11/05/2012

Of Liars, Highfliers and I

Of Liars, Highfliers and I

https://plus.google.com/.../posts/Bj6oSLKx431
Sid Harth – 33 seconds ago – Limited –

Of Liars, Highfliers and I Of Facts, Factoids, Fact-fetishes and I

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The Fact Checker

The Truth Behind the Rhetoric | By Glenn Kessler

The biggest Pinocchios of Election 2012

Posted by at 06:02 AM ET, 11/04/2012

(Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)It’s hard to believe this nasty and brutish presidential campaign has come to an end.

According to our Pinocchio Tracker, through most of the race President Obama and former governor Mitt Romney were neck and neck for the average number of Pinocchios, averaging about 2 Pinocchios each. But then, in the final months, Romney suddenly pulled ahead (so to speak) with a series of statements and commercials that stretched the limits. Obama’s average also got worse — and was nothing to be proud of.

In the end, Romney finished with an average ranking of 2.4 Pinnochios, compared to 2.11 for Obama. Not counting debates (when we awarded no Pinocchios), we rated 92 statements by Obama and 77 by Romney, as well as more than 200 claims made by surrogates and interest groups, as well as Republican presidential contenders.

Among the primary aspirants, Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.) finished with the worst rating overall of any candidate — an average of 3.08 Pinocchios.

Here are some of the lowlights of the 2012 campaign.

Most Absurd ‘Fact’ — Republican version

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich’s claim that Ronald Reagan never got a break from the “elite media” as an actor. As an example, Gingrich said only one of Reagan’s movies — “King’s Row” — got a good review from the New York Times. First of all, Reagan was a Democrat when he was in show business, so Gingrich’s point was nonsensical. Second, four of Reagan’s top 10 movies got raves from the New York Times — and King’s Row was panned.

 

Most Absurd ‘Fact’ — Democratic version

Making a pitch for the president’s jobs bill, Vice President Biden repeatedly claimed that rape in Flint, Mich., had tripled after the police force was cut, as part of a dubious argument that there was a connection between the crime rate and the number of police. He even asserted that rapes and other crime would increase if the GOP did not vote for the jobs bill. But you need to have your facts straight if you are going to make incendiary charges. We investigated and it turned out that incidents of rape in Flint, Mich., actually fell after the number of police was cut.

 

 

 

Worst SuperPac Ad — Republican version

A pro-Gingrich SuperPac released a 29-minute video titled “King of Bain,” which portrayed Romney as a greedy job-killer ruining the lives of Americans. It foreshadowed the Obama attacks on Romney’s record as chief of Bain Capital, but was so over the top that it made many of those later ads seem tame. One “case study” featured selectively edited footage of interviews of workers — who later said they were misled about the purpose of the film. They actually had no complaints about Romney or Bain at all.

 

Worst SuperPac Ad — Democratic version

Priorities USA Action, a pro-Obama group, aired a provocative ad that suggested that Romney was responsible for the cancer death of the wife of a former steelworker who had lost his health insurance. But it turned out she died of cancer five years after the closure of the plant — and had her own health insurance for a period after the steelworker, Joe Soptic, lost his job. As we put it, “On just every level, this ad stretches the bounds of common sense and decency.”

 

Silliest Blooper — Republican version

Until we highlighted this claim, Mitt Romney had made this line a regular staple of his campaign stump speech: “We are the only people on the Earth that put our hand over our heart during the playing of the national anthem.” We easily disproved this by randomly searching YouTube and finding numerous examples of sports figures and school children from around the world placing their hands on their hearts during the playing of their national anthems. Apparently, Romney was trying to ding Obama for once failing to do so during the 2008 campaign, but his belief in American exceptionalism was misplaced.

 

Silliest Blooper — Democratic version

President Obama’s claim that President Rutherford B. Hayes was so averse to new ideas that he had asked of the telephone: “Who would ever use one?” It turns out that the 19th president was such an advocate of new technology that not only did Hayes think the telephone was “wonderful,” but he installed the first telephone in Washington, in the White House, just four months after it was introduced. His telephone number was “1.”

 

Most Baseless Accusation — Republican version

The repeated claim that Obama said that government, not people, built successful businesses. The truncated quote “you didn’t build that,” drawn from a late-night rally with ungrammatical phrasing by Obama, became the basis of repeated attack ads and even the first night of the GOP convention. But any fair reading of Obama’s comments showed he was making a standard Democratic argument about community success — and that “that” referred to roads and bridges.

 

Most Baseless Accusation — Democratic version

Harry Reid’s repeated claim, made with zero evidence, that Romney “hadn’t paid any taxes for 10 years.” Reid said he knew this was true because a person who had invested with Bain Capital had called his office and told him this “fact.” We couldn’t find a single expert who thought there was any credibility to Reid’s reckless claim. Romney eventually released a summary prepared by his accountants showing he had paid federal and state taxes in each of the past 20 years.

