http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/ en-us Copyright 2008 Fri, 02 May 2008 06:00:00 -0400 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.36 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Coco Solo, Panama Canal Zone, 1936. "John Sidney McCain, III, is a `natural born Citizen' under Article II, Section 1, of the Constitution of the United States." --U.S. Senate Resolution, April 30, 2008. On Wednesday evening, the U.S. Senate unanimously declared John S. McCain III a "natural-born citizen," eligible to be president of the United States. That was the good news for the presumptive Republican nominee, who was born nearly 72 years ago in a military hospital in the Panama Canal Zone. The bad news is that the Senate resolution is a non-binding opinion that fails to resolve one of the murkiest, untested areas of the U.S. constitution. In an attempt to clarify the issues at stake, I am posting the key documents in the debate. For a more detailed look at the constitutional debate, see my story in today's print edition of the Post, available here. As a http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/05/citizen_mccain.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/05/citizen_mccain.html Candidate Watch Fri, 02 May 2008 06:00:00 -0400 Has Hamas endorsed Obama? "It's just a fact that Hamas, apparently their North American spokesperson, is endorsing Senator Obama. People can make their own judgment from that." --Sen. John McCain, conference call with bloggers, April 25, 2008. "What Senator McCain has said repeatedly is that these candidates cannot be held accountable for all the views of people who endorse them or people who befriend them...When somebody endorses you or befriends you, they're embracing your views, the candidates' views, not the other way around." --McCain senior adviser Charlie Black, interview with MSNBC. March 14, 2008. The McCain campaign has been making a lot of Sen. Barack Obama's friends and acquaintances recently, seeking to tar the Illinois senator with the opinions of his former pastor Jeremiah Wright, the former Weather Underground member Bill Ayers, and even the radical Islamic group Hamas. The guilt-by-association claims seem to run counter to McCain's own http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/05/guilt_by_association.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/05/guilt_by_association.html Candidate Watch Thu, 01 May 2008 06:00:00 -0400 Gas prices hit $4 a gallon. "Barack Obama's argument that immediately reducing gas prices won't help American commuters is shockingly naive and out of touch...Gas tax relief worked when Barack Obama voted for it in the Illinois legislature, and it would work nationally now." --Republican National Committee spokesman Alex Conant, April 28, 2008. Both John McCain and Hillary Clinton have called for a "gas tax holiday" this summer to offer commuters and vacationers some release from spiraling gas prices. They have urged Congress to suspend the 18.4 cent federal gas tax and 24.4 cent diesel tax between Memorial Day and Labor Day, a step that could cost the government about $10 billion in revenues. The only major candidate to oppose the idea is Barack Obama, who voted for a similar measure in Illinois eight years ago. Obama now says that consumers will derive little benefit from the tax moratorium. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/04/a_holiday_from_gas_prices.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/04/a_holiday_from_gas_prices.html Candidate Watch Tue, 29 Apr 2008 06:00:00 -0400 Montgomery County Community College, Pa., April 21, 2008. "We've seen just a skyrocketing autism rate. Some people are suspicious that it's connected to the vaccines. This person included. The science right now is inconclusive, but we have to research it." --Barack Obama, Pennsylvania Rally, April 21, 2008. "It's indisputable that (autism) is on the rise among children, the question is what's causing it. And we go back and forth and there's strong evidence that indicates it's got to do with a preservative in vaccines." --John McCain, Texas town hall meeting, February 29, 2008. SEE UPDATE BELOW Two leading presidential candidates have now wandered into an exceptionally emotional medical debate in which they have no known scientific expertise. Several advocacy groups and families of children with autism are embroiled in a long-running court case seeking billions of dollars in damages because of alleged links between autism and vaccines given to http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/04/dr_obama_and_dr_mccain.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/04/dr_obama_and_dr_mccain.html Candidate Watch Tue, 22 Apr 2008 06:00:00 -0400 John and Cindy McCain "Heat the olive oil in a 12-inch non-stick pan over medium heat. Add fish to pan and cook until rare, about 2 minutes per side. Alternatively, cook until done to your likeness. Slice thin and distribute among 4 serving plates. Serve with a generous portion of Napa cabbage slaw." --Recipe for Ahi Tuna from FoodNetwork.com. "Heat the olive oil in a 12-inch non-stick pan over medium heat. Add fish to pan and cook until rare, about 2 minutes per side. Alternatively, cook until done to your likeness. Slice thin and distribute among 4 serving plates. Serve with a generous portion of Napa cabbage slaw." --"McCain Family Recipe" from johnmccain.com. In an effort to demonstrate that the McCains are regular folks, "in touch" with ordinary Americans, the McCain website has been featuring a series of "McCain family recipes" for such dishes as Ahi Tuna with Napa http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/04/cindys_recipegate.