Comments Off

Obama’s Legislative Record

Q: How many times did Obama vote 'present' as a state senator? A:  He did so 129 times, which represents a little more than 3 percent of his total votes.

Posted in Ask FactCheck | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off

Stretching with Biden

Summary Biden proved once again that it doesn’t take outright falsehoods to create a skewed impression of one’s opponent. We found in a Sept. 15 speech that: Biden used partial quotes to support his charge that McCain wouldn’t help "small borrowers" suffering in the mortgage crisis but would "fight for those that …
More >>

Posted in Articles | Tagged , , , | Comments Off

Muting the Mommy Melodrama

The Internet is abuzz with the rumor that Palin’s youngest child, Trig, is not actually her son but her grandson, born to her teenage daughter Bristol and adopted by Palin to cover up the scandal. Aside from a DNA test, it’s unlikely we’ll convince the hard-core conspiracy theorists and skeptics …
More >>

Posted in The FactCheck Wire | Tagged , | Comments Off

Fact-Checking…’The View’?

We generally don’t take it upon ourselves to parse ABC’s morning gabfest. But we noticed that when the chat turned to Palin’s record on earmarks McCain got it wrong. He was correct on one point: Palin vetoed $500 million in spending as governor. She axed over $230 million in state …
More >>

Posted in The FactCheck Wire | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off

Off Base on Sex Ed

Summary A McCain-Palin campaign ad claims Obama’s "one accomplishment" in the area of education was "legislation to teach comprehensive sex education’ to kindergarteners." But the claim is simply false, and it dates back to Alan Keyes’ failed race against Obama for an open Senate seat in 2004. Obama, contrary to …
More >>

Posted in Articles | Tagged , , | Comments Off

Sliming Palin

Summary We’ve been flooded for the past few days with queries about dubious Internet postings and mass e-mail messages making claims about McCain’s running mate, Gov. Palin. We find that many are completely false, or misleading. Palin did not cut funding for special needs education in Alaska by 62 percent. …
More >>

Posted in Articles | Tagged , , , | Comments Off

FactChecking McCain

Summary We checked the accuracy of McCain’s speech accepting the Republican nomination and noted the following: McCain claimed that Obama’s health care plan would "force small businesses to cut jobs" and would put "a bureaucrat … between you and your doctor." In fact, the plan exempts small businesses, and those …
More >>

Posted in Articles | Tagged , | Comments Off

A New Stitch in a Bad Pattern

Summary McCain's new ad puts another stitch in what we've called his pattern of deceit on Obama's tax plan. This one claims Obama and congressional Democrats plan to push forward "painful tax increases on working American families" and that they will bring about "years of deficits," "no balanced budgets" and …
More >>

Posted in Articles | Tagged , , | Comments Off