http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/ en-us Copyright 2008 Fri, 25 Jan 2008 12:20:57 -0400 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.36 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss GOP debate in Florida, Jan. 24 Last night's GOP debate from Boca Raton, Florida, was a generally civil affair. The candidates avoided challenging each other's records directly, and did not get involved in factual disputes. Nevertheless, they still made a number of questionable statements, particularly on foreign policy. A sampler: http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/01/the_gop_debate_in_florida.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/01/the_gop_debate_in_florida.html Candidate Watch Fri, 25 Jan 2008 12:20:57 -0400 Diplomatic reporter Glenn Kessler joined me for a live fact check of Thursday night's Republican debate on Fox News from Myrtle Beach in South Carolina. We were backed up by researcher Alice Crites and editor Tim Curran. This was our second live fact check. We inaugurated this new feature with the back-to-back Republican and Democratic debates from Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., last Saturday. You can read the Saint Anselm transcript here. Since this was a live fact check, we did not issue any definitive rulings. Our aim was more modest--to flag questionable statements and contribute to a more informed discussion. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/01/live_debate_fact_check_1.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/01/live_debate_fact_check_1.html Live Fact Check Thu, 10 Jan 2008 19:40:24 -0400 The poet and the pol "You campaign in poetry, but you govern in prose." --Hillary Clinton, Nashua, N.H., Jan. 6. I will get back to fact checking tomorrow, but first let me share my impressions from four exciting days in New Hampshire. When I heard Hillary Clinton quote Mario Cuomo in a packed sports hall in Nashua on Sunday, I knew instantly that she had captured the essence of the 2008 presidential campaign. The most important distinction in this race, at least at this stage, is not between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. It is between the Poetry Party and the Prose Party. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/01/poetry_versus_prose.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/01/poetry_versus_prose.html Candidate Watch Tue, 08 Jan 2008 10:53:16 -0400 We assembled a team of crack fact checkers to truth squad the Republican and Democratic debates at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, and call the candidates out for any inaccuracies. Environmental reporter Juliet Eilperin was sitting next to me in the media filing center. She is also an expert on Congress, having covered it all her life. We were joined in Washington by John Solomon, a veteran political reporter for the Associated Press and now the Post, and diplomatic reporter Glenn Kessler. Prior to the foreign policy beat, Glenn covered economics. I was a foreign correspondent for the Post for more than a decade, and also covered education, so I hope we will be able to weigh in quickly on most factual disputes. Backing us up In Washington were ace researcher Alice Crites and editor Steve Ginsberg. Since this was a live fact check, we are not going to issue http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/01/live_debate_fact_check.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/01/live_debate_fact_check.html Live Fact Check Sat, 05 Jan 2008 22:44:14 -0400 Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Columbia University, September 24, 2007. Winner of the 2007 Pinocchio awards Congratulations to all the contestants for a splendid showing in 2007. The competition for the top places has been intense, but after due consideration, I have finally managed to narrow the field down to the top five fibs in two categories, "Presidential Candidates" and "Best of the Rest." Obviously, many of you will disagree with some of my choices. I have accepted advice from colleagues, friends, and readers but, in the end, this is a selection of personal favorites that makes no pretense to scientific accuracy. In the "Presidential Candidates" category, I am also handing out a special Geppetto truth-telling award. For a year-end wrapup on the "Fibs of 2007," see my front-page article in Sunday's WaPo here, accompanied by this graphic. On to 2008! Keep those suggestions coming. A Happy New Year to all. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/12/the_pinocchio_2007_awards.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/12/the_pinocchio_2007_awards.html Candidate Watch Mon, 31 Dec 2007 06:00:00 -0400 Rudy Giuliani with Margaret Thatcher, September 19, 2007. One of the five "most famous" Americans? In the spirit of the holiday season, I am inviting nominations for the "Top Ten Fibs of 2007". There are two categories in the competition: "Presidential Candidates" and "Best of the Rest." Post your nominations in the comments section or use the "Contact the Fact Checker" form. Also feel free to cast a non-binding vote for your favorite fib. The deadline is Friday, Dec. 28. A panel of crack Fact Checkers will select the Top Five Fibs in each category and post them online on Monday, December 31. We will also make a Geppetto truth-telling award in the "Presidential Candidates" category. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/12/the_fibs_of_2007.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/12/the_fibs_of_2007.html Candidate Watch Mon, 24 Dec 2007 06:00:00 -0400 All political candidates make mistakes, but some mistakes are more revealing than others. A candidate's fibs and exaggerations, and his or her willingness to correct them, tell us something about that person's character and approach to campaigning. To coincide with "The Front Runners" series in the newspaper this week, The Fact Checker is taking a look at the "most revealing fibs" of each of the candidates. Last but not least: Rudy Giuliani. Sports Hall of Fame, Chicago, Dec. 7 "I brought down crime more than anyone in this country -- maybe in the history of this country -- while I was mayor of New York City...I took the crime capital of America and I turned it into the safest large city in the country." --Rudy Giuliani, Republican presidential debate, Orlando, FL, October 21, 2007. Rudy Giuliani has taken a good record in reducing crime in New York City--and tried to http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/12/most_revealing_fibs_rudy_giuli.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/12/most_revealing_fibs_rudy_giuli.html Candidate Watch Sun, 16 Dec 2007 06:00:00 -0400 Iranian President Ahmadinejad visits nuclear enrichment facility, April 2007. "We judge with high confidence that in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program...A growing amount of intelligence indicates Iran was engaged in covert uranium conversion and uranium enrichment activity, but we judge that these efforts probably were halted in response to the fall 2003 halt, and that these efforts probably had not been restarted through at least mid-2007." --National Intelligence Estimate, released December 3, 2007. There has been a lot of loose talk about Iran's nuclear capabilities out on the campaign trail. Here is a sampling of campaign rhetoric undercut by the publication of the latest National Intelligence Estimate on Iran, representing the consensus view of the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/12/bomb_bomb_bomb_bomb_bomb_iran_1.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/12/bomb_bomb_bomb_bomb_bomb_iran_1.html Candidate Watch Tue, 04 Dec 2007 06:00:45 -0400 Mitt and Rudy during the CNN/YouTube debate. RUDY GIULIANI: "The reality is that New York City was not a sanctuary city...." ANDERSON COOPER: "Governor, was New York a sanctuary city?" MITT ROMNEY: "Absolutely. It called itself a sanctuary city... GIULIANI: "You did have illegal immigrants working at your mansion, didn't you?" ROMNEY: "No, I did not." --CNN/YouTube debate, November 28, 2007. Welcome back to the Mitt and Rudy show! Hold your breath as the Republican front-runners go for the jugular! Admire their fancy footwork! Watch Mr Rough take on Mr Smooth! See if you can spot their semantic tricks! Once again, Giuliani and Romney are on the opposite sides of an argument about their respective records as mayor of New York and governor of Massachusetts. Romney fired the first shot on this one, depicting New York as a "sanctuary city" that provided refuge to hundreds of thousands of illegal http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/11/no_sanctuary_from_mitt_and_rud.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/11/no_sanctuary_from_mitt_and_rud.html Candidate Watch Fri, 30 Nov 2007 08:40:00 -0400 Giuliani announcing fall in crime rate as mayor of New York "Under Mayor Giuliani's leadership, overall crime was cut by 56 percent, murder was cut by 66 percent, and New York City--once considered the crime capital of the country--became the safest large city in America according to the FBI." --Join Rudy 2008 website Rudy Giuliani has made the dramatic drop in the New York City crime rate a central theme of his presidential campaign. He has been critical of rivals, such as Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, for being lax on crime. Violent crimes fell sharply between 1994 and 2001 while he was mayor and have continued to fall under his successor, Michael Bloomberg. But the crime rate also fell sharply in other large U.S. cities, such as Los Angeles and Chicago. Has he exaggerated his own achievement? http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/11/rudy_the_crime_buster.