Washington Post Fact Checker Exposes Obama State of the Union Whoppers

Once again, the President descended into such an alternate universe during his 24 Jan State of the Union speech that even the Washington Post Fact Checker had to call him out on his exaggerations. Although the liberal WaPo is want to ever criticize a Democrat, even they couldn't let some of these whoppers slide.

Here are some of the passages they took exception to and why but for their entire article, blow up the graphic below and read it for yourself:

“In the six months before I took office, we lost nearly four million jobs. And we lost another four million before our policies were in full effect. Those are the facts. But so are these. In the last 22 months, businesses have created more than three million jobs. Last year, they created the most jobs since 2005. American manufacturers are hiring again, creating jobs for the first time since the late 1990s. Together, we’ve agreed to cut the deficit by more than $2 trillion. And we’ve put in place new rules to hold Wall Street accountable, so a crisis like that never happens again.”

The GOP will point out that Obama has the worst job-creation record of any president since World War II. Although about 4 million jobs were lost at the start of his administration, the nearly $1 trillion stimulus was passed into law in February so the claim of “we lost another four million before our policies were in full effect” is a stretch as it took a full nine months to run up that other 4 million lost jobs, some 8 months after the stimulus was passed into law and 4 months after the official end of the recession (the 4 million lost before Obama took office occurred in the previous 9, not 6 months. Also, note he describes 8 million jobs lost but he only gained 3 million back.

Then Obama took credit for $2 Trillion in deficit reduction without mentioning that Republicans forced him to accept that $2 trillion in budget cuts during the debt-ceiling impasse. Then he brags “we’ve put in place” new rules on Wall Street, glossing over the fact that it had little Republican support and the GOP candidates have all vowed to repeal the Dodd-Frank law.

“We will not go back to an economy weakened by outsourcing, bad debt, and phony financial profits… It’s time to apply the same rules from top to bottom: No bailouts, no handouts, and no copouts.”

Few economists would blame “outsourcing” for the economic crisis; it is also unclear how Obama has eliminated outsourcing during his presidency. “Bad debts” presumably would refer to irresponsible mortgage loans. “Phony financial profits” is also a bit puzzling. Perhaps it was not supposed to make sense.

The same goes for the other catch-phrase, uttered a bit later in the speech. The president, of course, supported massive bailouts before and after he took office, as will be demonstrated by the next quote.

“On the day I took office, our auto industry was on the verge of collapse. Some even said we should let it die. With a million jobs at stake, I refused to let that happen. In exchange for help, we demanded responsibility. We got workers and automakers to settle their differences. We got the industry to retool and restructure. Today, General Motors is back on top as the world’s number one automaker. Chrysler has grown faster in the U.S. than any major car company. Ford is investing billions in U.S. plants and factories. And together, the entire industry added nearly 160,000 jobs.”

Here the president appears to celebrate a bailout, which actually was started under his predecessor George W. Bush. The claim that “some” wanted the auto industry to die is patently false but Romney did advocate a “pre-packaged bankruptcy” that would have produced the same results without massive taxpayer funding, incidentally, Ford did not accept a bailout. About 200,000 auto workers were laid off during the recession, bringing the industry to a low of 550,000 workers.

“Right now, American oil production is the highest that it’s been in eight years. That’s right — eight years. Not only that — last year, we relied less on foreign oil than in any of the past sixteen years.”

The first statement is a great statistic but not especially noteworthy because there has not been much change in the annual barrels produced in the United States since 2003; it essentially has been steady though it may be slightly higher now. As for the second claim, foreign oil imports have declined because of the poor economy and changes in efficiency that began “two years before the 2008 crisis” — long before Obama took office.

“Take the money we’re no longer spending at war, use half of it to pay down our debt, and use the rest to do some nation-building right here at home.”

This is fanciful budget math. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were funded with borrowed money so the US is still running huge deficits, so none of Obama’s “imagined savings” would “pay down the debt” unless we began running a surpluse. Instead, his proposal would continue to add to the debt.

“Right now, because of loopholes and shelters in the tax code, a quarter of all millionaires pay lower tax rates than millions of middle-class households.”

