An independent experimental fact-checking site, exploring and advocating ways to make fact-checking better.
“Barack Obama said the deficit has fallen at the fastest rate in 60 years. … the president used an acceptable approach and his numbers are accurate. There are no statistical tricks in play.” —PolitiFact Overview Eyes wide open, PolitiFact falls for the oldest statistical tricks in the book. The Facts President Obama made the speech containing his reference to…
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“Federal spending under Obama has grown faster than inflation, but far more slowly than it did under President Bush.” —Annenberg Fact Check Summary We rate a second recent claim from FactCheck.org, stemming from the same “Obama’s Numbers” article that prompted our earlier fact check. Again, Annenberg Fact Check spins like a politician. The Facts The federal government substantially increased…
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“After five years of retirement, when you’re 70 years old, you could lose $645. And after 10 more years, when you’re 80 years old, you would’ve lost a grand total of $5,113. In 25 years under chained CPI, you would’ve lost a grand total of $13,715. That’s almost $14,000 of your hard-earned money, snatched from your wallet.” –David Certner, AARP…
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“45,007,000 seniors would be forced out of traditional Medicare and into a voucher program.” —Democratic Policy & Communications Center Overview Democrats’ evaluation of new Ryan budget uses language that leaves a misleading impression. The Facts The statement drawing our focus occurs right off the bat in the Democratic Policy & Communication Center’s official evaluation of the newest version of…
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“I mean, you just heard it. There is no ratio of spending cuts to revenue increases that Republicans will accept.” —David Gregory, host of NBC’s “Meet the Press” Foreword We’re aware of our relatively tight focus on budget deal rhetoric. This item struck us because a major news media figure (Gregory) beautifully parroted the gist of the administration’s budget…
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“It is the President’s position that in pursuit of balanced deficit reduction that includes both entitlement reforms and revenues from tax reform, that the offer he made to Speaker Boehner remains on the table, and that if the Speaker of the House were to change his position and go back to the position he held just a few months ago,…
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“I know that this has been some of the conventional wisdom that’s been floating around Washington that somehow, even though most people agree that I’m being reasonable, that most people agree I’m presenting a fair deal, the fact that they don’t take it means that I should somehow do a Jedi mind-meld with these folks and convince them to do…
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“The entire DNA of the enforcement mechanism in the sequester was to bring both sides back on the table. The Democrats would compromise more in entitlements, that Republicans would compromise more on revenue. So the idea that this moves the goalposts is just—I mean, there’s not even an ounce of—there’s not even an ounce of truth to that.” —Gene Sperling,…
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“Even President Bush’s director of the National Institutes of Health says these cuts will set back medical science for a generation.” –President Obama, Weekly Address Feb. 23, 2013 Summary The president accurately paraphrases a misleading “Wonkblog” headline that exaggerates the effect on science of the sequester. The Facts: Dylan Matthews of the Washington Post‘s Wonkblog published an interview with…
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“Tonight, (President Obama) even criticized us for refusing to raise taxes to delay military cuts – cuts that were his idea in the first place.” –Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), from the Republican response to President Obama’s State of the Union speech. Overview Sen. Rubio correctly states that the sequester plan came from President Obama and the White House, but…
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