I paid my dues as a fact-checker in both Boston and NYC and I know how important it is to be factually accurate, which is why I heart these posts. From USA Today (but via FactCheck.org):
From the Palin/Biden Debate:
Tax votes
The claim: Palin said Sen. Barack Obama voted 94 times to increase taxes.
The facts: Non-partisan FactCheck.org called that count, which has been cited before by Republicans, "inflated and misleading." Examining the 94 votes at issue, FactCheck.org found that 23 were for measures that would have produced no tax increase at all; they were against proposed tax cuts.
Seven were in favor of measures that would have lowered taxes for many, while raising them on a relative few, either corporations or affluent individuals, according to FactCheck.org, which is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania.
The 94 tally includes two, three and even four votes on the same measure.
Tax rate changes
The claim: Palin said Obama's plan to raise the top income tax rate would affect "millions of small businesses." Biden responded that the vast majority of small businesses do not report more than $250,000 in income.
The facts: The liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, citing 2003 data from the non-partisan Tax Policy Center, said in a report that 436,000 tax filers with small-business income — 1.3% of the 32.8 million filers with small-business income — were subject to the top income tax rate. Another Tax Policy Center analysis concluded that "roughly 97% of small businesses would not be affected at all by increases in the top two tax rates."
Len Burman, who runs the Tax Policy Center, said in an interview Thursday: "The vast majority of small businesses would not be affected by the Obama tax increases" because they are not in the top two tax brackets. He added, "Most small business owners have relatively modest incomes."
Health care
The claim: Palin said Obama wants a "universal, government-run program" and "health care being taken over by the feds."
The facts: Obama's health-care plan does not call for a government takeover. In fact, it isn't even universal. It would only cover all children. Obama's plan would give Americans the opportunity to have government health insurance, but they also could pick a private plan.
Energy
The claim: Biden said he has "always" supported clean coal. He said "a comment made at a rope line was taken out of context" by John McCain's campaign.
The facts: In the video, recorded at the beginning of Biden's bus trip across Ohio last week, he is seen responding to a question about why the campaign is supporting clean coal. "We're not supporting clean coal," he says. "Guess what? China is building two every week, two dirty coal plants. And it's polluting the United States, it's causing people to die."
As the exchange continues, Biden says: "China's gonna burn 300 years of bad coal unless we figure out how to clean their coal up, because it's gonna ruin your lungs, and there's nothing we can do about it. No coal plants here in America. Build 'em, if they're gonna build 'em, over there and make 'em clean because they're killing you."
Mortgage crisis
The claim: Biden said McCain said he was "surprised" by the subprime mortgage crisis.
The facts: McCain's use of the word "surprised" came in response to a leading question in New Hampshire last December. At the time, he compared it to the dot-com collapse of the late 1990s, adding: "I was surprised at other times in our history. I don't know if surprised is the word." Later in the same interview, he said, "When I say 'surprised,' I'm not surprised when in capitalist systems that there's greed and excess."
Troop funding
The claim: Palin said Obama voted against funding U.S. troops in Iraq.
The facts: Palin's charge is true, but FactCheck.org has said the statement paints "an incomplete picture." Obama voted against troop funding once and said at the time that he wanted to fund the troops, but the bill in question didn't include a requirement that President Bush begin bringing troops home. "Obama cast at least 10 votes for war-funding bills," FactCheck.org says.
roop levels
The claim: Palin said success in Iraq has allowed U.S. military leaders to reduce troops to the level before Bush's "surge" at the beginning of 2007.
The facts: Before the surge, there were about 130,000 troops in Iraq. While plans for troop reductions would get us close to that level, we are not there yet. There are still about 152,000 troops in Iraq.
Diplomacy
The claim: Biden said Obama did not say he would meet with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "This is simply not true about Barack Obama," he said.
The facts: At a news conference in New York City in September 2007, Obama was asked, "Senator, you've said before that you'd meet with President Ahmadinejad … would you still meet with him today?" He replied: "Yeah, nothing's changed with respect to my belief that strong countries and strong presidents talk to their enemies and talk to their adversaries."
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