This earned the President 3 Pinocchios in a previous speech but he is still making this bogus claim on a narrow set of facts. Most wealthy people pay a higher tax rate than most less-wealthy Americans, but there are always going to be some exceptions. The CBO found that the average millionaire’s Federal tax rate is about 30%. But about one quarter do pay a rate lower than 10.4 million moderate-income tax payers. Don’t forget 46% of Americans pay NO Federal Income Tax at all!

“That’s why our health care law relies on a reformed private market, not a government program.”

WRONG - half of the 34 million people who will receive Obama-care coverage through Medicaid, a federal-state government program for low-income Americans. The rest of the newly insured might get coverage through private markets.

“Through the power of our diplomacy, a world that was once divided about how to deal with Iran’s nuclear program now stands as one.”

This is a more wishful thinking than reality. The U.N. approved new sanctions and just this week the European Union joined in an Iranian oil embargo but there are other key nations like China have resisted a crackdown on trade with Tehran. There is little evidence that the sanctions have had much effect on Iranian nuclear ambitions.

“Our iron-clad commitment to Israel’s security has meant the closest military cooperation between our two countries in history.”

Obama has had tense relations with Israel’s Prime Minister and the president did not even mention peace with the Palestinians which suggests how much his dream of achieving a peace deal has faded.

“Anyone who tells you otherwise, anyone who tells you that America is in decline or that our influence has waned, doesn’t know what they’re talking about. That’s not the message we get from leaders around the world, all of whom are eager to work with us.”

Both favorability rating and confidence in Obama had fallen sharply since 2009. For example, in Turkey, a NATO ally, for instance, the confidence in Obama fell from 33 percent in 2009 to 11 percent in 2011; in Jordan, another key ally, the favorability rating for the United States fell from 25 percent in 2009 to 13 percent in 2011.

….and now you know the rest of the story!

Worst Commander-in-Chief, Obama or Santorum?

Now that Santorum might become a real contender, I’m not sure what is worse for the Military, the hatchet job Obama is doing to unquestionably the BEST Armed Forces on the planet or what I fear Santorum would do to us based on his past performance. Remember, Santorum was one of only two Senators to vote against Robert Gates to be the Secretary of Defense – arguably the finest SECDEF we’ve ever had. Regardless, there are other Republican candidates that would be much better on National Defense than Rick.

Not withstanding his campaign trail protestations that he is best qualified to be Commander-in-Chief, I see nothing in his Congressional record to support his claim or any Military expertise except being a “backbencher” on the SASC and he certainly never wore a uniform other than boy scouts! As an Old Soldier, I always look behind the scenes to see what people do that affects the Military rather than their “public pronouncements” when I want to know their true feelings about us.

Although Rick has never donned a uniform in defense of his nation, while in both the House and Senate he supported every military intervention that came down the pike which clearly marks him as a consummate “chicken hawk.” Always ready to send your kids into harms way but not himself or anyone related to him.

Probably the best example of Rick looking out for Soldiers happened back in 1998 when he (and Ted Kennedy) tried to screw disabled and disadvantaged retired enlisted service members by trying to sneak a little-noticed amendment into an unrelated bill requiring the Old Soldiers' and Airmen's Home to sell some of its property to the Catholic University of America and only to Catholic University. In other words, there would be no free market bidding.

The Old Soldiers' Home, as it is called, is where enlisted members can retire and get care if they have no other options and it is funded by a small monthly deduction from enlisted pay. The Department of Defense and Congress have refused to raise the deduction amount but the demand has remained steady thus resulting in a large budget deficit.

The Home rests on many undeveloped acres in Washington, DC, so it was decided that it ought to sell some of its property to the highest bidder, in order to raise funds to continue its worthy work. Its Catholic University neighbor had its own designs on the property but did not feel like paying market price so they approached Santorum and Kennedy who eagerly slipped in the amendment forcing the Home to sell to the university at a price about one-third of the appraised value.

Retired soldiers were outraged when they learned what had happened so held a press conference. Once “outted,” neither Santorum nor Kennedy could defended their attempt to screw Old Soldiers to get Catholic University a steal so they were forced to amend the law.

