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 The gasoline wars between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have been heating up to coincide with the Indiana and North Carolina primaries. The airwaves are full of charges and counter-charges over Clinton's plan for a three month gas holiday between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Obama says the idea is simply an election day "gimmick"; Clinton claims her plan will save hard-working American families $8 billion a year. An examination of the fine print in the latest round of TV ads shows that both sides have been stretching the facts. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/05/gas_tax_wars.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/05/gas_tax_wars.html Candidate Watch Tue, 06 May 2008 06:00:00 -0400 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 Elton John fundraiser, April 9, 2008. "Peter Daou, Hillary Clinton's internet director, confirms that, by midnight last night, the campaign had received more than $10 million in web-based contributions [since the Pennsylvania primary]. Not pledges. Not promises. But $10 million transferred directly from the credit and debit cards of about 100,000 donors. --Mark Ambinder blog, April 23, 2008. A spat has broken out in the blogosphere over whether the Clinton campaign's claims to have raised $10 million since Tuesday are inflated. Without direct access to the Clinton fund-raising spreadsheets, it is impossible to adjudicate this dispute. But what about past claims, such as the $4 million allegedly raised by the campaign the day after Super Tuesday? http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/04/tracking_the_fundraisers.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/04/tracking_the_fundraisers.html Candidate Watch Fri, 25 Apr 2008 06:00:00 -0400 Philadelphia, Pa., April 23, 2008. "The Tide is Turning. After last night's decisive victory in Pennsylvania, more people have voted for Hillary than any other candidate, including Sen. Obama." --Clinton website, "The Fact Hub", April 23, 2008. Hillary Clinton got a much-needed electoral boost from the voters of Pennsylvania on Tuesday night, when she trounced Barack Obama by nearly 210,000 votes, according to the official results. It was a very clear victory, but it is a big stretch for her to claim that she is ahead in the popular vote. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/04/is_clinton_winning_the_popular.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/04/is_clinton_winning_the_popular.html Candidate Watch Thu, 24 Apr 2008 06:00:00 -0400 State College, Pa., April 20, 2008. "I went to law school [and] borrowed money from the federal government at two percent interest. I bet there are some people here who remember that. There was a program called the National Defense Education Act. Our government invested in young people." --Hillary Clinton, Pennsylvania State University, April 20, 2008. Hillary Clinton has been painting a halcyon picture of her days as a Yale Law School student between 1969 and 1972, and how easy it was back then for students to borrow money from the federal government. She drew a collective groan from 1,500 Penn State students over the weekend when she recalled how she was able to borrow money at two percent interest to complete her law school studies. But student interest rates were not quite as low in 1969 as Clinton has claimed--and not everybody could get them. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/04/hillarys_two_percent_college_l.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/04/hillarys_two_percent_college_l.html Candidate Watch Wed, 23 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 Hillary Clinton, April 17, 2008. "I think [the war in Iraq] is the first time we've ever been taken to war and had a president who wouldn't pay for it." --Hillary Clinton, Democratic debate in Pennsylvania, April 17, 2008. Congress invented the federal income tax in August 1861 to help pay for the Civil War. But is Hillary Clinton correct in claiming that George W. Bush is the first president in American history to refuse to pay for a war that he launched? It is a little more complicated than that. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/04/paying_for_the_iraq_war.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/04/paying_for_the_iraq_war.html Candidate Watch Fri, 18 Apr 2008 06:00:00 -0400 Antoin Rezko and Stuart Levine. "Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama was again drawn into Tony Rezko's corruption trial on Monday, when the prosecution's star witness placed Obama at a party for an Iraqi-born billionaire who was later barred entry to the United States." --Chicago Sun-Times, April 15, 2008. Proof of a meeting between Barack Obama and the Iraqi-born billionaire, Nadhmi Auchi, would be a blow for the Illinois senator's presidential campaign. Obama has repeatedly said that he cannot recollect any meeting with Auchi, a London-based businessman who is appealing a conviction for fraud in France. Auchi was a business contact of Antoin Rezko, a former Chicago developer and Obama fundraiser currently on trial for corruption. With a fortune estimated at more than $5 billion, Auchi is one of the world's richest men. According to U.S. prosecutors, Rezko lobbied the U.S. government to get a visa for Auchi after he http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/04/obamas_rezko_connection.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/04/obamas_rezko_connection.html Candidate Watch Wed, 16 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 Elton John fundraiser, April 9, 2008. "There was a lot of fulminating because Hillary, one time late at night when she was exhausted, misstated and immediately apologized for it, what happened to her in Bosnia in 1995....And I think she was the first first lady since Eleanor Roosevelt to go into a combat zone." --Bill Clinton, campaigning in Indiana, April 10, 2008. Just as the Bosnia sniper flap seemed to be dying down, count on a finger-pointing Bill Clinton to fan the embers. The former president managed to make half a dozen factual errors in coming to the defense of his wife for her now acknowledged "misstatements" about her March 1996 Bosnia trip. By Friday afternoon, the would-be first laddie was revising his revisionist version of history. He told reporters that he had received a call from Hillary telling him to "let me handle it." http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/04/bill_shoots_from_the_hip.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/04/bill_shoots_from_the_hip.html Candidate Watch Fri, 11 Apr 2008 17:38:20 -0400 Molly's gas station, Manheim, Pa., March 31, 2008. "What Senator Obama does not tell you is that..he has taken roughly $213,000 from the employees of oil companies. The senator has not been upfront, open, and honest with the people of Pennsylvania with respect to this ad. He does not tell us that two of his bundlers are top executives of oil companies." --Clinton campaign conference call, April 9, 2008. The Obama and Clinton campaigns have got into a rather petty dispute over a television ad that the Illinois senator is running in Pennsylvania. The Clinton camp says that Obama has not been "upfront" about the amount of financial support that he receives from oil company employees and executives. The Clintonites have a valid point. On the other hand, they are conveniently overlooking the even larger financial contributions to their candidate from representatives of the oil and gas sector. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/04/the_pot_and_the_kettle.html http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/04/the_pot_and_the_kettle.html Candidate Watch Fri, 11 Apr 2008 06:00:00 -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