AP Fact Check: These Are the ‘Weird Claims’ Coming From Democratic & Republican Presidential Candidates
- Posted on March 23, 2012 at 7:09am by
Billy Hallowell
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The following is a “fact-check” piece from The Associated Press. It was not conducted by The Blaze. Weigh in with your thoughts in the comments.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Silly-season pollen seems to have infected the campaign trail.
On the Democratic side, the excitable Vice President Joe Biden made the jaw-dropping claim that the raid that killed Osama bin Laden was unsurpassed in its audacity by anything that has happened since the 16th century – that’s right, for 500 years.
Among Republicans, a punchy Rick Santorum declared that President Barack Obama’s health care law makes the life of every single American dependent on the government.
Seriously?
However far-reaching, the law is neither life-giving, nor health-destroying, and most Americans probably won’t feel a thing.
Mitt Romney, for his part, continued to blame Obama for banning old-fashioned light bulbs even after it was pointed out that Republican George W. Bush was the president who made the decision crowding those energy-wasters from the market. That was somewhat audacious, although not in the ballpark of the night-time raid on the lair of bin Laden.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney greets supporters at his election night party in Boston, March 6, 2012. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Then again, nothing is in that ballpark, as Biden sees it.
A sampling of weird claims lately from the Republican presidential nomination race and the awakening Democratic campaign to re-elect Obama:
—
BIDEN on the bin Laden raid: “You can go back 500 years. You cannot find a more audacious plan. Never knowing for certain. We never had more than a 48 percent probability that he was there.” – At a Morris Township, N.J., Democratic fundraiser Monday.
THE FACTS: Pick your audacity for the ages. A partial list of awfully bold and odds-defying plans of the last 500 years to stack beside the bin Laden raid for comparison:
-George Washington’s nighttime crossing of the Delaware in December 1776, capturing 1,000 prisoners with fewer than a dozen casualties in his own army, in a watershed for the American Revolution.
-Any number of daring feints and bloody raids of the Civil War.
-Dec. 7, 1941, the sneak assault on Pearl Harbor by more than 350 Japanese planes that killed more than 2,400 people, decimated the Pacific Fleet and drew the U.S. into war.
-June 6, 1944, D-Day, the surprise landing of 160,000 Allied troops on the massively fortified shores of Normandy, France, supported by 5,000 ships and 13,000 aircraft – a “nothing less than full victory” gambit that unleashed armies on a march across Europe to crush Nazi Germany.
-The Sept. 11, 2001, destruction of the World Trade Center, damaging of the Pentagon, downing of four airliners and deaths of nearly 3,000 people, at the hands of hijackers with knives, set loose by bin Laden’s al-Qaida.
Biden’s remark has prompted a U.S. Naval Institute blog to build a list of 500 audacious acts over 500 years – many with a seafaring flavor, given the contributors. Astonishing acts of courage, or foolishness, are recounted, some lost to the memory of all but the most ardent history buffs: British sailors paddling canoes into a Norwegian fjord to attach mines to the German battleship Tirpitz was one.
In 1519, the Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortez personified the audacity of hope when, after landing his men on the shores of Mexico, he ordered his ships burned, beached or scuttled so there could be no turning back. His invaders pressed on to defeat the Aztec empire.
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SANTORUM: “After and if Obamacare is implemented, every single American will depend upon the federal government for something that is critical, their health and their life.” – Pennsylvania speech Tuesday night after losing the Illinois primary.
THE FACTS: Except for Santorum‘s point that people’s lives are critical to them, the statement is problematic. The health care law sets up no new dependency on the government. To be sure, the law provides federal aid so more than 30 million uninsured can get coverage. But that doesn’t equate to dependence, any more than tax breaks for home ownership or getting a college education do. Most Americans will continue to get their insurance through their employer. They might or might not find their insurance cheaper, depending on whether the law succeeds in curbing costs, but they are not becoming wards of the state. Older Americans already depend on the government for Medicare, as they have for nearly a half-century.