The right result would have been to open the bidding to everyone and to let the Home take the best offer. Instead, Rick forced a bidding process where Catholic University was given the right of first refusal on any "high" bid which seriously depressed the bidding. In the end, Rick, Ted and Catholic University still screwed the Old Soldiers but not nearly as badly as they wanted to!

If Rick were to ever be elected President, which I must admit is highly unlikely; I expect the Military could look forward to this same type of questionable treatment. This is one Old Soldier that hopes that never happens.

Homicides in the District of Columbia, Virginia & Maryland Inversely Related to Ease of Gun Ownership

The 1 January 2012 Washington Post article: As homicides fall in D.C., rise in Prince George’s, numbers meet in the middle by Allison Klein & Matt Zapotosky (http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/as-homicides-fall-in-dc-rise-in-prince-georges-numbers-meet-in-the-middle/2011/12/21/gIQAjopBTP_story.html ) proudly noted that DC Homicides dropped to 109 in 2011 from the previous year total of 132 which was consistent with a similar national trend. The article also noted the homicide statistics for the surrounding Maryland and Virginia DC suburbs but curiously made no attempt to compare the rates among the various jurisdictions.

A cursory analysis of the stats in this article might reveal why the Liberal WaPo didn’t attempt their own analysis --- could it be because it would have clearly demonstrate a dramatically inverse relationship between homicide rates and restrictions on gun ownership. The detailed math is contained in the graphic below but here is the Readers Digest version, using the 2010 population figures from the US Census Bureau and the Stats in this article, DC has 601,723 people and had 109 homicides in 2011 for a rate of 18.1 per 100,000 people. The two Maryland DC-suburbs of Montgomery County and Prince George’s County have 1,835,197 with 113 homicides for the same period for a rate of 6.2 per 100,000. The three Virginia suburbs of Alexandria City, Arlington County and Fairfax County have 1,429,319 people with 9 homicides for a .63 per 100,000 rate.

This reveals that a person would be fortunate to live in Virginia where gun ownership is almost unrestricted because a DC resident, where guns are still almost impossible to own, is almost 29 times more likely to be a homicide victim. Even a Marylander, with moderately strict gun laws, was 3 times less likely to be a homicide victim than a DC resident. Much better than DC but a Marylander is still almost 10 times more likely to be a homicide victim than one of us “gun tottin” Virginians.

Now I’m not opposed to registration and some reasonable limits on ownership such as terrorists, ex-cons and the mentally unstable but there should be no restrictions on ownership by average citizens – anywhere in the US. There is a “God-given” right of self protection, especially in one’s own home, and a gun is the only way to exercise that right. One has to go no further than right here in our own DC-area backyard to clearly demonstrate that contrary to liberal rhetoric, it is an “inconvenient truth” that “guns actually do make us safer.” Case in point, Virginia has by far the laxest gun laws and the least gun violence of any of the surrounding jurisdictions. Additionally, the DC homicide rate has been declining ever since the Supreme Court ordered the loosing of DC gun ownership laws. Is the fact that this dramatic drop coincided with this landmark decision coincidence or might there be a cause-effect relationship? Could it be criminals are not so anxious to murder law abiding citizens if they might be "packing heat?"

The obvious message in these statistics - guns make us more and not less safe!.

While we’re at it, a couple of other interesting (and maybe) inconvenient FACTS:

In any given year in this country there is one child drowning death for every 11,000 residential swimming pools or 550 children under the age of 10 drown every year in our 6 million pools. Meanwhile there is one child killed by a gun for every one million (plus) guns in this country or with about 200 million guns, approximately 175 children under 10 die. This means a child is over 100 times more likely to drown in a pool than be killed by a gun. Hence, banning residential pools is a much more effective way of protecting children than banning fire arms.

In Switzerland, every male adult is issued an assault weapon for militia duty and required to keep it in his home. As a result, Switzerland has the highest per capita rate of guns in homes in the entire World yet is one of the safest places to live. Fire arm deaths in Switzerland is .56/100,000. Compare that to the United States where Assault Weapons are heavily regulated and automatic ones are outlawed and our rate of fire arm deaths is 2.97/100,000 per year. That means an American is 5.3 times more likely to be killed by a gun in the United States than someone in Switzerland where everyone and their brother has an automatic assault weapon. Go figure!

