Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Fact Check: Republican Presidential Debate [Barf Alert: Libertarians (big _L_) taking over.]
KGO-TV, ABC39.com ^ | 04JUN07 | Mark Matthews

Posted on 06/05/2007 2:31:16 AM PDT by familyop

June 4 - KGO - Senator Hillary Clinton went into that debate in New Hampshire last night as the frontrunner and according to the analysts, she came out of it still leading the pack. Tomorrow night it'll be the republicans' turn.

I can't tell you what the republicans are going to say tomorrow night, but it's a pretty good bet their going to repeat many of the things they've said already, and so ABC7 is giving you a preview by fact checking their statements in the last GOP debate.

Three weeks ago at the University of South Carolina, Mitt Romney was asked about raising taxes.

Mitt Romney: "I want to make it very clear that I'm not going to raise taxes. As governor of Massachusetts I made it very clear there, and I did not raise taxes."

Fact check: That's misleading. Romney didn't raise taxes, but he did raise fees by $400 million in his first year as governor, including a quadrupling of a delivery fee on gasoline.

On global warming, Tom Tancredo of Colorado said this:

Tom Tancredo: "The whole issue of global warming, for every single scientist that tells you it's happening and that it's our fault, and they'll stack up to here in this reports, I can stack up another group of reports that say just the opposite."

Fact check: That is misleading. It suggests that scientists are split 50-50. They're not. An overwhelming majority of the scientific community agrees that global warming is taking place and human activity is predominantly to blame.

Here's Rudy Giuliani on the abortion issue.

Rudy Giuliani: "Abortions went down 16 percent when I was the mayor. Adoptions went up 133 percent during the eight years that I was mayor, compared to the prior eight years."

Fact check: Misleading again. Adoptions rose sharply before Giuliani took office. They peaked in his third year and declined in each of his last five years as mayor. In fact adoptions in New York are still declining.

Former Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson criticized wasteful federal spending and was asked which federal program he would eliminate.

Tommy Thompson: "Well the first one I would eliminate is a program in the Department of Health and Human Services, in CDC, that deals with the stockpile."

Fact check: Not accurate. Thompson was referring to a $593 million project to stockpile medicine in case of a disaster. An aide later said that Thompson meant to say he would manage that program more efficiently.

And finally, Representative Duncan Hunter of El Cajon California was asked about jobs.

Duncan Hunter: "The latest study I've seen shows that we've lost 1.8 million jobs in the United States."

Fact check: Hunter's numbers are not facts. They were prepared by the Economic Policy Institute, which is a liberal think tank with ties to the labor movement. The Libertarian Cato Institute calls the same study fundamentally flawed.

Without trying to referee the competing think tanks, it's safe to say the study Hunter quoted was prepared by an organization that is hostile to current free-trade arrangements, and that its numbers are not accepted facts.

We're partnering with fact check.org at the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.

Liberaltarians...Democrats. What's the difference. Either will destroy our families and our nation for a little money and power today.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: californianideology; duncan; duncanhunter; elections; globalwarming; gop; gorebullwarming; hunter; liberaltarian; republicans
"The Libertarian Cato Institute calls the same study fundamentally flawed."

Notice whose name is missing from the list of complaints, and see the complaint against Duncan Hunter at the bottom.

Libertarians were the folks with the Platform (last time I looked) for unconditionally open borders, anti-family efforts, and desires to effectively shut down our national defense. And they'll use any rhetoric that will get their man into office.

1 posted on 06/05/2007 2:31:19 AM PDT by familyop
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: familyop

Did ABC7 do any “fact checking”of the Dem debate? Silly question!


2 posted on 06/05/2007 2:32:23 AM PDT by GodBlessRonaldReagan (Big dog, big dog, bow-wow-wow! We'll crush crime, now, now, now!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: familyop
Liberals are smearing the GOP in the guise of "fact checking." But they never call attention to the Democrats' errors.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

3 posted on 06/05/2007 2:33:18 AM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: goldstategop; GodBlessRonaldReagan; Admin Moderator

The last line (”Liberaltarians...Democrats...”) under the article was an error on my part (wrong text box) and should not have appeared there. It should have been in comment #1 instead.


4 posted on 06/05/2007 2:41:15 AM PDT by familyop (cbt. engr. [(cbt.) has-been])
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: familyop
Senator Hillary Clinton went into that debate in New Hampshire last night as the frontrunner and according to the analysts, she came out of it still leading the pack.

No surprise there. Her Heinous got her butt kicked ten ways to Sunday against Rick Lazio in their first debate in 2000, but according to the analysts she was the clear winner then, too. And before anyone says it, those same analysts said that it had nothing to do with Lazio's ill-advised stunt.

5 posted on 06/05/2007 2:48:21 AM PDT by Dahoser (Never question Mr. Nibbles!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: goldstategop; GodBlessRonaldReagan
The one who wasn't criticized in the piece...

