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The health care law, Catholics and birth control

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

PolitiFact - By Becky Bowers - Feb. 10 (Fact Check) - Is President Barack Obama’s administration requiring the Catholic Church to provide birth control coverage to nuns? As rhetoric rises in a clash between Catholic leaders and the federal government over a rule requiring co-pay-free coverage of contraceptives in most health plans, here’s a guide. What the rule says The newly final rule stems from the Affordable Care Act of 2010 — what Republican presidential candidates call "Obamacare." It affects the health plans employers offer their ... >>More

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Barack Obama's campaign says it doesn't accept lobbyist donations

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

PolitiFact - By Louis Jacobson - Jan. 04 (Fact Check) - In late December, President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign made a fundraising pitch that, among other things, touted the measures his campaign is taking to distance itself from lobbyists: "We don't take a dime from D.C. lobbyists or special-interest PACs -- never have and never will." A reader pointed out this claim and asked us if it’s true. First, we checked with the Obama campaign, and a spokeswoman confirmed that the campaign does not accept money from federally registered lobbyists, either making direct donations themselves or serving as "bundlers" who solicit and package donations from others. To enforce that policy, the campaign continually reviews the federal lobbyist registry. On the surface, the Obama campaign’s claim seems plausible. But we think it’s important to add some context about how this pledge is phrased. A key issue is how you define the word "lobbyist."

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The PolitiFact report card on the presidential candidates

Sat, 31 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

PolitiFact - By Bill Adair - Dec. 31 (Fact Check) - In the Republican debates and the avalanche of TV ads in Iowa and New Hampshire, the presidential candidates have made lots of claims about the credibility of their opponents -- and themselves. PolitiFact has checked hundreds of statements ranging from Mitt Romney's claim that Solyndra had robots that whistled Disney tunes (Half True) to Rep. Michele Bachmann's statement that the HPV vaccine can cause mental retardation (False). Collectively, those fact-checks have formed report cards for each candidate that reveal patterns and trends about their truth-telling. With the Iowa caucuses three days away, PolitiFact is publishing the records to show how ... >>More

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Rep. Ron Paul and the Truth-O-Meter

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

PolitiFact - By Angie Drobnic Holan - Dec. 28 (Fact Check) - We've been rating Ron Paul since the 2008 campaign, the last time he ran for president. All told, we’ve rated 28 statements from him, as well as a couple of interesting attacks against him. His overall record leans toward truth. We’ve rated seven statements True and seven statements Mostly True, on issues such as his claim about torture, the size of the U.S. military stationed abroad, and foreign aid to Israel and the Arab world. We’ve rated four statements Half True, which included two attacks on Gov. Rick Perry.

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Fact-checking in the Echo Chamber Nation

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

PolitiFact - By Bill Adair - Dec. 23 (Opinion) - At a Republican campaign rally a few years ago, I asked one of the attendees how he got his news. "I listen to Rush and read NewsMax," he said. "And to make sure I'm getting a balanced view, I watch Fox." My liberal friends get their information from distinctly different sources — Huffington Post, Daily Kos and Rachel Maddow. To make sure they get a balanced view, they click Facebook links — from their liberal friends. This is life in our echo chamber nation. We protect ourselves from opinions we don't like and seek reinforcement from like-minded allies. The paradox ...

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Lie of the Year 2011: 'Republicans voted to end Medicare'

Wed, 21 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

PolitiFact - By Bill Adair, Angie Drobnic Holan - Dec. 21 (Fact Check) - Republicans muscled a budget through the House of Representatives in April that they said would take an important step toward reducing the federal deficit. Introduced by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the plan kept Medicare intact for people 55 or older, but dramatically changed the program for everyone else by privatizing it and providing government subsidies.

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Fact-checking the Chamber of Commerce

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

PolitiFact - By Bill Adair - Dec. 07 (Fact Check) - The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has begun its "voter education" drive, running ads that attack Democrats and boost Republicans. The blitz is beginning in Iowa, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Washington, including this ad against U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio. PolitiFact Ohio checked the ad's claim that Brown "voted to block American energy production and increase energy taxes" and rated it Mostly False.

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Florida Democrats say Mitt Romney dismissed middle-class tax cuts as 'little Band-Aids'

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

PolitiFact - By Becky Bowers - Dec. 07 (Fact Check) - As the president pressured Congress to extend his payroll tax cut, Florida Democrats issued a statement calling Republican opposition "shameful." "With Republicans like Mitt Romney belittling middle class tax cuts as nothing more than 'little Band-Aids,' the Republican Party is sending a clear signal to the American people: they are willing to raise taxes on middle-class Americans just to pay for more tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires and big oil," says a quote from Florida Democratic Party executive director Scott Arceneaux.

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Is Newt right? Food stamps can take you to Hawaii?

