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2012
Presidential Debate
Fact-checking
Tuesday night's melee
Written by Calvin Woodward & Tom Raum, Associated Press
Oct 17, 2012
Editor's note:
There are a number of fact check articles on the Internet. This is just
one.
Mitt Romney wrongly claimed that it took 14 days for President Barack
Obama to brand the assault on the U.S. Consulate in Libya a terrorist
act. Obama yet again claimed that ending the Afghanistan and Iraq wars
makes money available to "rebuild America," even though it doesn't.
A look at some of their claims:
OBAMA: The day after last month's attack on the U.S. Consulate in
Benghazi, Libya, "I stood in the Rose Garden and I told the American
people and the world that we are going to find out exactly what
happened. That this was an act of terror and I also said that we're
going to hunt down those who committed this crime."
ROMNEY: "I want to make sure we get that for the record, because it
took the president 14 days before he called the attack in Benghazi an
act of terror."
OBAMA: "Get the transcript."
THE FACTS: Obama is correct in saying that he referred to Benghazi as
an act of terrorism on Sept. 12, the day after the attack. From the
Rose Garden, he said: "No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of
this great nation, alter that character, or eclipse the light of the
values that we stand for. ... We will not waver in our commitment to
see that justice is done for this terrible act."
But others in his administration repeated for several days its belief
that the violence stemmed from protests over an American-made video
ridiculing Islam. It took almost a month before officials acknowledged
that those protests never occurred. And Romney is right in arguing that
the administration has yet to explain why it took so long for that
correction to be made or how it came to believe that the attack evolved
from an angry demonstration.
***
OBAMA: "Let's take the money that we've been spending on war over the
last decade to rebuild America, roads, bridges, schools. We do those
things, not only is your future going to be bright, but America's
future is going to be bright as well."
THE FACTS: What Obama didn't mention is that much of the money that has
been paying for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was borrowed. In fact,
the government borrows nearly 40 cents for every dollar it spends.
Thus, using money that had been earmarked for wars to build schools and
infrastructure would involve even more borrowing, adding to the federal
deficit.
***
ROMNEY: "As a matter of fact, oil production is down 14 percent this
year on federal land, and gas production was down 9 percent. Why?
Because the president cut in half the number of licenses and permits
for drilling on federal lands and in federal waters."
OBAMA: "Very little of what Governor Romney just said is true. We've
opened up public lands. We're actually drilling more on public lands
than in the previous administration and my — the previous president was
an oilman."
THE FACTS: Both statements ring true, as far as they go. Obama more
correctly describes the bigger picture...
Read the rest of the article at the Courier-Journal
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