Once again, the Sunday talk shows produced more than a few misstatements. Among the topics of misinformation: The Gulf of Mexico oil spill, border security, the popularity of the Republican Party, and U.N. sanctions against Iran. Here’s what we found.
Oil Industry Official or Bureaucrat?
Carly Fiorina, the Republican nominee for Senate in California, and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a vice chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, disagreed over the background of the former head of the Minerals Management Service.
Issues: oil spill
Oil Spill, Carly Fiorina and Chris Dodd
In episode 15 of FactCheck Radio, we look at misleading statements about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, a phony quote attributed to Sen. Chris Dodd, and Carly Fiorina’s charge that Barbara Boxer cares more about the weather than terrorism. And we answer the all-important question: Was that Barack Obama in a 1993 rap video?
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For more on the stories discussed in this episode,
Sunday Replay
This Sunday’s round of political talk shows left a few misimpressions, among them the notion that nothing like the BP blowout had happened before. We clear up the confusion.
Barbour on Blowouts
Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour told "Fox News Sunday" viewers that the BP oil spill is the first time that "anything like this" has happened. Actually, a similar offshore blowout occurred in 1979, gushing thousands of barrels of crude oil per day into the Gulf of Mexico,
Sunday Replay
Did someone in the White House commit a federal misdemeanor by getting involved in the Pennsylvania Democratic primary? A leading Republican House member says yes, but he’s contradicted by a former U.S. attorney general from the Bush administration.
That’s our first subject in this holiday-delayed issue of "Sunday Replay," where we regularly dissect factual claims made on weekend public affairs shows. We also fact-checked a few statements about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
Phony ‘Big Oil Bailout’ Claims
In a highly competitive race for an open U.S. Senate seat in Missouri, Secretary of State Robin Carnahan accuses Republican Rep. Roy Blunt of supporting a “Big Oil bailout” and sticking the taxpayers with the cleanup costs. We find the charges to be false.
Obama Says Gulf Beaches ‘Clean.’ Really?
In his May 27 press conference on the oil spill, President Barack Obama declared Gulf Coast beaches safe and encouraged Americans to visit them. “Except for three beaches in Louisiana, all of the Gulf’s beaches are open, they are safe and they are clean,” he said. But it depends on your definition of “safe” and “clean,” and you had better hurry up, because the coast states are bracing for more closures.
Alabama hasn’t closed any beaches,