An independent experimental fact-checking site, exploring and advocating ways to make fact-checking better.
Paul Ryan: “We should not have called Bashar Assad a reformer when he was turning his Russian-provided guns on his own people.” Overview During his debate with Vice President Biden, Republican candidate for vice president Paul Ryan claimed the Obama administration referred to Syrian leader Bashar Assad as a reformer. Though PolitiFact rated the claim “Mostly False,” we’ll find…
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Vice President Joe Biden: “They talk about this Great Recession if it fell out of the sky, like, ‘Oh, my goodness, where did it come from?’ It came from this man voting to put two wars on a credit card, to at the same time put a prescription drug benefit on the credit card, a trillion-dollar tax cut for the…
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Obama campaign video: “AARP says (Romney’s plan) ‘would undermine … Medicare.’” Overview An October 9 Obama campaign video presents the AARP as saying the Romney/Ryan premium support “voucher” system “would undermine … Medicare.” The Facts The campaign video makes a series of claims about the Romney “voucher system” proposal before using a partial quotation from the AARP. The…
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President Obama: “(Congressman Ryan) put forward a plan that would let Governor Romney pay less than 1 percent in taxes each year.” Overview President Obama made an accurate statement about the budget proposal vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan made in 2010. However, Ryan has since updated his tax reform proposal and it no longer would allow Romney to pay less…
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Vice president Joe Biden: “President Obama has increased the benefits available to people on Medicare today by the action he took.” Overview During a Sept. 28 campaign stop in South Florida, Vice President Joe Biden played up new Medicare benefits under the Affordable Care Act while omitting mention that the ACA has features that may restrict seniors’ ability to access…
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President Obama: “I haven’t raised taxes.” Overview On the CBS program “60 Minutes” aired on Sept. 23, President Obama said “I haven’t raised taxes” as part of his defense against Mitt Romney’s attacks on his economic policies. Justifying the statement appears difficult. The Facts Mr. Obama’s statement occurred during the following exchange with CBS interviewer Steve Kroft: KROFT:…
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Mitt Romney: “There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what … Forty-seven percent of Americans pay no income tax.” Overview Many mainstream news accounts, including fact checks, based interpretations on questionable assumptions about what Mitt Romney was saying during a private talk at a fundraising event. Fact checkers ended up fact checking…
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