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/11/rudy_the_crime_buster.html Candidate Watch Thu, 29 Nov 2007 06:00:00 -0400 Mitt vs Rudy "Murder went up when [Romney] was governor [of Massachusetts]. Robbery went up. Violent crimes went up." --Rudy Giuliani, quoted in Washington Post, November 26, 2007. "He ([Giuliani] has got a real problem checking facts." --Mitt Romney, quoted in the same article. This is not the first time the two front-runners for the Republican nomination have got into a statistical fist fight. Last month, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney gave very different descriptions of their respective economic records as mayor of New York and governor of Massachusetts. As the primary campaign heats up, they have extended the dispute into the criminal justice field. Giuliani repeated his assault on Romney at various stops on the campaign trail, including interviews with the Washington Post and the Associated Press. A look at the evidence suggests that both candidates are cherry-picking the data to suit their argument. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/11/pinocchios_for_mitt_and_rudy.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/11/pinocchios_for_mitt_and_rudy.html Candidate Watch Tue, 27 Nov 2007 06:00:00 -0400 Rudy Giuliani in New Hampshire "I think that one of the things we need from our people who are running for office is not this pretense of perfection. And the reality is all of us that run for public office, whether it's governor, legislator, mayor, president, we are all human beings. If we haven't made mistakes, don't vote for us. Cause we got some big ones that are gonna happen in the future and we won't know how to handle them." --Rudy Giuliani, November 20, 2007, reacting to Barack Obama's acknowledgment that he used drugs as a young man. - The afterglow of the holiday season makes this a good time to award some more Geppetto checkmarks. Don't worry. I will be back to my crotchety old self tomorrow. My first Geppetto checkmark went to John McCain a couple of weeks ago for his stylish attack on Hillary Clinton http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/11/grace_and_candor_under_pressur.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/11/grace_and_candor_under_pressur.html Candidate Watch Mon, 26 Nov 2007 06:00:00 -0400 On the campaign trail in New Hampshire. "I made my decision about what to do about prostate cancer in 2000....The statistics, as of the time I made the decision, are absolutely accurate and I stand by them....I said, 82 percent chance of survival in the United States in 2000, 44 percent chance of survival in England. [Actually] it's a 43 percent chance of survival in England back in 2000." --Rudy Giuliani, on November 2, defending his disputed claim that his chances of surviving prostate cancer were almost twice as high in the U.S. as in England, "under socialized medicine." The former New York mayor would have us believe that he was off by one percentage point at most in calculating his chances of surviving prostate cancer in Britain. In fact, he was wrong the first time, and he is equally wrong the second time. Epidemiologists say that his claim http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/11/four_pinocchios_for_rudy_the_r.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/11/four_pinocchios_for_rudy_the_r.html Candidate Watch Wed, 07 Nov 2007 06:00:00 -0400 "I had prostate cancer, five, six years ago. My chances of surviving prostate cancer and thank God I was cured of it, in the United States, 82 percent. My chances of surviving prostate cancer in England, only 44 percent under socialized medicine." --Rudy Giuliani, New Hampshire radio advertisement, October 29, 2007. The former New York mayor has had personal experience battling prostate cancer, but he's confused about the stats, according to several experts we consulted. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/10/rudy_miscalculates_cancer_surv.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/10/rudy_miscalculates_cancer_surv.html Candidate Watch Tue, 30 Oct 2007 07:00:00 -0400 Before everybody relaxes for the weekend, some facts to ponder over Halloween: Barbers for Dodd "Presidential Candidate Chris Dodd today announced that his campaign will begin running a new ad entitled "Jim's," highlighting his ability to achieve results as President....The 60-second spot will run in Iowa and on national cable networks and introduces John and Jesse, two barbers at Jim's barbershop in Winterset, Iowa, where the ad was shot." --Dodd campaign press release, October 24, 2007. There's one minor problem with the Dodd ad, and we are indebted to the Des Moines Register for pointing it out. "John" and "Jesse" are not barbers. They are not Democratic voters. In fact, they are not even from Iowa. They are actors from Chicago. There is a "Jim's barbershop" in Winterset, but it is run by a registered Republican, Jim Kinser, who let the Dodd people have the run of his store, but http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/10/barbers_for_dodd_gorbie_endors_1.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2007/10/barbers_for_dodd_gorbie_endors_1.html Candidate Watch Fri, 26 Oct 2007 06:00:00 -0400