On Demand
Fact Check
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Politifact's Bill Adair, the weekly guest until Election Day, brings his Truth-O-Meter to fact-check some recent campaign claims.
- About the Brian Lehrer Show »
- Staff Bios »
- Contact Us »
- Tapes and Transcripts »
- Latest Episode »
- Show Archive »
Features & Series
Podcast
Stay up to date.
Subscribe to the Podcast
YOU PRODUCE The Brian Lehrer Show
Be a listener-producer with facts, questions and people you'd like to hear on the air.
More
The Brian Lehrer Show Scrapbook
Visit the scrapbook for daily photos and miscellany from The Brian Lehrer Show.
More
Shop at Amazon!
The Brian Lehrer Show picks
Start your Amazon shopping on WNYC.org and a portion of your total purchase goes to WNYC.
More
Comments
Refresh
Please fact check if it is true that Cindy McCainn is giving Sarah Palin money to buy clothes to fit the "image" of the designer clothes.
PLEASE address...
The scale of "pants on fire" to "true" only represents relative truthfulness. We also MUST way a quality that represents the severity and ramifications of the lies.
Several weekws ago, on your show, Bill took my call about a comment McCain made in the town hall debate. McCain said that some of the money in the bailour package went too terrorist organizations. I called to ask if Bill Adair knew whwat that statement was about. Adair said he didn't, but what find out.
I'm still waiting for his answer.
SHARING the wealth is socialism.
Spreading the wealth is the goal of capitalism.
Hopes to own a plumbing business "someday"? Yeah after you pay your tax lien!
Say it again please, TRUE, now mccain and supporters can stop using this as a drowning campaingn tactic!
I thought the initial problem with Obama's answer that he would meet with leaders of certain countries was that he made no mention of prior contacts by the diplomatic people of the US and those countries.
IIRC, Hillary brought up this little detail.
Since then, Obama has indeed said, of course, he really meant there would be meetings, negotiations with lower members of an Obama administration prior to his actually meeting with a leader of one of thoe countries.
Am I wrong? Is Obama now saying he will meet without any prior meetings? I know he says he won't impose "prior conditions."
It bothers me that his guest doesn't add some of the details which actually do make a difference. His eliding these details certainly allows pols and their supporters to similarly make statement without *important* details.
No?
Obama Tax Breaks
How can you rate the truth of this statement if you don't know the definition of "makes $250,00."
Owner's compensation?
Retained earnings used to expand the company or service the debt?
This guy doesn't know what he is talking about.
I can't believe what I am hearing, the clip on Meeting with Leaders is clearly in contradiction to the 'verdict' - Fact 1 N. Korea only just recently was removed from the terrorist list and Fact 2 The Obama statement was made while it was in effect. How is that not meting with a Terrorist leader?
Like so much of the explosion of 'fact checking' this cycle it has become just another MSM bias tool - Yes Mr Bill Adair you are a discredited tool.
I've seen the clip with Joe the Plumber a couple of times. I would say that Obama's reply was way too wonky. The more he tried to explain it, the more you could see Joe's eye's glaze over. He had no idea what Obama was talking about. Obama should have a short answer for this question.
Okay so now you can't be a fan of more than one sports team?? You are so a Republican Brian!
Palin pandered to 3 diff baseball teams in recent weeks!!
So, you're playing this silly horse-race baseball fluff with Obama. Going to do the same with Palin as the Daily Show did?
Can't find any flip flopping, so you we will go to baseball? jeez can't wait until 11/5/08!
Oh for Pete's sake -- who care about baseball. Of course he's going to say nice things about each team in their home city or state. Palin did the same thing. OK, this was the funny part of the segment. But really so what.
what is the point of the baseball segment? that was soo hackie brian.
Brian, to be exact on the RAYS COMMENT by obama. In the clip he is introducing the players from the Rays on the stage. One could assume he meant "giving some love to The Rays" in a subjective way. When I first saw it on news this is what I thought.
Re: McCain ad with "welfare" vs "hard-working":
Mr. Adair did speak to issues of fact. BUT:
I feel he overlooked the more explosive issue of innuendo.
"Hard-working" has come to be considered a code word for "white," while "welfare" is generally considered a code word for "black." Thus, this ad's real job was to say "He's going to take money away from whites like you, and give it to blacks like him."
I am glad Mr. Adair has avoided, as he said, the trap of false equalities; but I really wish he -- or you -- would find a way to address this inflammatory kind of "dog whistle" rhetoric.
I think everyone is missing a key point about taxes when talking about "Joe the Plumber" and Obama's tax plan.
If someone were to, say, make $250,001 that does NOT mean all of that money will now be taxed at a higher percentage. It does mean that 250,000 will be taxed at the lower percentage and the extra $1.00 will be taxed at the higher percentage. I think people have this impression that if they get pushed into a higher tax bracket they will be taxed more on all of their money. Our tax system simply does not work that way.
Obama actually explained this to Joe the Plumber in the same conversation where he made his "spread the money around" gaff, but it usually is edited out in the sound bites.
This morning, I was walking from Dishes to my office building on 53rd and Park, carrying my scrambled eggs and hot coffe, when a woman who had apparently noticed my two (small, discreet) Obama buttons, jumped in front of me and yelled "McCain!" She wasn't a homeless person, either (and what rational homeless person would be supporting McCain?), but rather a normal-looking person who just seemed really, really pissed.
Taken aback but recovering fast, I said, "Obama is going to win," whereupon the woman shouted "McCain! McCain! and ran away.
The McCain supporters have apparently all gone nuts, and it's still almost two weeks till the election. What will happen at the polls?
Anne re: money to terrorist organizations.
McCain was actually referring to money we spend on oil going to "countries that don't like us very much." Unfortunately, he also referred to that as "700 billion," so many watching - myself included - thought he was talking about the bailout package. But he was actually talking about the 700billion we spend on oil imports being a national security issue, a long-time talking point of his.
Unfortunately, during the debate, there were lots of 700 billions being thrown about, and McCain wasn't very clear to which one he was referring. Hope this helps!
Baseball Pandering on Jon Stewart show:
"You've got to get up pretty early in the morning to sneak a sports flip-flop past the McCain-Palin team."
Watch this clip until the end when Palin gets the hatrick with 3 panders in 3 different towns!
Your fact-checker totally missed her once again doing what McCain faults Obama for doing, and also as usual doing it more!
Leave a Comment
Please stay on topic, be civil, and be brief.
Back to EpisodeEmail addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. Names are displayed with all comments. WNYC reserves the right to edit any comments posted on this site. Please read the WNYC.org Comment Guidelines before posting.