http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/ en-us Copyright 2008 Wed, 07 May 2008 10:30:00 -0400 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.36 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Clinton rally, Indianapolis, Ind., May 6, 2008. "Tonight we've come from behind, we've broken the tie, and thanks to you it's full speed on to the White House." --Hillary Clinton, May 6, 2008. Brave, defiant words from Hillary Clinton. But observe the facial expressions. For many people watching television on Tuesday night, the most striking impression from the Clinton victory rally in Indiana was not the words that came out of Hillary's mouth, but the look on Bill's face. It was the look of a man who knows that a dream is slipping away. The Facts Try this experiment. Take a look at this extract from Clinton's speech in Indianapolis with the volume turned down. Watch the expressions on the faces of Hillary, Bill and Chelsea, and let me know what you think. Here is what I saw. A candidate with a mask of upbeat determination on her face, http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/05/a_geppetto_for_bill_clinton.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/05/a_geppetto_for_bill_clinton.html Candidate Watch Wed, 07 May 2008 10:30:00 -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 Samantha Power, March 10, 2008. Barack Obama "will, of course, not rely on some plan that he's crafted as a presidential candidate or a U.S. Senator. He will rely upon a plan -- an operational plan -- that he pulls together in consultation with people who are on the ground to whom he doesn't have daily access now...It would be the height of ideology to sort of say, 'Well, I said it, therefore I'm going to impose it on whatever reality greets me.'" --Samantha Power, former Obama adviser, BBC interview, March 6, 2008. Returning to Washington after a five-day vacation, I am catching up on the Samantha Power resignation, the liaisons dangereuses of Eliot Spitzer, the Mississippi primary, the Geraldine Ferraro brouhaha, and much debate about who is best qualified to answer the phone at 3 a.m. My quick take on all this: next to extra-marital sex, speaking your http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/03/truthtelling_on_iraq.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/03/truthtelling_on_iraq.html Candidate Watch Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:25:59 -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