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/04/cindys_recipegate.html Candidate Watch Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:58:27 -0400 Testifying to Congress, April 8, 2008. "We haven't turned any corners. We haven't seen any lights at the end of the tunnel." --Gen. David Petraeus. "The reality is, it is hard in Iraq. And there are no light switches to throw that are going to go dark to light." --Ambassador Ryan Crocker. The semi-annual Congressional dog and pony show on Iraq provided the three remaining presidential candidates an opportunity to explain how they will clean up the mess left behind by George W. Bush, beginning in January 2009. In their different ways, John McCain, Hillary Rodham Clinton, and Barack Obama have all tried to convince American voters that their Iraq policy will produce peace with honor. All three candidates are spinning a very grim reality to make their preferred course of action seem easier and less painful than it actually is. Let us look at each of their positions http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/04/still_no_light_at_the_end_of_t.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/04/still_no_light_at_the_end_of_t.html Candidate Watch Wed, 09 Apr 2008 13:55:00 -0400 McCain TV ad "624787" "What is your rank?" "Lieutenant commander in the Navy." "And your official number?" "624787." VOICE-OVER: "John McCain--the American president Americans have been waiting for." Snippets of video create powerful images, but they often leave out an important part of the story. Last week, the McCain campaign launched what it billed as "the first television ad of the general election" to kick off the senator's "Service to America" tour. The centerpiece of the ad (43 seconds in) is a brief clip of McCain being questioned in hospital in Hanoi a few weeks after his U.S. Navy plane was shot down while on a bombing mission over North Vietnam. The clip shows McCain providing his rank and service number, as authorized by the Code of Conduct for American Prisoners of War. Some news outlets depicted the clip, recycled from an earlier McCain advertisement here, as part of http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/04/name_rank_and_service_number.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/04/name_rank_and_service_number.html Candidate Watch Thu, 03 Apr 2008 14:03:00 -0400 Heading to Iraq, March 17, 2008 "You know, John McCain wants to continue a war in Iraq perhaps as long as 100 years." --Sen. Barack Obama, Lancaster, PA, Town Hall meeting, March 31, 2008. The charge that John McCain wants to wage a "100-year war" in Iraq has become a recurring theme of the Obama campaign. The candidate has made the claim several times on the campaign trail, as has Susan Rice, one of his top foreign policy advisers. McCain has never talked about wanting a 100-year war in Iraq. But he has talked about a prolonged U.S. military presence in Iraq, similar to the stationing of U.S. troops in Germany after World War II or in Korea after the Korean war. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/04/mccains_100year_war.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/04/mccains_100year_war.html Candidate Watch Wed, 02 Apr 2008 06:00:00 -0400 In Amman, Jordan, March 18, 2008, with Sens. Lieberman and Graham. "As you know, there are al Qaeda operatives that are taken back into Iran, given training as leaders, and they're moving back into Iraq. --John McCain, Hugh Hewitt Radio Show, March 17, 2008. Getting the facts right about Iraq remains a challenge for American politicians five years after the U.S. invasion. Speaking in Amman, Jordan, after a visit to Iraq, Republican candidate John McCain was obliged to correct himself after telling reporters that Iran was training al-Qaeda operatives, who were then moving back into Iraq to engage in terrorist activities. The Arizona senator made this claim at least twice, first in an interview with conservative talk show host Hugh Hewitt and then at a press briefing the following the day. McCain is hardly the first U.S. politician to be tripped up by the complexities of Iraqi and Middle http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/03/mccains_foreign_policy_gaffe.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/03/mccains_foreign_policy_gaffe.html Candidate Watch Thu, 20 Mar 2008 11:38:17 -0400 "Everybody says they're against the special interests, but I'm the only one the special interests don't give any money to." --John McCain, Town Hall meeting, New London, NH, Nov. 18, 2007. With all the excitement surrounding the Democratic campaign, I have not been paying enough attention to John McCain and the Republicans. McCain has boasted that he is the only candidate who does not receive money from "special interests." You can listen to a video clip above on YouTube. He repeated much the same line in other town hall meetings in December and January. (I heard him say something similar myself shortly before the New Hampshire primary.) ) http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/02/pinocchios_for_john_mccain.