 

Claim that would not die — Republican version

Nearly two years ago, we looked deeply at Mitt Romney’s claim that Obama had gone on an “apology tour” as a new president — and we found no evidence to back up the assertion. Yet a version of that claim appeared in almost every speech by the GOP nominee, and Romney defended it in the final presidential debate. Then his campaign cut a new ad from his remarks, skillfully snipping out the fact that Romney incorrectly said the offending speeches were made in the Middle East.

 

Claim that would not die — Democratic version

The Obama campaign repeatedly asserted that Romney, while at Bain Capital, had outsourced jobs to foreign countries such as China, and had also sent jobs to India as governor of Massachusetts. The evidence was slim, at best, and often turned on such obscure issues as whether Romney still ran Bain Capital while taking a leave to manage the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Few nonfacts ever received as much ink and television time.

 

‘Mediscare’ — Republican version

Republicans initially claimed that Obama raided $500 billion from Medicare to fund the health-care law — a figure that later jumped to more than $700 billion for arcane budget reasons. But these were reductions in projected spending, mainly aimed at providers, and would not affect traditional Medicare benefits. Moreover, Republicans had adopted virtually the same “cuts” in their own budgets.

 

‘Mediscare’ — Democratic version

Democrats repeatedly charged that seniors would pay $6,400 extra a year in Medicare premiums under the overhaul plan promoted by Romney’s running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.). But this was a figure far in the future, based on an early and less generous version of the plan. A recent study of the “premium support” model suggested that any actual increase in premiums would be far less.

 

Worst Math Skills — Republican version

Romney’s math showing how he would add 12 million jobs in his first term as president. He cited three studies, which collectively added up to 12 million jobs, but the studies had 10-year time frames, not four. Moreover, two of the studies did not even evaluate Romney’s own plans.

 

Worst Math Skills — Democratic version

Obama’s claim that “90 percent” of the current deficit is due to Bush policies, such as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama certainly inherited a mess, but any reasonable accounting showed that as his term wore on, Obama’s policies increasingly were responsible for the deficit. By our estimate, by 2011, about 44 percent was due to Obama’s policies. Bush’s policies were responsible for about 10 percent, and the rest was due to the recession and forecasting errors.

 

‘Plan’ that Doesn’t Exist — Democratic version

The Obama campaign claimed that Romney would raise taxes on the middle class by $2,500. This was based on a nonpartisan study trying to figure out how Romney could cut tax rates by 20 percent but still make his tax plan revenue neutral. The study concluded that eventually the elimination of tax deductions for the wealthy would also affect the middle class. So Romney’s math may not have added up, but he never had a plan to raise taxes.

 

‘Plan’ that Doesn’t Exist — Republican version

The Romney campaign countered that attack by charging that, instead, Obama would raise taxes by $4,000 on the middle class. This was also based on a study, which calculated the distribution of the debt burden on Americans. Obama’s budget fell in a middle range, and Romney’s budget would likely have a similar impact. But this was not evidence of a planned tax increase — far from it.

 

 

 

Most complex subject for spinning — bipartisan effort

The Obama administration’s memo saying it would accept welfare waivers related to worker participation targets prompted bipartisan spinning. The Romney campaign aired an over-the-top ad that accused Obama of gutting the welfare reform law, even though no waivers have been issued. But the Democratic counterspin was also questionable, leaving largely unanswered what the administration hoped to accomplish with the new rules.

(About our rating scale)

Check out our candidate Pinocchio Tracker

Follow The Fact Checker on Twitter and friend us on Facebook .

Track each presidential candidate's campaign ads

 

275 Comments

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SiDevilIam
Common sense of voters is sufficient to determine campaign claims. We do not need an artificial measure, such as WaPo's Pinocchio meter.
I have to quote today's Gallup Poll:November 5, 2012
In U.S., Majorities Satisfied With Conduct of 2012 Campaigns
Obama essentially ties Romney in campaign ratings, but trails his own 2008 rating
by Lydia Saad

PRINCETON, NJ -- Although only one candidate can win Tuesday's presidential election, both major-party candidates may be gratified to know that majorities of Americans are satisfied with how each campaign has been conducted. Fifty-eight percent of Americans are satisfied with the conduct of Barack Obama's campaign, and 54% are satisfied with the conduct of Mitt Romney's.

Satisfaction With How Presidential Campaigns Have Been Conducted, 2000-2012

...and I am Sid Harth@elcidharth.com

LauraNo
This is why I have ignored this site this election cycle. If there's a "worst math skills" award that goes to republicans, then there has to be one for democrats, too? Must balance at all costs, right? You say, about Romney, "He never had a plan to raise taxes" right after telling us his plan will raise taxes. What a joke.
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glddraco
Also I actually watched the King Of Bain and I find it highly doubtful that they were unaware of bain as almost all of the actors mentioned Bain or Mitt Romney.
glddraco
Hey I just wanted to state something about rape, something that the male fact checker on here doesn't know anything about. When you cut the police force rapes don't go down, just the amount of incidents being reported and in all actuality it's pretty obvious that rapes would go UP in a major way.
AJSG
3:04 PM EST
You may in all likelihood be correct. But there would be no statistics to back it up - therefore you cannot make a claim of "rapes tripled" as if it were a provable, factual statement.
GlennKessler
3:17 PM EST
Re rape stats, go check the original column, which is linked in the round-up. The problem was that Biden mixed up two sets of rape stats, comparing a narrow (FBI) definition to a braoder definition--class case of apples and oranges.And re King of Bain, in the segment I describe, the workers never mention Bain--only the voiceover does. It was very tricky manipulation. Again, this is described in the original column. All of these items will take you the column on which the summary is based.
truth34
Mr. President, what exaclty is the Capital of Israel nowadays?a) Sderot