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

PolitiFact - Dec. 02 (Fact Check) - Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich loves to talk about food stamps. And the former House speaker had plenty to say at a campaign appearance in Council Bluffs, Iowa. "Remember, this is the best food stamp president in history," Gingrich said. "So more Americans today get food stamps than before. And we now give it away as cash -- you don't get food stamps. You get a credit card, and the credit card can be used for anything. We have people who take their food stamp money and use it to go to Hawaii. They give food stamps now to millionaires ...

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Mitt Romney's views on climate change have changed, says DNC

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

PolitiFact - By Angie Drobnic Holan - Nov. 30 (Fact Check) - Global warming has become a hot potato, at least for Republican presidential candidates. We’ve seen candidates for the Republican nomination question whether there’s scientific consensus on climate change, but those statements are at odds with the facts.

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Fact-checking the CNN-think tank debate

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

PolitiFact - By Bill Adair - Nov. 23 (Fact Check) - Eight Republican candidates will be debating on national security issues tonight at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington. The candidates are Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Ron Paul, Jon Huntsman and Rick Santorum. We'll be watching the debate and updating this story with our fact-checks. >>More

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Facebook post says Congress has disproportionate share of millionaires

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

PolitiFact - By Angie Drobnic Holan - Nov. 21 (Fact Check) - Over the past two months, the Occupy Wall Street movement has spread to cities around the country, and those other movements are busy putting out messages that protest against income inequality. A reader recently sent us an example from Facebook, which w

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Rick Perry says Barack Obama thinks Americans are lazy

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

PolitiFact - By Meghan Ashford-Grooms - Nov. 21 (Fact Check) - In a 30-second television ad airing across the country, Texas Gov. Rick Perry lashes out at President Barack Obama by using the president's words. The ad, which debuted Nov. 16, 2011, opens with a video clip of Obama saying, "We've been a little bit lazy, I think, over the last couple of decades." Perry then appears, saying: "Can you believe that? That's what our president thinks is wrong with America? That Americans are lazy? That's pathetic."

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Checking Ron Paul and Barack Obama on torture

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

PolitiFact - By Louis Jacobson - Nov. 15 (Fact Check) - On Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011, in South Carolina at the Republican candidates' debate, the subject was foreign policy. When the subject of waterboarding detainees came up, both Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., and former Godfather's Pizza executive Herman Cain said they favored allowing interrogators to use the practice of simulating drowning to elicit information from a detainee. Waterboarding was permitted under the George W. Bush administration, but the policy was rescinded soon after President Barack Obama took office. Then moderator Major Garrett asked Paul for his opinion. Paul responded that "torture is illegal by our laws. It's illegal by international laws." ... >>More

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Ron Paul says torture is banned under U.S., international law

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

PolitiFact - By Louis Jacobson - Nov. 15 (Fact Check) - During the CBS-National Journal Republican presidential debate in Spartanburg, S.C. , on Nov. 12, 2011, one of the moderators, Major Garrett, invited Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, into a discussion of torture. Both Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., and former Go

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Fact-checking the Republican debate in Michigan

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

PolitiFact - By Becky Bowers - Nov. 11 (Fact Check) - Republican presidential candidates clashed over the economy Wednesday night on on CNBC — and we're checking the facts. Now that the dust has settled, let us know if you heard a claim you're curious about. We're on Twitter @politifact! Eight candidates faced questions on the Italian financial crisis, the federal auto bailout, unemployment, the 2010 health care law, the tax code and more over the 90-minute debate. Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman noted that "we're setting ourselves up for disaster again" with banks that are "too big to fail," using a statistic similar to one we've checked before: "We have six banks in this country that combined have assets worth 66 percent of our nation's GDP, $9.4 trillion." We checked Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders when he said this month that, "you have six financial institutions, the largest six, that have assets that are the equivalent of 60 percent of the GDP of the United States of America," and we found that True.

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Bill Clinton: Solar and wind energy are "both cheaper than nuclear right now."

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

PolitiFact - By Louis Jacobson - Nov. 11 (Fact Check) - During a Nov. 8, 2011, appearance on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, former President Bill Clinton touted the prospects for adopting renewable energy. "Solar energy and wind energy ... would already be competitive with coal if you had to pay the extraneous costs of coal -- the health care costs and other things. And ... wind within two years and solar within five will be competitive in price with coal. They're both cheaper than nuclear right now."

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Mitt Romney: Repealing the health care law "would save $95 billion in 2016."

Wed, 09 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

PolitiFact - By Angie Drobnic Holan - Nov. 09 (Fact Check) - Mitt Romney has recently been emphasizing one of the favorite themes of the tea party movement: cutting government spending. He’s been getting pretty specific about some of his ideas, both in an op-ed in USA Today and in speeches on the campaign trail.