Washington Post Fact Checker Awards Obama 3 Pinocchios for His Kansas City Speech

On 6 December 11, President Obama gave a fairytale of a speech in the Kansas City suburb of Osawatomie, Kansas where he unsuccessfully sought to rebut Republican arguments that he is waging class warfare. Here was the “enduring’ sound bite from the speech that earned the Prez 3 Pinocchios from the Liberal Washington Post Fact Checker:

“I mean, understand, it's not as if we haven't tried this theory. Remember in those years, in 2001 and 2003, Congress passed two of the most expensive tax cuts for the wealthy in history. And what did they get us? The slowest job growth in half a century.” - President Obama – Dec 6, 2011

Granted, this was not up to his 4 Pinocchio standard but here is how the WaPo judged the accuracy of Obama’s facts:

Inserting the words “for the wealthy” was interesting phrasing by the president, since he suggests these tax cuts were intended to only benefit the rich.

The bulk of the 2001 tax cuts were marginal rate cuts, which extended to all taxpayers and the 2003 tax cuts included a reduction in taxes on dividends and capital gains but the 2001 tax cuts also included tax changes that benefited the middle class, such as a reduced marriage penalty and expanded tax credits, along with an instant tax rebate. While benefits also flowed to the wealthy, let’s not forget they still pay 90% Federal income taxes. The WaPo chided Obama for suggesting that the Bush tax cuts were only aimed at the wealthy since that is NOT correct.

To compare tax cuts over the decades, it is best to focus on the size of the tax cut as a percent of national income and under that measure, the John F. Kennedy tax cut of 1964 (-1.90 percent) and the Ronald Reagan tax cut of 1981 (-1.40 percent) were larger than Bush’s 2001 tax cut (-0.80 percent.) but all of Bush’s tax cuts in 2001, 2002, and 2003 combined together would equal –2.00 percent.

The WaPo and said that is a stretch for Obama to blame slow job growth on the tax cuts and that it was silly to directly link the ten-year-old tax cut to today’s job growth. Also, Obama’s claim of the “slowest job growth,” in fact, includes the loss of jobs under his administration. The White House “evidence” for his claim was a New York Times blog report based on Gross Domestic Product data through 2010 which included the first 2 years of Obama’s administration! The White House also cited a Center on American Progress report on job growth through 2007, which showed monthly job growth of 68,000 jobs during the Bush business cycle. But, since the recession ended, job growth has been even more anemic under Obama—just 40,500 jobs a month.

Obama might have inherited a poor economy but blaming poor job growth on the Bush tax cut is bogus when Obama himself pushed through a nearly $1-trillion stimulus and took other actions that have affected the economy – Obama owns this economy for better or for worse!

Then, Obama blames the Bush tax cuts for “massive deficits” but according to the WaPo the biggest contributor was increased spending and incorrect CBO estimates. The Bush and Obama tax cuts were responsible for just 24% of the deficit so it is simply wrong to only blame the Bush tax cuts for the deficits now, especially three years into another presidential term. And what does the White House offer of evidence of their bogus claim? A TV clip off the left-leaning website Think Progress. Gimma a break! An administration official even had to conceded to the WaPo they had no actual data to back up the president’s assertions!

When it comes to taxes, let’s not forget the legendary statement of Judge Learned Hand—as long as it is not illegal, people can try to lower their taxes as much as possible. Over and over again the Courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everyone does it, rich and poor alike and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands.“

The WaPo found the top 400 taxpayers--all billionaires for 2008 paid an average tax of nearly $50 million each!

The Pinocchio Test – What earned the Prez 3 Pinocchios:

The president larded his case with such suspect data that is impossible for him to justify blaming tax cuts for being mostly responsible for today’s slow job growth, especially when he wants to retain a good chunk of those tax cuts. Then to bolster his case about unfairness, the president relied on a suspect statistic about billionaires paying as little as one percent in taxes. Seems the President pulls his “facts” out of thin air and then convinces himself it's the truth.

What’s the difference between President Obama and a used car salesman? The used car salesman normally knows he’s lying!

To see the entire Washington Post Fact Checker article, enlarge the below graphic.

