FACT-CHECKING GOP POLITICIANS IS A REAL CHALLENGE

 

 

Take what the Republican candidates say, subtract 50% and if you’re lucky, you may be close to the truth.

 

OK, I’ve already written the initial article on the first Republican / FOX debate, but I did not fact-check what was presented by the various GOP candidates.

Here’s a small selection of some the Republican candidate’s statements that were fact checked by Politifact, CNN, and Factcheck.org.

Here’s Jeb bush on Florida’s graduation rates when he was Governor:

Bush claimed, “Our graduation rate improved by 50%”

Fact: According to the federal uniform graduation rate calculations however, Florida’s graduation rate increased by about 13% when Bush was governor.

Most of those increases took place after Bush left office in 2007, while the context of Bush’s comments left the impression he was talking about gains made during his time in office.

The US Department of Education’s statistics on average freshman graduation rates for public secondary schools show a more modest gain in graduation rates under Bush, from 61.4% in 1998-1999 to 63.6% in 2005-2006. That’s just under a 4% gain. The 2005-2006 graduation rate ranked Florida 45th out of 50 states

Bush stated that, “Florida’s low-income kids had the greatest gains inside the country. Our graduation rate improved by 50%. That’s what I’m for.”

According to the Florida Department of Education methodology, the Florida graduation rate in 1998-1999 — which takes in Bush’s first year in office — was 60.2%. It went up to 71% in 2005-2006, the last full school year under Bush. That’s only an 18% increase.

Jeb Bush on Florida Taxes:

Per Bush: “I cut taxes ever year totaling $19 billion.”

Fact: A big chunk of that cut came from cuts in Florida estate taxes mandated by federal law that Bush had nothing to do with.  In addition, Martin A. Sullivan, chief economist of Tax Analysts, a tax news nonprofit organization, he did his own analysis and found that state legislation enacted during Bush’s eight years as governor resulted in a total of only $13 billion in tax cuts.

Jeb Bush on Education Spending:

Claim: Bush said that the US spends, “More per student than any country in the world other than a couple rounding errors.”

Fact: Not so.  According to the 2014 “Education at a Glance” report from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, based on 2011 data, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Norway all spent more per student on primary and secondary education than the US..

Donald Trump on his Wealth Claim:

Donald Trump repeated his claim that his net worth is $10 billion.

Fact: Forbes estimated Trump’s net worth at $4 billion, ranking him in the 405th place among its listing of the world’s wealthiest people.  The Federal Election Commission, came up with an even lower Trump estimate of: $2.9 billion. 

Ohio Governor John Kasich on Medicaid Expansion:

Kasich’s claim: “Our Medicaid is growing at one of the lowest rates in the country.”

Fact: Ohio’s Medicaid rolls are 24% higher, compared with ACA monthly enrollment. That puts Ohio 16th in terms of growth among the 30 states and the District of Columbia that have expanded Medicaid.

Ohio is in the middle of the pack, not “one of the lowest rates in the country.”

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s spin on his state’s job growth:

When Governor Walker was asked about failing to keep a campaign promise to create 250,000 jobs in his first term, he responded with: “Before I came in, the unemployment rate was over 8%. It’s now down to 4.6%. We’ve more than made up for the jobs that were lost during the recession.”

The claim that the state “more than made up” for the job losses from the recession is a real stretch. In December 2007, when the recession started, the state had 2,878,000 jobs, and as of June it had 2,882,000 jobs — a net gain of just 4,000 jobs, according to the. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Wisconsin’s rate of 4.6% is just 0.7 points lower than the overall US average at large.

Walker’s other positive claims of his results as the Wisconsin governor are considered a major stretch of the imagination.

Marco Rubio’s Stance on Abortion:

Claim: Florida Senator Marco Rubio said he had never advocated an exception to abortion bans for victims of rape or incest.

Fact: The Senator has cosponsored a bill in 2013 that contained just such exceptions.

Fox News’ Megyn Kelly questioned Rubio by saying he “favored rape and incest exception to abortion bans.” Rubio answered: “I have never said that. I have never advocated that. What I have advocated is that we pass law in this country that says all human life at every stage of its development is worthy of protection.”

No one has been able to find any specific comments the senator has made on this issue.  He was an original co-sponsor of a bill in 2013 that prohibits abortion beyond 20 weeks gestation except in cases where the mother’s life is in danger, and where the pregnancy is the result of rape, or the result of incest against a minor.

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee on his Obamacare Talking Point:

Claim: Mike Huckabee repeated a many years-old Republican talking point in saying that, “Obamacare robbed Medicare of $700 billion.”

This bogus claim has been covered many times, including last May, when Huckabee used the same line in announcing his presidential candidacy. It was also one of the whoppers of the 2012 presidential campaign.

Fact: The ACA (Obamacare) called for reducing the future growth of spending primarily by reducing the growth of payments for the private Medicare Advantage payments. Spending less than had been expected is good for regular Medicare’s finances, as explained before.  It’s been stated that experts question whether some of these cuts will even be implemented. But if they are, regular Medicare, not the private Medicare Advantage, will be able to stretch its revenues for a much longer time than the Medicare benefits would be lasting otherwise.

Mike Huckabbe’s claim is pure B.S., just as his claim against the Iran Nuclear Agreement and his reference to the Holocaust.

As these turkey’s continue to speak in public, I will be writing additional fact-checking articles as the debates go forward.

Copyright G.Ater  2015