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ROMNEY: “And the government would have banned Thomas Edison’s light bulb. Oh, that’s right. They just did.” – Speaking about the Obama administration strangling innovators Tuesday night after winning the Illinois primary.
THE FACTS: In 2007, Bush signed the law requiring bulbs to use less electricity, an act for which Romney blames Obama. The standards do not ban the traditional incandescent bulb but require a higher level of efficiency than the old generation of them can achieve, making them passé to produce anymore when far more efficient alternatives are available.
The law only became contentious after its enactment, as some conservatives seized on it as an example of overreaching government. At the time, the legislation was passed with bipartisan support and enacted with praise by the Republican president.
In an economic speech Monday, Romney explicitly accused “Obama’s regulators” of banning the bulb. The Washington Post called him on it.
On Tuesday night, Romney still unmistakably cast Obama as the bad guy in asserting that the government “just did” ban the bulb and in saying that pioneers such as Edison and the Wright Brothers would have had a hard time inventing “under Barack Obama.”
Last year, four of Edison’s descendants endorsed the new standards and said the great inventor would have been opposed to politicians trying to hang on to an outdated light bulb.
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Comments (51)
ChevalierdeJohnstone
Posted on March 24, 2012 at 4:58pmHm. So the AP completely misrepresents the facts regarding the legal realities of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Typical of those who thought we should “pass the bill to find out what’s in it” – and still haven‘t found out what’s in it.
Sounds like Santorum is 100% correct, Biden and Romney both 100% wrong. Go figure.
Report Post »lordjosh
Posted on March 24, 2012 at 8:47pm“[The healthcare law] doesn’t equate to dependence, any more than tax breaks for home ownership or getting a college education do”.
Umm?
Report Post »wntsmallgov
Posted on March 24, 2012 at 11:27pmJosh,
Report Post »The only Lord I have is Jesus. I refuse to call anyone else by that title. As well as it is made illegal by the Constitution of the United States to have a person as a lord. The person I rent from is the land owner.
Getting back to the idea that it is ok for the government to tell me what I should pay for. The government is overstepping its powers as stated in the Constitution. This is the first step to bring it back under control. Last poll I saw is that about 75% of the people want the bill repealed. Hmmm to me that is majority rule and then it should be repealed by each state voting on it.
Remnant
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 2:01pmAP needs to fact check thisaudacious claim about Obama’s health care law :”…the law is neither life-giving, nor health-destroying, and most Americans probably won’t feel a thing.”
Wow!
Report Post »MarsBarsTru7
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 12:34pmGee, I couldn’t tell if I was reading an article off CNN, MSNBC, HuffPo, or The Blaze. Congrats Blaze on the *nonpartisan* article.
Excuse me while I puke.
Report Post »REALID 239823749828-HIF
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 2:10pmYou should try actually reading the article before you complain about reading it. The FIRST sentence says, in bold and italics no less:
“The following is a “fact-check” piece from The Associated Press. It was not conducted by The Blaze. Weigh in with your thoughts in the comments.”
In other words, the entire article was copy and paste from the AP…
Report Post »MarsBarsTru7
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 2:24pmYeah… Funny thing is I didn’t miss that. Knowing The Blaze, the vast majority of their news articles are taken from other news sources… No problem. That’s what the majority of news companies do… Someone always gets to the story first. Others share.
It‘s the quality and nature of the content that I’m taking issue with.
But, let me understand your logic… The Blaze can upload any slanted story they want, and as long as it was lifted from another news source The Blaze is free from any responsibility for the content of the article. I got ya. So, if your child sees someone else write something like, “Sallie is a slut. For a good time call Sallie at 555-555-5555″ it’s alright for them to write it themselves and pass it around because they saw someone else write it first. Have fun with that.
Report Post »REALID 239823749828-HIF
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 2:44pmIf what you just said is indeed true, then you’ve missed the entire point that the poster was trying to make. Given that “fact check” is in quotes in the first sentence of the article, which is the only portion written by personnel from The Blaze, it seems to me that the intention of posting the article was to convey the absurdity of the article claiming to contain actual facts.
