President Obama peppered his State of the Union address to Congress and the nation with facts, which were mostly right but sometimes cherry-picked, strained or otherwise misleading. He said “there are about 2 million Americans working right now” because of last year’s stimulus bill. But his own economic advisers say …
Year: 2010
January 28, 2010
The opposition party’s response to the State of the Union address began in 1966 when Republican Sen. Everett Dirksen of Illinois and Republican Rep. Gerald R. Ford of Michigan delivered the rebuttal to President Lyndon Johnson’s speech.
Source: Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House
January 27, 2010
The "State of the Union address" was formally known as the "Annual Message" from 1790 until 1934.
Source: Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House
FactCheck Mailbag, Week of Jan. 19-Jan. 25
This week, readers sent us comments on a recent Supreme Court decision, political corruption and other readers’ comments. In the FactCheck Mailbag, we feature some of the e-mail we receive.
Readers can send comments to editor@factcheck.org. Letters may be edited for length.
School Photo
Here at FactCheck.org, we’ve seen our share of fake photos of President Obama. So we were suspicious when a reader e-mailed us a silly-looking photo of the president speaking in a grade-school classroom with teleprompter, podium and presidential seal. The photo is so silly, in fact, that it was the butt of a late-night comedian’s ridicule. But this picture is real.
The White House video of this event prompted Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart to ask incredulously,
January 26, 2010
Article II, Section 3, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution authorizes the president to deliver information on the "State of the Union" to Congress.
Source: U.S. Constitution
No Trial for Obama
Q: Is federal judge David O. Carter starting a trial on Jan. 26 to determine whether Obama is qualified to be president?
A: No. This is yet another bogus claim circulated by persons who cling to a belief that Obama was not born in the U.S.A. The judge threw the case out of court back in October.
January 25, 2010
On this day in 1890, reporter Nellie Bly greeted a crowd in New York 72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes and 14 seconds after setting sail east to circle the globe.
Source: Library of Congress
January 24, 2010
On this day in 1848, James W. Marshall discovered gold near Coloma, California. The discovery was officially endorsed by President James Polk in December that year, launching the Gold Rush.
Source: Library of Congress
January 23, 2010
The 24th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibited the collection of poll taxes in national elections, was ratified on this day in 1964.
Source: Library of Congress