In today’s Washington Post, Michael Dobbs, a.k.a. The Fact Checker, writes about a few more stumbles from the debate, including a couple items that we didn’t have in our story on Friday.
Dobbs, a former diplomatic reporter, says Sen. Joe Biden was wrong when he said the U.S. and France “kicked Hezbollah out of Lebanon.” He was correct in saying that there was talk of sending NATO forces to the country in 2006. Dobbs also cites Biden’s invitation to voters to “go down Union Street with me in Wilmington [Delaware] or go to ‘Katie’s Restaurant.’ ” That restaurant closed in the 1980s and has been replaced by a chain. The Wilmington News Journal wrote about the error, as well.
Dobbs also says Gov. Sarah Palin “is exaggerating her role” in an effort in Alaska to divest from companies with business dealings with Sudan. In the debate, she said, “When I and others in the legislature found out we had some millions of dollars in Sudan, we called for divestment through legislation of those dollars to make sure we weren’t doing anything that would be seen as condoning the activities there in Darfur.” Actually, Dobbs found that Palin’s administration opposed such legislation early this year, and the bill died in committee. Palin did later express support for the bill, and the administration backed a second legislative effort. However, that bill, too, died.
See The Fact Checker’s column for more details.