Biden Ties President's Washington Post Four Pinocchios with "Absurd Claimes About rising Rape & Murder Rates"

Appears Joe Biden is trying to upstage his boss by at least tying him for the Washington Post (WaPo) Fact Checker Biggest Whopper Award - FOUR PINOCCHIOS!

Does anyone really believe Joe Biden, the quintessential political idiot, is qualified to be Vice President? Every time Joe speaks, I listen with anxious anticipation confident he will commit some “world-class” gaffs to provide comic relief. He is the reason every American should pray each evening for Obama's good health as he will surely go down in history as the dumbest and most inept vice president of all times; by comparison he makes Bachmann appear cerebral, Palin intellectual, and Dan Quayle absolutely brilliant. I suspect Obama keeps him around partly because it makes him look good by comparison.

Hence, true to form Joe has been telling some real whoppers (in the WaPo's words, not mine)in an effort to sell another failed stimulus package and read this Fact Checker for the details. Click on it a couple of time to enlarge it if you're having trouble reading it.

For a fuller picture of how dumb Old Joe “the Gaff-mister” really is, I have posted a compendium of "Dumb Biden-isms” on my Blog so scroll down a bit because some of them are a real hoot.

ENJOY

Washington Post Fact Checker Award Harry Reid 3 Pinocchios for His False Claim That the GOP Won’t ‘Do Anything That’s Constructive’

Once again even the Liberal Washington Post (WaPo) had to call Senator Harry Reid to task for his 17 Oct bold faced lie falsely accusing Republicans that: “… they don't want to do anything that's constructive.”

It should be noted the Republicans tried to bring the President’s exact Jobs bill as submitted to a Senate vote immediately after he submitted it but Reid used the “nuclear option” to procedurally kill it because he knew it would embarrassingly fail not even getting a majority of Democrats to vote for it. Dems have to run for reelection too! Reid did bring up his modified version of the Obama Bill last week but even that failed to advance to a vote with some Democrats voting against it. Now Senate Democrats plan to bring Obama’s bill up in pieces.

The WaPo Fact Checker examined Reid’s assertion that Republicans in the Senate “don’t want to do anything that’s constructive” and concluded it warranted 3 PINOCCHIOS – just one short of their Max but still a pretty big Whopper!You can read the entire WaPo Fact Checker article by clicking on the below image to enlarge it but here is the “Readers’ Digest” version:

The Facts - The President asked Congress to:
-- Pass trade agreements with South Korea, Panama and Colombia
-- Pass trade adjustment assistance
-- Pass patent reform
-- Pass Federal Aviation Administration authorization
-- Pass an extension of the highway transportation bill.

…and here is what Congress has done:

On 15 Aug Obama said: “You know, trade deals haven’t always been good for America. There have been times where we haven’t gotten a fair deal out of our trade deals. But we’ve put together a package that is going to allow us to start selling some Chevys and some Fords to Korea so that — we don’t mind having Hyundais and Kias here, but we want some ‘Made in America’ stuff in other countries. That’s something that Congress could do right now.”

The trade bills were approved by Congress last week. In fact, Obama hosted the president of South Korea and traveled with him to Michigan, making the case that this bill will mean more American jobs. It should also be noted that these agreements were negotiated by George Bush but Obama did even submit them to Congress until just before they passed. When Obama made his 15 Aug statement, he hadn’t even submitted the legislation to Congress. It should also be noted that Reid opposed the trade deals, believing them to be job-killers.


On 20 Aug Obama pushed for trade adjustment assistance for workers who lost their jobs to free trade: “Let’s pass trade deals to level the playing field for our businesses. . . .These are common-sense ideas – ideas that have been supported by both Democrats and Republicans. The only thing holding them back is politics. The only thing preventing us from passing these bills is the refusal by some in Congress to put country ahead of party. That’s the problem right now. That’s what’s holding this country back. That’s what we have to change.”

That bill passed in September, paving the way for the trade deals.

On 15 Aug Obama demanded action on patent reform: “Patent reform is something that a lot of folks don’t talk about, but our entrepreneurs, when they come up with a good idea, if we could reform how that system works and cut some of the red tape, we could have entrepreneurs creating businesses like Google and Microsoft right now, all across the country. But we’ve got to make this investment, and Congress could make that decision to make it happen.”

