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Saturday, October 09, 2004 Fact Sheet: John Kerry's At Least 19 Inaccurate Statements Last Night

1. According To CBS News, Kerry Said "I've Never Changed My Mind About Iraq" But "The Senator May Be The Last Person On Earth Who Believes" That. KERRY: "Let me tell you straight up, I've never changed my mind about Iraq." JIM ACOSTA, CBS CORRESPONDENT: "The Senator may be the last person on Earth who believes he hasn't altered his position on Iraq. Voting to authorize the use of force, then taking a page from Howard Dean saying it was the 'wrong war.'" (CBS' "Early Show," 10/9/04)

2. FactCheck.Org: Kerry's Claim That No Child Left Behind Has Been "Underfunded By $28 Billion" Is "An Opinion And Not A Fact." Under President Bush, Education Funding "Grew A Whopping 58%" And Another 5% Increase Is Proposed For This Year. ("Distortions Galore At Second Presidential Debate," FactCheck.org, 10/9/04, Available At http://www.factcheck.org/article.aspx@docID=275.html, Accessed 10/9/04)

3. Factcheck.Org: Kerry's Claim That President Bush's Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit "Put $139 Billion Of Windfall Profits Into The Pockets Of The Drug Companies, Right Out Of Your Pockets" Is Based "On One Disputed Study By Two Bush Critics Who Once Wrote That His Prescription Drug Bill Is 'Breathtaking In Its Recklessness.'" ("Distortions Galore at Second Presidential Debate," FactCheck.org, 10/9/04, Available At http://www.factcheck.org/article.aspx@docID=275.html, Accessed 10/9/04)

4. Los Angeles Times: Kerry Claim That He Has Accounted For All His Campaign Promises "Is Not Entirely Accurate," As "Some Analysts Say He Is Underestimating The Cost Of His Healthcare Plan" And His Cost Cutting Measures "Are Not Likely To Produce Serious Savings." (Warren Vieth And Janet Hook, "Kerry, Bush Beat Around The Truth In Debate," Los Angeles Times, 10/9/04)

5. According To The Washington Post, Kerry "Stretched The Truth" When Attacking President Bush's Stem Cell Policy. "Kerry stretched the truth when he said that the Bush limits on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research 'makes it impossible for our scientists' to pursue an array of medical cures." (Glenn Kessler And Ceci Connolly, "Plenty Of Flaws Among The Facts," The Washington Post, 10/9/04)

6. According To The Washington Post, Kerry's Claim To Be "Involved In" 1997 Legislation That Extended Medicare's Solvency And Balanced The Budget Is Exaggerated When "In Fact, His Role Was Limited To Voting For The Balanced Budget Amendment That Was Designed To Keep Medicare Afloat Through 2030." (Glenn Kessler And Ceci Connolly, "Plenty Of Flaws Among The Facts," The Washington Post, 10/9/04)

7. Kerry Repeated False Statement That Gen. Shinseki Was Fired:
CNN's Wolf Blitzer: Kerry's Claim About Gen. Shinseki "Not A Correct Claim." (CNN's "Special Post-Debate Wrap-Up," 10/8/04)
CNN's Bill Schneider: Kerry's Claims About General Shinseki Are "Inaccurate. He Served His Full Four-Year Term As Army Chief Of Staff And He Did Not Retire Early." (CNN's "Special Post-Debate Wrap-Up," 10/8/04)
The Baltimore Sun: "But Shinseki Was Not Retired Early And Served Out The Remainder Of His Four-Year Term." (Mark Matthews And Laura Sullivan, "In Volley Of Facts And Figures, Not All Fly," The Baltimore Sun, 10/9/04)

8. FactCheck.Org: Kerry's Claim That "The Economy Has Lost 1.6 Million Jobs Under Bush" Is False Because He Only Counts Private Sector Jobs. When Counting Public Sector Growth, "The Best Current Estimate Is That 585,000 Jobs Have Been Lost Under Bush, About One-Third Of The Number Kerry Stated." ("Distortions Galore At Second Presidential Debate," FactCheck.org, 10/9/04, Available At http://www.factcheck.org/article.aspx@docID=275.html, Accessed 10/9/04)
According To The Associated Press, "John Kerry Cited Job Losses Twice As Bad As The Reality." (Calvin Woodward, "Bush, Kerry Mangle Facts On Taxes, Jobs," The Associated Press, 10/9/04)
According To The Los Angeles Times, Kerry's Job Figure "Reflects Private Sector Employment Only." (Warren Vieth And Janet Hook, "Kerry, Bush Beat Around The Truth In Debate," Los Angeles Times, 10/9/04)

9. FactCheck.Org: "Kerry Closed By Saying 'I Have A Plan To Provide Health Care To All Americans.' He Doesn't. His Plan Would Extend Coverage To Between 24 And 27 Million Americans Who Don't Have It Now, Depending On Which Estimate One Chooses." ("Distortions Galore At Second Presidential Debate," FactCheck.org, 10/9/04, Available At http://www.factcheck.org/article.aspx@docID=275.html, Accessed 10/9/04)