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/02/pinocchios_for_john_mccain.html Candidate Watch Fri, 29 Feb 2008 06:00:00 -0400 Columbus, Ohio, Feb. 19, 2008. "Will the next president have the experience? Or will we risk the confused leadership of an inexperienced candidate who once suggested bombing our ally, Pakistan?" --John McCain, rally in Columbus, Ohio, Feb. 19, 2008. Senator McCain was clearly referring to Barack Obama on Tuesday night when he lambasted an unnamed rival for his lack of experience on military matters. He depicted the Illinois senator as a foreign policy naif who was willing to attack U.S. allies, while at the same time "sitting down without preconditions" to talk with America's enemies. In the original version of his remarks, distributed to reporters, McCain said that Obama had talked about "invading" Pakistan, but this was changed at the last minute to merely "bombing" the country. Has McCain summarized Obama's position accurately? http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/02/bombs_away.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/02/bombs_away.html Candidate Watch Thu, 21 Feb 2008 06:00:00 -0400 Even Bill Clinton says, [Hillary] "and John McCain are very close." Don't we need a leader who agrees with conservatives?" --"Very Close," Web ad for Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney has a new ad circulating on the web that attempts to demonstrate that there is not much difference politically between John McCain and Hillary Clinton. The sub-text of the ad, available on YouTube, is that Republican voters should stick with the former Massachusetts governor, as "the full spectrum conservative." The web ad omits a few pertinent areas where McCain and Clinton are poles apart, such as the Iraq war (McCain is ready to stay in Iraq "a hundred years," Clinton wants to start withdrawing troops within 60 days of becoming president) and whether or not to extend the Bush tax cuts (McCain says yes, Clinton says no.) It distorts McCain's positions on other issues as well. Let's look at the http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/02/no_difference_between_clinton.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/02/no_difference_between_clinton.html Ad Watch Thu, 07 Feb 2008 06:00:00 -0400 It was one of the most devastating TV ads of the 2004 presidential campaign. To the tune of the "Blue Danube" waltz, the Democratic candidate was shown tacking his windsurf board left, then right, then left again while an announcer commented sarcastically, "John Kerry, whichever way the wind blows." As the primary season comes to a climax in the 2008 campaign, the two leading GOP candidates are invoking the waltz and windsurfing images to gain some vital last minute traction. John McCain and Mitt Romney have both issued web ads, modeled on the George W. Bush 2004 ad, seeking to pin the "biggest flip-flopper" on their rival and exploit a perceived weakness. Political analysts say that both Romney and McCain are vulnerable to the "flip-flop" charge for different reasons. "Flip-flopper" has become part of Romney's political identity, with the candidate changing positions on such core issues as abortion, gun http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/02/who_is_the_champion_flipfloppe_1.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/02/who_is_the_champion_flipfloppe_1.html Candidate Watch Tue, 05 Feb 2008 06:00:00 -0400 9:30 p.m. Romney and lobbyists Romney says that one reason that he is like Ronald Reagan is that he does not have "lobbyists at every elbow." Well, he has two elbows, and two prominent lobbyists occupying key positions in his campaign. Perhaps the most prominent example of an uber-lobbyist turned Romney adviser is Ronald C. Kaufman, chairman of Dutko Worldwide, one of the leading "government affairs" companies in the country. Then there is Vincent Weber, a founder of the influential Washington consulting firm Clark & Weinstock, whose clients have included Microsoft, Edison Electric, and Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, PhRMA. Weber also serves as Romney's policy chairman. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/01/gop_debate_jan_30_2008.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/01/gop_debate_jan_30_2008.html Live Fact Check Wed, 30 Jan 2008 18:08:16 -0400 Palm Beach, FL., Jan. 28, 2008. The McCain energy bill "adds a thousand dollars a year to the cost of fuel and energy for the average Florida household. If you want that kind of liberal democrat course as a senator, then you can vote for him." --Mitt Romney, West Palm Beach, FL., Jan. 28, 2008. During the closing hours of the Florida primary, Mitt Romney pounded John McCain for legislation he has championed in the Senate, including the 2003 McCain-Lieberman energy bill, which was designed to cut back on carbon dioxide emissions in line with the Kyoto treaty. He claimed that the bill would cost the average Florida household of four around $1000 a year in increased energy costs. Romney's $1000 estimate is not supported by the most authoritative government cost-benefit analysis of the original 2003 Climate Stewardship Act promoted by McCain, or subsequent energy bills that are still http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/01/mitt_pumps_gas.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/01/mitt_pumps_gas.html Candidate Watch Wed, 30 Jan 2008 06:00:00 -0400