Report Post »ChevalierdeJohnstone
Posted on March 24, 2012 at 5:03pmMarsBarstru7 appears ignorant of the salient fact that every major news publishing agency sources some content from wire services; the Blaze is one of the few which clearly acknowledges such sources when they do use outside content.
Why do Trolls bother posting here? Is there some sense of personal frustration which is ameliorated by making comments which are ignorant of basic factual realities?
Report Post »ollie42
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 12:24pmWhere is the story about Santorum saying that Obama is better than Romney. Such a stupid comment should be top billing. Dumbest political comment in 500 years to quote the Vice President.
Report Post »Ron
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 12:06pmRomney is 100% factual on lightbulbs. He said “the government” not Obama just banned lightbulbs which is exactly what just happened. One could argue that he did not go on to explain the specifics along with dates, Bush’s signing, partisan vote break-down, amendments, sponsors, caveats, signing statements, exemptions, and…well you get the idea. But, his point was about government overreach, and he made it using facts.
Report Post »Duddio
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 1:13pmThank you! He didn’t say Obama, he said the government.
And I take issue with the claim that the light bulb ban only became contentious after it was implemented, I was outraged in 2007! I wrote my senators and my congressmen to protest, because it’s ridiculous. As a matter of fact, I read and wrote quite a bit about it before it was ever implemented. There were a lot of us pissed off about it when it was first proposed, but, I always forget, that history doesn’t matter with the MSM
AP fact checks need to check their facts…..
Report Post »rfycom
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 11:13amThis is a Christian thing. Lies. It is ok to lie to get what you want because God will forgive you. Just ask him. Is it opinion or lie?. What if your opinion is based on lies. People believe sounds bites.
Report Post »skiz
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 11:52amAn opinion is not a lie. It is what you believe to be true.
Report Post »baptist_deacon
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 9:35amUnfortunately, we can no longer trust “fact check” articles to be honest. First, in the case of the Biden and Santorum comments, these guys were expressing opinions, not facts. It is wrong to “fact check” and opinion. You may think these opinions are stupid, but treating them as facts is unfair to Biden and Santorum and in the end, you are just deceiving your readers. In the case of the Romney comment, they actually use a logical fallacy. It is not correct to assume that just because Bush supported the ban of the incandescent bulb, doesn’t mean that Romney is wrong to say that it is an example of government overreach. You should never use a logical fallacy to “fact check” someone. In the case the AP reported is just expressing their opinion about these comments, and really isn’t “fact checking” at all.
Report Post »HorseCrazy
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 9:55ammy thoughts exactly. isnt it amazing they didn’t fact check the president with all is claims lately but instead chose Joe the clown? seriously the AP’s bias is showing
Report Post »smcdaniel
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 10:50amAfter vetting these opinions, maybe they can vet the PRESIDENT… Ooops, Aint gonna happen..
Report Post »YtownSports
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 4:37pmIf you express an opinion as a fact, it should be subject to scrutiny. Something like Biden’s hyperbole is opinion which should be open to criticism or comparative analysis. Sort of like me saying that Biden’s comment “was the most audacious ever uttered by a sitting Vice-President.”
Report Post »skiz
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 8:57am“However far-reaching, the law is neither life-giving, nor health-destroying, and most Americans probably won’t feel a thing”. WRONG! Not feeling a thing is not the point. The TRUTH is… the mandate in the health care bill in not contitutional (period). But that still is not the MAIN problem. It does mean the GOVERNMENT can tell you and your doctor what is best for you. That should be up to you and your doctor only. When a panel, and there will be panels, of bureacrates decide whether or not you get a procedure done is in fact making a decision on your life and your health.
Report Post »AP (absolutely pathetic)!!!!!
USPATRIOT101
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 9:22amWell put, the author of this piece is an a$$.
