If Donald Trump worked for us, we’d have to say: “Donald, you’re fired — for incompetence.” The successful developer and TV celebrity says he’d make a good president, and maybe he would — we take no stand either way about that. But when it comes to getting facts straight …
Year: 2011
April 8: Medicare, Social Security, Abortion
Dems, GOP Fight Over Homeless Vets
In the fog of a historic budget battle, Democrats are exaggerating the impact of proposed GOP cuts on homeless military veterans. A GOP budget bill approved by the House in February would not fund 10,000 new housing vouchers for homeless veterans this fiscal …
FactCheck Mailbag, Week of March 29-April 4
This week, readers sent us comments about the Wisconsin budget battle and our scrutiny of Republicans and Democrats.
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.
Premium Nonsense On Medicare
Q: Will the new health care law raise Medicare’s basic monthly premium to $247 in 2014, as a viral message claims?
A: No, Medicare officials project the basic premium will be less than half that. But the law will eventually cause 14 percent of seniors with incomes over $85,000 a year ($170,000 for couples) to pay higher “income-related” premiums, up from 5 percent currently.
April 1: The ‘RomneyCare’ Edition
Santorum Wrong on Abortion, Birth Facts
Rick Santorum incorrectly stated that “one in three pregnancies end in abortion” in the United States. It’s actually fewer than one in four.
Santorum appeared on a New Hampshire radio talk show, blaming abortions for “causing Social Security and Medicare to be underfunded.” But he not only misstated the abortion statistic, he also got it wrong when he said that “our birthrate is now below replacement rate for the first time in our history.” The total fertility rate,
GOP Exaggerations in Iowa
Several Republicans testing the presidential waters in Iowa made more than a few statements that we found all wet. Among the dubious claims …
Stockman’s Fiery Rhetoric
David Stockman claims that discretionary spending is "out of control." But it’s up just 1.6 percent this year.
The former Reagan administration budget director caught our attention with an incendiary quote to The Fiscal Times news site, where he urged fellow Republicans to shut down the government if necessary to achieve spending reductions:
David Stockman: It’s time for the Republicans to man-up and let it burn! Discretionary spending is out of control, and if the GOP doesn’t force a big roll-back,
Obama on War, Then and Now
President Barack Obama stuck to the facts in his speech on Libya, but as others have pointed out, he has flip-flopped on the fundamental question of whether he needed congressional approval for military intervention.
Also, Obama sought in his address to minimize the military costs to the United States by saying NATO will now take the lead. But the fact is that the United States pays the largest share of NATO’s budget — one of a couple of key omissions by the president.