The patent bill also passed in September.

On 31 Aug Obama called for a deal to avert another FAA shutdown: “So I’m calling on Congress, as soon as they come back, to pass a clean extension of the surface transportation bill, along with a clean extension of the FAA bill, to give workers and communities across America the confidence that vital construction projects won’t come to a halt.”

An extension of FAA funding through January was passed in September.

On 31 Aug Obama called for a renewal of the transportation bill: “This transportation bill has been renewed seven times in the last two years alone. That’s why my Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood — a Republican — is with me today, along with David Chavern from the Chamber of Commerce, and Rich Trumka of the AFL-CIO — two organizations who don’t always see eye-to-eye on things — because they agree on how important it is for our economy that Congress act now.”

A bill providing for highway funding through March passed in September too.

So what the bottom line that got the Dems the Big 3 Pinocchios?

Reid is being untruthful when he accuses the Republicans of not wanting “to do anything that's constructive.” The fact is that a number of major bills demanded by the president have passed with bipartisan support and several of the elements of the Obama jobs bill have Republican support but the disagreement between the parties is how to pay for it.

Reid may disagree with the GOP stance on tax increases, but it is misleading to suggest that Republicans have blocked legislation of importance to the president.

DNC Chairwoman Rep Wasserman Schultz Falls Short with Only 3 Pinocchios for Her Latest Whopper Accusing Romney of Wanting to Privatize Social Security

Debbie has always had a hard time distinguishing fact from fiction so most people wouldn’t believe anything she says, even under oath, but lately she must be living in an alternative universe.

After consistently achieving Four Pinocchios, the highest rating for lying on the Washington Post (WaPo) Fact Checker scale, I’m sure Debbie will be “throwing the Red Flag” to ask for an official review after only achieving three on the 6 Oct 11 Checker for her falsehood laden 5 Oct rant accusing Romney of wanting to privatize Social Security.

I’m sure she will be redoubling her efforts because she is falling behind her nearest competitor, Nancy Pelosi. Debbie scored a huge FOUR for her 12 June 11 NBC “Meet The Press” appearance where she claimed Obama had created 2.1 million private-sector jobs since he’s been in office when the Facts, according to the WaPo, are he has lost 2.5 Million. According to the WaPo, “Obama is on track to have the worst job record of any U.S. president since World War II. He may even become the first president in the modern era with no net jobs created during his first term — which, by any stretch of the imagination, is a stunning statistic.”

Then her Dem rival Pelosi earned Four Pinocchios on 29 Sep 11 for her “Really BIG” whopper that GW Bush raised the National Debt by 115% while Obama only raised it 16% when The Truth (according to the WaPo) is GW Bush raised it 5.6% while Obama increased it 24.6%. Nancy never has been good at Math… witness the fact she never even bothered to bring up a Budget Bill during her abbreviated House Speakership! But, come-on Debbie, we're rooting for you to maintain your Pinocchio preeminence!

Below is Debbie's Whopper verbatim from the WaPo so read it and see for yourself the lengths Debbie and her minions will go to distort the truth and twist fact. Drill down on it to enlarge it for easier viewing. Also, scroll down below for latest Nancy’s Four Pinocchio effort as well as Debbie’s previous Four Pinocchio “Meet The Press” moment. Thrown in as a Bonus below is President Obama’s 5 Sep Four Pinocchio Whopper for the president’s Detroit Labor Day speech where he made several fallacious assertions, most notably his claim he passed the “biggest middle-class tax cut in history.” The word the WaPo used to describe this claim: “ridiculous!” Click on the actual article below to enlarge it for easy reading if you want the full text.

Turns out the only thing “historic” about Obama’s claim was the audacity it took to make it. As the WaPo put it, “anytime a politician claims he or she has done something historic… that’s usually a dubious claim.” And what exactly was the source for Obama making such an outlandish claim (that incidentally the WaPo proved untrue), a report based on a White House fact sheet. Furthermore, The WaPo states they “found evidence that Obama knew he was saying a whopper” when he made the untrue claim.