b) Ramallah

c) Jerusalem

d) A lttle bit of each of the above

truth34
12:48 PM EST
Answer:Jerusalem till Tuesday only.
stevel1
Half of Kesler's examples are irrelevant. If the headline were true the final score would be 10-2. Moremoney lies as easily as he breathes.
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joshlct
Most Baseless Accusation is interesting, because it has something stupid Harry Reid said and later had to back off of, and the entire theme of the RNC.
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ThiswaytotheEgress
Too bad you had to wimp out and split the list by party. Your title is "The biggest pinocchios of election 2012", not "8 republican pinocchios balanced by 8 democratic pinocchios". Grow a spine please.
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bruces
Not bad until the last few:
Plan That Doesn't Exist (Democratic) - The fact of the matter is that Romney obviously had no plan. But given the information that he did provide, a $2500 tax increase to the middle class would have been the result. It's pretty obvious that although Romney claimed that this was lying, he knew it was right because he subsequently tried (several times) to change his mind on what the plan actually was (first target tax deductions for the wealthy first, then limit deductions, then even limit the decrease).Most Complex Subject for Spinning - The Obama administration can't give details of what the policy was to accomplish because the idea is to give more flexibility to states, not to dictate a policy to them.
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mmth1
Romney's most egregious lie is the one about Jeep jobs being sent to China. Perhaps he has invested in a way that would profit him were this true, but in fact it isn't. Jeep-making is staying right here, in ADDITION to a new Jeep factory in China to sell Jeeps there. American Jeep workers' jobs are safe, but they and their bosses should be outraged, and no doubt are. Romney may have cost himself Ohio and Michigan with these lies--deservedly. I don't know why either of them is bothering to campaign today. They're unlikely to change any minds or win any undecideds this late in the games.
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bruces
10:46 AM EST
In addition, it should be noted that Mr. I Love American Business has now slammed several of them (e.g. in addition to Chrysler, Tesla and Fisker), and probably materially hurt the survival capabilities of the later two, by pronouncing them 'dead' (in the first debate), while they're still very much in business.
(Note: Yes, Chrysler is owned by Fiat, but Chrysler itself remains headquartered in America)
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Rose4
"Fact Checking" itself has been thrown into question. Romney and Ryan tell whoppers that are eye-popping. Kessler, presumably in an attempt to be fair, tries to equate misleading information from both the Obama Campaign and the Romney Campaign. In fact, there is no comparison! Romney and Ryan clearly win the liars' contest by a huge margin.Let's hope the Big Lie about Chrysler moving jobs to China has backfired and will help the President win Ohio.
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Isolated_In_N_GA
Regarding the Harry Reed claim, the fact checking on that one was done before the recent Bloomberg discovery of the use of the charitable remainder unitrust."Romney Avoids Taxes via Loophole Cutting Mormon Donations"
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-29/romney-av...

We still do not know what is really going on with Mitt's taxes, and what he has or has not paid and when.

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Lunar !
Somehow I knew this measure would show an equality. Nice job all how to become irrelevant.
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truth34
I would humbly ask Pres. Obamaa what is the capital of Israel?
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If Glenn Kessler had bothered to read a report in Bloomberg last week,http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-29/romney-av...

he would have awarded himself about a dozen Pinochios. Essentially, for about 15 years Bishop Romney gave the LDS massive charitable deductions and took tax-free kickbacks in return. Legal, but hardly ethical or honest.

Most Baseless Accusation — Democratic version

Harry Reid’s repeated claim, made with zero evidence, that Romney “hadn’t paid any taxes for 10 years.” Reid said he knew this was true because a person who had invested with Bain Capital had called his office and told him this “fact.” We couldn’t find a single expert who thought there was any credibility to Reid’s reckless claim. Romney eventually released a summary prepared by his accountants showing he had paid federal and state taxes in each of the past 20 years.

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"Romney eventually released a summary prepared by his accountants showing he had paid federal and state taxes in each of the past 20 years."And here Kessler earns his own Four Pinocchios. What Romney's accountants released was a single figure - an "average of averages" over 20 years of federal taxes only which, if true (no one else has seen the documentation of any of this), tells us nothing at all about the tax rate of anysingle year.

The "average of averages" (20.2%) could for be accounted for by high tax rates paid on relatively low reported income for several years (yielding small amounts of Federal revenue), balanced by zero taxes on high income in other years".

We can be sure that they thoroughly studied the data, and all the ways it could be manipulated, to make the best sounding claim.

The bit Kessler threw in about state taxes being included? Romney's accountants never claimed that, Kessler just made that up out of thin air.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post...

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