10. According To The Los Angeles Times, Kerry's Attacks On "Sneak And Peek" Search Warrants "Ignored The Fact That They Have Been Used In Criminal Investigations For Many Years, Long Before The Patriot Act Came Along." (Warren Vieth And Janet Hook, "Kerry, Bush Beat Around The Truth In Debate," Los Angeles Times, 10/9/04)

11. According To The New York Times, Kerry's Claim That The Duelfer Report Showed U.N. Sanctions Against Iraq "Worked" Was False Because The "Report Did Not Draw A Firm Conclusion About Whether The Sanctions And Inspections Succeeded In Disarming Iraq" And Even Concluded That Iraq "Managed To Mitigate Many Of The Effects Of Sanctions And Undermine Their International Support." (David E. Rosenbaum, "Different Interpretations On War, Jobs And Health," The New York Times, 10/9/04)
According To The Baltimore Sun, Kerry's Assertion That Sanctions Have Worked Is Undermined By The Duelfer Report Which "Pointed Out That The Sanctions Were Eroding Badly By The Late 1990s." (Mark Matthews And Laura Sullivan, "In Volley Of Facts And Figures, Not All Fly," The Baltimore Sun, 10/9/04)

12. According To The New York Times, Kerry's Accusation That National Guard Mobilizations And Army "Stop Loss" Orders Constitute A "Back-Door Draft" Fails To Take Account That "They Are Within The Military's Discretion Under Contracts With Those Who Voluntarily Joined The Guard, Reserves And Active-Duty Force." (David E. Rosenbaum, "Different Interpretations On War, Jobs And Health," The New York Times, 10/9/04)

13. According To The Associated Press, Kerry Recycled His False Halliburton Attack To Justify His Vote Against The $87 Billion Iraq Supplemental. "Kerry said he ended up voting against $87 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan operations because, in part, 'I didn't want to give a slush fund to Halliburton.' That was an easy shot at Vice President Dick Cheney's former company. But congressional auditors concluded that legal guidelines were followed in awarding Iraq business to Halliburton without competition because it was the only company able to do some of the work." (Calvin Woodward, "Bush, Kerry Mangle Facts On Taxes, Jobs," The Associated Press, 10/9/04)

14. CNN's Fact Check: Claiming That The War Has Cost $200 Billion, "Kerry Once Again Overstates The Cost Of The Iraq War." ("CNN Political Unit Debate Fact Check," CNN.com, Available At http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/10/08/factcheck/index.html, Accessed 10/9/04)

15. According To The Baltimore Sun, Kerry Said President Bush Did Not Enlist Significant Support From North Atlantic Council, Ignoring Fact That The Council Plans "Substantially Enhancing NATO's Assistance To The Iraqi Interim Government." (Mark Matthews And Laura Sullivan, "In Volley Of Facts And Figures, Not All Fly," The Baltimore Sun, 10/9/04)

16. According To The Baltimore Sun, Kerry "Went Too Far" With Claim That "95 Percent Of Our Containers Coming Into This Country Are Not Inspected." The Truth Is That "95 Percent Of Shipping Containers Are Not Hand Searched" But "Have Been Cleared By Port Security Before They Reached U.S. Ports" And "Officials Say 100 Percent Of Containers Deemed 'High Risk,'… Are Hand Searched." (Mark Matthews and Laura Sullivan, "In Volley Of Facts And Figures, Not All Fly," The Baltimore Sun, 10/9/04)

17. According To The Houston Chronicle, Kerry's Claims About Osama Bin Laden At Tora Bora Are Contradicted By Gen. Tommy Franks. "Kerry also revived a claim he has used before: that Bush let Osama bin Laden slip away in Afghanistan by shifting his attention to Iraq. But former Central Command leader Gen. Tommy Franks has said whatever decisions were made in late 2001 about using American troops to trap bin Laden along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, Bush did not order troops shifted to prepare for war in Iraq 15 months later." (Michael Hedges, "Putting Candidates' Lines To The Smell Test," Houston Chronicle, Chron.com, Accessed 10/9/04)

18. Kerry Falsely Asserted That "The Only People Affected" By His Tax Plan Are The "Top Income Earners" When In Fact It Would Severely Hurt Small Businesses. By rolling back the tax cut on those making over $200,000, Kerry would hurt small business owners who pay their taxes at the individual rates. This includes more than 900,000 small business owners who pay in the top two rates. (Sen. John Kerry, Second Presidential Debate, St. Louis, MO, 10/8/04; White House Website, "Economy Shows 12 Straight Months Of Job Gains," http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/economy/index.html, Accessed 9/15/04)

19. Kerry Falsely Stated "Labels Don't Mean Anything" To Him When In Fact He Has Previously Said "I'm A Liberal And Proud Of It." (Sen. John Kerry, Second Presidential Debate, St. Louis, MO, 10/8/04; "Gee, There Were So Many In 1988," St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 7/21/91)



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[Anker-Klanker]

Yeah, but according to the pre-debate ABC memo all those little distortions must be forgiven since they came from the "right" candidate.