Report Post »HorseCrazy
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 9:56amand to add to what you said even those who keep their health insurance will have their taxes jacked up to pay for everyone else’s. oh we are all going to feel the pain
Report Post »smcdaniel
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 10:56amAfter 13 years with the same company I was laid off (along with 60 others). The CEO came to my office and told me straight up it was because of Obamacare. They could see the costs on the horizon and had to be proactive. Anyone that tries to refute this is a fool. I had been working with my CEO at various jobs for 20 years. We are still friends.Two months later another 70 people were laid off for the same reason.
Report Post »Anyone who thinks Obama has helped the economy is an idiot and wears a propellor beanie and eats their own buggers.
Female
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 11:21amOur family felt it immediately, when our coverage was changed immediately from 80/20 no deductable to $2,000 per person and $5,000 deductable for family, then insurance 90/10 for the same price plus they dropped some dermatoligist and other coverage entirely……
SANTORO is correct! It already effects coverage, personal costs, salaries, and hiring. Some effects have already taken place and some will occur in the future like increases, changing over to government plans due to unaffordability, reproductive rights, 2 births per family (woman), mandatory sterilization, and then death panels.
Biden is …….. and a …….! Most likely the plan has been in place for years under Bush and was shelved until Bin laden’s popularity amongst the radicals died down to a who really cares if the old guy is dead? Then for the paranoid conspiracy theorist, this administration says he is dead and they got him but is that really the truth? NO BODY because they threw him to the fishes, right? (Personally, would have buried him with the swine or ground full of dead harlot Israels (females).) Did Bush get him years ago and didn’t want to declare it for national security? Don’t these radicals like to have body doubles? If one of these things happened, then, Mr Biden, I might agree with you?
Obama HAS done some very audacious things in office resulting in unbelievable “change”, this just wasn’t one of them.
Report Post »Cymry
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 8:56amafter rick’s comment that we might as well elect barry if romney gets the nomination (which reeks of desperation), i’m now supporting romney. it’s not a lesser of two evils, it’s a matter of evil versus not evil. i still wish Rand Paul or Paul Ryan would get into the game.
Report Post »Cymry
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 10:12amok, i take it back. knee-jerk reaction. every candidate has their “*****” moments and this is one of rick’s.
Santorum 2012.
Report Post »soybomb315
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 10:51amromney has sure had some
Report Post »quiltgal
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 8:54amWhere are the outrageously inaccurate “facts” presidential candidate Barack Obama has given us lately, such as how much oil the U.S. has versus how much oil it uses, or how many jobs his green energy subsidies have created?
Report Post »LOJ
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 8:54amQuite honestly, I think Romney is more of the same kind of politicians that we keep electing that disappoint us. There may be buyers remorse again if he changes his mind on the issues like he has so many times in the past.
Report Post »GERATMO
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 8:51amNotice how the AP never says a thing about Obama and his outlandish lies? AP does not fact check, they are an opinion piece for the main stream Obama media.
Report Post »13th Imam
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 8:47amWho fact checks the AP?? Media Splatters?
Report Post »13th Generation American
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 8:51amHistory and their Editor In Chief’s you know, people with integrity.
Report Post »13th Generation American
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 8:43amWhy is the Blaze all of the sudden printing the Truth? Is it because there is an election with debates coming up and facts have a way of becoming known to people?
Report Post »Sol Invictus
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 9:18amI hope you’re wrong. It will be no fun coming here if all you get are facts and sensible comments. So Biden, Santorum and Romney talk bull****. That’s not news – any more than the fact that most Blazers talk the same language.
Report Post »LIBSALWAYSLIE
Posted on March 24, 2012 at 3:21pm13GENERAT, Liberals like you are disgusting. You’re a typical liberal, always wrong and never knowing it. You are so stupid you cant realize how ignorant you are.
Report Post »David, the Constitutional Libertarian
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 8:30amLike I would give the AP any credence whatsoever!
Geez!
The US and the world is at the cusp, what are we going to do with the psychos in our midst? Remember the last time the National Socialists joined with the Muslim hoarde?
Report Post »progressiveslayer
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 8:41amIndeed I do David,a holocaust ensued killing millions and you’re right we are on the cusp and sadly history will repeat itself.I heard a few days ago that Jews were being advised it isn’t safe for them to be in France,sound familiar?
Report Post »love1another
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 8:24amThis isn’t news.
Report Post »gingacola
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 8:23amFor Once Blaze, I Agree with your story. Thanks For being Neutral and Honest.
Report Post »Herokidstar
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 8:22amNotice that the artical sites “sampling of weird claims”on both sides but only lists one of the gafts of the vice pres and two of the people that campaining for the office of Pres. As if the Current office holder hasn’t made any questionalble statements, only the people around him and those running aginst him.
Report Post »Even when trying to be unbias AP fails.
quiltgal
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 8:12am“Older Americans ALREADY DEPEND on the government for Medicare, as they have for nearly a half-century.” (EMPHASIS MINE). The writer negates his own argument in the last sentence. While the writer of this piece may have a good handle on Joe Biden’s ignorance of history, he has no insight into his own ignorance about Obamacare.
Report Post »Classical Liberal
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 7:55amWhy the hell did the blaze publish this?
Yeah these politicians are morons, but what the hell is the point here?
The government banning lightbulbs is a huge problem. If the newer more efficient bulbs are so damned good, people will buy them without being strong-armed by the government, an having the old product that no one had any complaints about forcibly removed from the market.
Seriously blaze, WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU? Are you broken or something?
Report Post »soybomb315
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 7:43amLMAO – the article says it all. Would you rather fight obama over obamacare or….light bulbs
Romney wants to keep the tax code progressive – DISQUALIFIED
Report Post »http://cnsnews.com/news/article/romney-taxes-i-want-make-sure-we-maintain-progressivity-code
progressiveslayer
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 8:34amSpeaking of the tax code,Mr.Benson knows more about the origins of the 16th amendment than anyone in government.It’s his contention through years of research that the 16th amendment was never properly ratified meaning there is no law that gives congress authority to levy an income tax.
I’ts an interesting read. http://thelawthatneverwas.com/
Report Post »HuckleberryFriend
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 7:32amBiased and partisan article is biased and partisan.
Report Post »I_Drink_Your_Milkshake
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 8:07amexactly.
Report Post »the comparison of the mortage tax credit to O-care, slavery of different form.
They probably said the same thing about Medicare when it was enacted, now you have videos of grandma being pushed off a cliff.
Ask any homeowner with a mortgage if they want there interest deduction taken away by one political party.
They may not have physical gun to anyones head in the voting booth, but just look what happens when Ryan puts out a budget that actually addresses entitlements
soybomb315
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 8:31amRyans budget barely cuts anything and balances the budget in like 15 years (assuming no more recessions). As weak as the Ryan budget is – republicans still have a hard time going along with it, just ask newt gingrich (right wing social engineering?). The leadership in the house and senate is too weak for the Ryan budget to even be considered
People like Rand Paul are on the right track with their balanced budget ammendments. The sad thing is, the republican nonimee will likely be very moderate and the budget will never be reigned in
Report Post »ColoradoMaverick
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 7:25amAP & Fact Check should never be used in the same sentence.
Report Post »CatB
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 11:33am“Among Republicans, a punchy Rick Santorum declared that President Barack Obama’s health care law makes the life of every single American dependent on the government”
I think that is pretty accurate … death panels (yes they are in there) rising insurance rates (priceing people into the government plans) … yes they will control our lives! Including what you can and can’t eat ..
Report Post »RobMac68
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 7:22amMaybe the AP likes scary claims over weird ones. Nothing scarier than claiming to want to “fundamentally transform America”.
Report Post »blanco5
Posted on March 23, 2012 at 7:16amJust about EVERYTHING that comes out of prez islama’s mouth, but there’s just not enough time to fact check and correct it all here.
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