-
-
Viral Spiral
FactCheck Mailbag
FactCheck Mailbag, Week of March 19-25.
See letters from previous weeks“ Criticizing the Democrats for citing the only available study on gun purchases for its age seems wide of the target. ” -
-
2012 Players Guide
2005 Energy Bill Deja Vu
Palin threw out an old canard when she criticized Obama for voting for the 2005 Energy bill, saying, “that’s what gave those oil companies those big tax breaks.” It’s a false attack Clinton used against Obama in the primary and McCain himself has hurled. It’s true that the bill gave …
More >>
Posted in The FactCheck Wire
Tagged energy bill, oil, oil companies, Sarah Palin, tax breaks, vice presidential debate
Comments Off
Killing Afghan Civilians?
Obama did say that troops in Afghanistan were killing civilians, a claim that Palin calls “untrue.” Here’s the whole quote, from a campaign stop in New Hampshire: Obama, August 2007: We’ve got to get the job done there and that requires us to have enough troops so that we’re not …
More >>
Troop Levels Off
Palin got her numbers wrong on troop levels when she said that troops were now down to “pre-surge” levels. The surge was announced in January 2007, at which point there were 132,000 troops in Iraq according to the Brookings Institute Iraq Index. As of September 2008, that number was 146,000. …
More >>
Posted in The FactCheck Wire
Tagged Iraq, Sarah Palin, troop levels, troop surge, vice presidential debate
Comments Off
McCain Mentions Us
It wasn’t exactly in a favorable light, per se. On NPR’s “Morning Edition” today, anchor Steve Inskeep asked Sen. John McCain about balancing honor and winning in a campaign that Inskeep called “brutal.” In their conversation, Inskeep asked about a particular ad that we found to be “false”: Inskeep: Have …
More >>
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 Joe Biden, John McCain, Presidential Election 2008, troop funding, TV ad
Comments Off
About that live debate coverage…
You might have noticed that there wasn’t so much of it. Technical problems kept us offline for most of the night. We apologize for that. The good news? You can read our full debate wrap-up over at our main site.
Chummy with Chavez?
If it’s loud, profanity-laced, anti-American vitriol from a foreign leader you’re looking for, Hugo Chavez is your man. And a new McCain-Palin ad, running in Florida, tries to make it appear that Obama would begin cuddling up to the Venezuelan leader first thing after testing out his Oval Office desk …
More >>
Posted in The FactCheck Wire
Tagged Cuba, foreign policy, Huga Chavez, John McCain, North Korea, Venezuela
Comments Off
McCain: $3 million to study the DNA of bears?
We’ve heard that one before. McCain’s been playing it for laughs since 2003. The study in question was done by the U.S. Geological Survey, and it relied in part on federal appropriations. Readers (and politicians) may disagree on whether a noninvasive study of grizzly bear population and habitat is a …
More >>