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Barack Obama says 60 percent of his promises are 'done'

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0700

PolitiFact - By Louis Jacobson - Nov. 02 (Fact Check) - During a fundraising event at a home in Los Angeles on Oct. 25, 2011, President Barack Obama took credit for enacting a majority of his agenda during his nearly three years in office. "We’ve seen change," he told donors. "We know what it looks like. We know what it takes. But we’ve got so much more work to do. And I keep a checklist in my desk, and I kind of see, all right, I made a bunch of these promises during the campaign -- (laughter) -- and let me see, yes, I got that done -- (laughter) -- and that one, yes. No, that one’s not done yet. (Laughter.) So we’ve got about 60 percent done in three years but -- (applause) -- so I’m pretty confident we can get the other 40 percent done in the next five years. (Applause.) But to do that, I’m going to need your help." A few readers wondered what we thought about this figure, since we’ve been using our Obameter to check how well Obama has been keeping 500-plus campaign promises since his inauguration. It is the most comprehensive look at what Obama promised during the campaign. When we asked, the White House confirmed that it has indeed been using our Obameter as its yardstick.

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Fact-checking the Republican debate in Nevada

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

PolitiFact - Oct. 19 (Fact Check) - Boosted by his newly minted front-runner status, Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain bounced into Tuesday's GOP debate in Las Vegas as the latest possible conservative foil to Mitt Romney. So ... naturally Cain and his "9-9-9" tax plan became the immediate focus of attacks from the group of Republicans hoping to knock him off stride. 9-9-9, Cain says, is the first step to creating a national flat or "fair" tax. It would replace the current complicated tax system with 9 percent personal income tax, a 9 percent national sales tax and a 9 percent tax on businesses. Unlike the current ... >>More

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Mitt Romney repeats claim that Obama went around the world apologizing for the United States

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

PolitiFact - By Angie Drobnic Holan - Sep. 29 (Fact Check) - In a debate in Orlando on Sept. 22, 2011, Mitt Romney charged that President Obama has gone around the world apologizing for America. President Obama "went around the world and apologized for America," Romney said, in response to a question about Israel and the Middle East. Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, has made this charge several times. The first time we checked it was when he made the charge is his own book, No Apology: The Case for American Greatness.

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Michele Bachmann says Barack Obama 'has the lowest public approval ratings of any president in modern times'

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

PolitiFact - Sep. 28 (Fact Check) - Rep. Michele Bachmann says President Barack Obama's approval ratings are historically low -- and sinking even lower. During the Sept. 22, 2011, Fox News/Google debate in Orlando, Bachmann said, "President Obama has the lowest public approval ratings of any president in modern times. He hasn't gone to the basement yet. It'll be a lot lower than what it is now." We can't explore her prediction, but we can examine if Obama has the lowest ratings of any modern president. Are they really worse than those of Richard "Tricky Dick" Nixon, Jimmy ... >> More

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Barack Obama says construction workers pay higher tax rate than someone earning $50 million a year

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

PolitiFact - By Louis Jacobson - Sep. 27 (Fact Check) - The Truth-o-Meter says: Half-True | Barack Obama says construction workers pay higher tax rate than someone earning $50 million a year In several appearances recently, President Barack Obama has emphasized tax fairness across the income spectrum. In remarks in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Sept. 22, 2011, Obama sought to promote his American Jobs Act by visiting a "functionally obsolete" bridge spanning the Ohio River. The bill, he said, "would put people back to work rebuilding America -- repairing our roads, repairing our bridges, repairing our schools." During the speech, Obama said that "a construction worker who’s making $50 or $60 grand a year shouldn’t be paying higher tax rates than the guy who’s making ... >> More

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Does a secretary pay higher taxes than a millionaire?

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

PolitiFact - By Angie Drobnic Holan - Sep. 21 (Fact Check) - Not all millionaires are equal. There are millionaires who earn their income like most of us -- in salaries. And then there are the millionaires Warren Buffett wrote about in his famous op-ed column for the New York Times asking the federal government to "Stop Coddling the Super-Rich." They earn their living as hedge fund managers or through investments and enjoy a lower tax rate. President Barack Obama blurred the distinction in his recent speech on the economy, calling out things that he said "shouldn't happen." Middle-class families shouldn’t pay higher taxes than millionaires and billionaires. That’s pretty straightforward. It’s ... >>More

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Barbara Boxer says 400 richest taxpayers saw incomes grow by 400 percent, tax rates fall by 40 percent

Wed, 21 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

PolitiFact - By Louis Jacobson - Sep. 21 (Fact Check) - During a Sept. 20, 2011, interview with Al Sharpton on MSNBC, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., sought to highlight how America’s richest taxpayers have benefited economically in recent years. "The top 400 earners in this country are worth more … than half of the American people," Boxer said. "And since 1995, the top 400 wealthiest families have seen their incomes go up 400 percent and their tax rates go down 40 percent." We checked the first part -- that the top 400 tax payers saw their incomes grow by 400 percent -- in March 2010, giving it a rating of True. ...

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