Is Fred Thompson a Small-Government Conservative?
Cato Institute ^ | 6/1/2007 | Staff
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1843042/posts
6 posted on 06/05/2007 2:53:52 AM PDT by familyop (cbt. engr. [(cbt.) has-been])
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: familyop

It seems to me that fact checking would include, well, some facts. For example, if 1.8 million is not the accurate number, then what is the accurate number? I know it is now easier to name a product not made in the USA, than to name one that is. I don’t think it is fair for Freepers to ask, “Will Dems be fact-checked”. Another government agency would have to be created to fact-check that exceptional grouping of pathological liars, aka, the Democraptic nominees. It could be funded partially from Billy Jeff’s Freezer, but I am not sure where we could get the rest.


7 posted on 06/05/2007 2:59:31 AM PDT by WildcatClan (Duncan Hunter '08 'Doing the jobs Americans aren't willing to do.')
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: goldstategop; GodBlessRonaldReagan; Dahoser; WildcatClan
The following should clear the political ties up enough, although hundreds of other bits of evidence are out there.

From the Libertarian Party site:

The benefits of open immigration
BY MICHAEL TANNER

Excerpt:
"Confirmation can be seen in a study by economists Richard Vedder and Lowell Galloway of Ohio University and Stephen Moore of the Cato Institute. They found that states with the highest rates of immigration during the 1980s also had the highest rates of economic growth and lowest rates of unemployment...As Edward Crane, President of the Cato Institute, has put it: "Suppose we increased the level of immigration..."


8 posted on 06/05/2007 3:03:11 AM PDT by familyop (cbt. engr. [(cbt.) has-been])
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: pissant; Paperdoll; AuntB; Kevmo; Calpernia; Antoninus; airborne; dirtboy; calex59; ...
Don't you love how Democrats get fact-checked? (rolls eyes)

Duncan Hunter: "The latest study I've seen shows that we've lost 1.8 million jobs in the United States."

Fact check: Hunter's numbers are not facts. They were prepared by the Economic Policy Institute, which is a liberal think tank with ties to the labor movement. The Libertarian Cato Institute calls the same study fundamentally flawed.

Methinks Cato's a bit worried about Hunter's stance on immigration, neh...?

Without trying to referee the competing think tanks, it's safe to say the study Hunter quoted was prepared by an organization that is hostile to current free-trade arrangements, and that its numbers are not accepted facts.

Show us why then.

9 posted on 06/05/2007 4:35:39 AM PDT by Ultra Sonic 007 (Why vote for Duncan Hunter in 2008? Look at my profile.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: familyop

It is interesting that the article does not mention Ron Paul, too.


10 posted on 06/05/2007 4:38:07 AM PDT by The_Eaglet
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: familyop
"Confirmation can be seen in a study by economists Richard Vedder and Lowell Galloway of Ohio University and Stephen Moore of the Cato Institute. They found that states with the highest rates of immigration during the 1980s also had the highest rates of economic growth and lowest rates of unemployment...As Edward Crane, President of the Cato Institute, has put it: "Suppose we increased the level of immigration..."

That cart is doing a great job of pulling the horse. It is more likely that immigrants (both legal and illegal) moved to those states that were growing quickly and had upward pressure on wages because of low unemployment. Immigration didn't cause the growth - the growth caused the immigrants to move there.

11 posted on 06/05/2007 6:22:47 AM PDT by KarlInOhio (Parker v. DC: the best court decision of the year.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: familyop
“Libertarians (big _L_) taking over”




This line is deceptive. The only mention of libertarians (small l) is to the Cato Institute and their take on the trade issue. I see no mention of “big L” Libertarians. Furthermore, the critique on Tancredo’s comments regarding global warming go against the take on the issue of any libertarian/Libertarian I know of.

Finally, whatever the merit of the trade deals, I too am concerned that a so-called conservative would take his cue on economic issue from the Economic Policy Institute.

12 posted on 06/05/2007 9:03:45 AM PDT by rob777 (Personal Responsibility is the Price of Freedom)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: rob777

“The only mention of libertarians (small l) is to the Cato Institute and their take on the trade issue.”

I meant the immigration issue.


13 posted on 06/05/2007 9:07:26 AM PDT by rob777 (Personal Responsibility is the Price of Freedom)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: familyop

Maybe that’s because it was a review of the DEBATE.

The one Fred Thompson DIDN’T ATTEND.


14 posted on 06/05/2007 9:15:20 AM PDT by Politicalmom ("Secure the border first. This is our house and we get to decide who gets to come here"- FDT)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: familyop
Libertarians were the folks with the Platform (last time I looked) for unconditionally open borders, anti-family efforts, and desires to effectively shut down our national defense.

Please. The Republicans are already doing this on their own.

15 posted on 06/05/2007 9:32:09 AM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson