podesta-emails
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*M E M O R A N D U M*
*To:* Interested Parties…
*From:* Jioni Palmer, *Media Matters** Action Network*
*Re:* *Tonight's Debate:* *Lies to Expect and Correct*
*Date:* Tuesday, October 7, 2008
In recent weeks, John McCain and his campaign have repeatedly made several
false and misleading claims about Barack Obama – claims that are often
uncritically reported by the news media. Below are some facts that should
be reported if McCain makes these claims again during tonight's debate.**
* *
*CLAIM: Barack Obama voted to raise taxes on people making just $42,000 a
year.*
*FACTS: Obama did NOT vote to raise taxes on people making $42,000 a year.*
Any fair observer would agree that in order to accurately say that a
politician "voted to raise taxes," the legislation in question would have to
have *raised taxes*. But this is not the case with the legislation to which
this claim refers -- a budget resolution -- and the fact that most people
don't know how such resolutions work helps the lie go unnoticed.**
What Obama voted for was a budget resolution that, in calculating future
revenue, assumed the Bush tax cuts would begin to expire in 2010, as they
will under current law. (The lowest level of income affected by the
reversion to Clinton-era tax rates is $42,000.) That is the entirety of the
basis of McCain's claim. As *Congressional Quarterly*
wrote<http://news.yahoo.com/s/cq/20080829/pl_cq_politics/politics2942172>in
criticizing the claim: "But voting for a congressional budget plan is
quite different from voting for a tax increase. Budget resolutions are
non-binding, don't have the force of law and don't include precise details
on taxes or spending. They're different from legislation that actually
raises or lowers tax rates."
Budget resolutions have no effect on anyone's taxes. They do not raise
taxes, and they do not lower taxes. They set targets for government
spending. To repeat, one cannot honestly say that a vote for *any* budget
resolution is "a vote to raise taxes," particularly when the budget
resolution in question merely assumes that the Bush tax cuts will proceed
exactly as the Bush administration and Republicans in Congress wrote them.
*CLAIM: Barack Obama voted 94 times for higher taxes.*
* *
*FACTS: Obama did NOT vote 94 times for higher taxes.*
Most of the votes included in this accusation did not represent any tax
increase. Here is what FactCheck.org said about this
claim<http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/tax_tally_trickery.html>
:
After looking at every one of the 94 votes that the RNC includes in its
tally, we find:
· Twenty-three were for measures that would have produced no tax
increase at all; they were against proposed tax cuts.
· Seven of the votes were in favor of measures that would have *
lowered* taxes for many, while raising them on a relative few, either
corporations or affluent individuals.
· Eleven votes the GOP is counting would have increased taxes on those
making more than $1 million a year -- in order to fund programs such as Head
Start and school nutrition programs, or veterans' health care.
· The GOP sometimes counted two, three and even four votes on the same
measure. We found their tally included a total of 17 votes on seven
measures, effectively padding their total by 10.
· The majority of the 94 votes -- 53 of them, including some mentioned
above -- were on budget measures, not tax bills, and would not have resulted
in any tax change. Four other votes were non-binding motions related to
conference report negotiations.
*CLAIM: Obama voted to cut off funding for our troops in Iraq.*
* *
*FACTS: While Obama
**voted*<http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=1&vote=00181>
* against a war-funding bill in May 2007 because it lacked a timeline for
withdrawing troops from Iraq, the month before, Obama voted for a
war-funding bill that included such a timeline, and, in fact, Obama has
voted 10 times for war-funding bills.*
As FactCheck.org
noted<http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/the_truth_on_troop_support.html>,
"McCain (who was absent for the vote) urged the president to veto that
funding<http://mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressOffice.PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=e374ff3b-fff3-4afa-9735-0f12e8a0d61b&Region_id=&Issue_id=>measure,
because of the withdrawal language. President Bush
did veto it<http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/05/01/congress.iraq/index.html>,
and McCain applauded Bush's
veto<http://mccain.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressOffice.PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=71d2666f-44da-4976-b218-6772dc37d7eb&Region_id=&Issue_id=>.
Based on those facts, it would be literally true to say that 'McCain urged a
veto of funding for our troops.' "
* *
Moreover, by McCain's standard, he too voted to cut off funding for our
troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. McCain voted
against<http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=1&vote=00126>the
Senate version of a March 2007
bill <http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d110:HR1591:> that would have
funded the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and would have
provided<http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_cong_bills&docid=f:h1591eas.txt.pdf#page=155>more
than $1 billion in additional funds to the Department of Veterans
Affairs.
*CLAIM: Obama said that our troops in Afghanistan are "just air-raiding
villages and killing civilians."*
* *
*FACTS: Obama's statement was not a characterization of the entirety of U.S.
operations in Afghanistan, but rather an observation about the consequences
of a troop shortage and subsequent reliance on airstrikes.*
* *
In an August 13, 2007, town hall meeting, Obama was asked whether he would
withdraw troops from Iraq to fight terrorism elsewhere. He responded: "We've
got to get the job done there [Afghanistan], and that requires us to have
enough troops so that we're not just air-raiding villages and killing
civilians, which is causing enormous pressure over there." Obama's
acknowledgment that U.S. reliance on airstrikes has resulted in civilian
casualties, which harms the war effort, has been echoed by, among others,
the commander of troops Afghanistan, Gen. David
McKiernan<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/17/world/asia/17gates.html?ref=world>.
In fact, U.S. airstrikes in Afghanistan -- and accounts of resulting
civilian casualties -- have been
widely<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/07/AR2007070700236.html>
reported<http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/01/world/asia/01airstrike.html?ex=1340942400&en=6aeb09997a45e3c2&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted>and
have provoked criticism from Afghan President Hamid
Karzai<http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2007/07/02/afghan_rights_body_urges_cut_in_foreign_air_raids/>.
Further, Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently apologized for deaths
resulting from coalition airstrikes, saying in a September 17
statement<http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.defenselink.mil%2Fspeeches%2Fspeech.aspx%3Fspeechid%3D1274>:
"I offer all Afghans my sincere condolences and personal regrets for the
recent loss of innocent life as a result of coalition airstrikes. While no
military has ever done more to prevent civilian casualties, it is clear that
we have to work even harder. I have asked for a detailed briefing this
afternoon about our close air support as well as our intelligence,
surveillance, and reconnaissance operations."
*CLAIM: Obama wants to force people into a government health-care program;
his plan is a government takeover of health care.*
*FACTS: As **nonpartisan
groups*<http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/factchecking_mccain.html>
* and **media*<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16962482>
* **reports*<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/03/us/politics/03check.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&ref=politics&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin&oref=slogin>
* have verified, Obama's plan is NOT for government takeover of health care.
*
Obama's plan allows people to keep the insurance they have now or enroll in
a plan similar to what members of Congress have, which gives people a choice
between a variety of *private* insurers. Obama's plan would offer a
government plan similar to Medicare, but enrollment in that plan would be
completely voluntary. Under Obama's plan, neither the health *care* system
(as in Canada and Great Britain) nor the health *insurance* system (as in
most European countries) would be "government run." Even if it was passed in
its current form, Obama's plan would not place a government bureaucrat
"between you and your doctor," as McCain has asserted.
*CLAIM: John McCain led the charge to reform Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae,
while Barack Obama and congressional Democrats opposed such efforts.*
*FACTS: McCain signed on as a co-sponsor to a 2005 bill that would have
increased oversight of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae 16 months after the bill
was introduced, when the housing collapse was "well under way," according to
**FactCheck.org*<http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/factchecking_biden-palin_debate.html>
*.*
McCain's actions
<http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/757/>on behalf of
the bill amounted to little more than signing on belatedly as a
co-sponsor and delivering one short speech on the Senate floor. A *New York
Times*<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/26/us/politics/26check.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=checkpoint%20fannie%20freddie%20mccain&st=cse&oref=slogin>article
investigating McCain's action on the legislation reported that
McCain "overstates the role he has played." **
The claim that Obama and the Democrats were "silent" on the issue is also
misleading. In fact, even though McCain and his fellow Republicans were in
control of the Senate at the time, the 2005 bill never made it to the Senate
floor <http://www.opencongress.org/bill/109-s190/show>. While some key
Democrats did express reservations about the bill, particularly over a
provision that would have limited the size of the two companies' portfolios,
it's a stretch to say that Obama and Senate Democrats killed the reform
since the Republican-controlled Congress never even brought the bill to a
vote.
*CLAIM: Obama has a close and meaningful "association" with former '60s
radical William Ayers.*
* *
*FACTS: Ayers is neither a close friend nor an adviser of Barack Obama's. He
has no involvement in Obama's campaign. *
The "association" of Obama and Ayers, as has been extensively documented,
consists of (1) a 1995 meeting of Chicago political figures at which Obama
appeared, which took place in Ayers' home; (2) the fact that the two served
together on the board of the Woods Fund, a charitable organization; and (3)
the fact that the two attended six meetings of the board of the Chicago
Annenberg Challenge, a program funded by the late Walter Annenberg, a
longtime Republican donor and Richard Nixon's ambassador to Great Britain.
Obama chaired the group's board, and Ayers attended the meetings to brief
the board on education issues. But as *The New York Times*
reported<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/04/us/politics/04ayers.html?_r=1&ref=politics&oref=slogin>on
October 4, "the two men [Obama and Ayers] do not appear to have been
close. Nor has Mr. Obama ever expressed sympathy for the radical views and
actions of Mr. Ayers, whom he has called 'somebody who engaged in detestable
acts 40 years ago, when I was 8.' " Indeed, Obama was not in any way
involved in Ayers'
actions<http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/taking_liberties_in_philadelphia.html>in
the late '60s and early '70s; Obama was between 8 and 11 years old at
the
time of the bombings in which Ayers said he participated as part of the
Weather Underground.
*CLAIM: Tony Rezko gave Barack Obama financial help to buy his house, on
which Obama got a discount.*
* *
*FACTS: The Obamas paid market value for their house and got no financial
assistance from Rezko.*
* *
In 2005, the Obamas sought to buy a house on the South Side of Chicago. The
property was split into two parcels, one with the house and the other an
undeveloped adjacent lot. The owner wanted to sell both parts at the same
time. After "considerable
haggling<http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/rezko_reality.html>,"
the Obamas' third bid of $1.65 million for the house was accepted. Rezko's
wife, Rita, purchased the adjacent lot for $625,000.
According to the seller of the
property<http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/521/>,
Obama did not get a discount for the house because of Rezko's purchase of
the lot, and the Obamas' offer for the house was the best offer he received.
In other words, Obama paid market value for his house, with no financial
"help" from the Rezkos. The Obamas subsequently bought a portion of Rezko's
lot, but there is no evidence that they received a "sweetheart deal" on that
purchase. According to
documents<http://mediamatters.org/rd?to=http%3A%2F%2Fanswercenter.barackobama.com%2Fcgi-bin%2Fbarackobama.cfg%2Fphp%2Fenduser%2Fstd_adp.php%3Fp_faqid%3D174%26p_created%3D1205534256%26p_sid%3DL5BJqZ4j%26p_accessibility%3D0%26p_redirect%3D%26p_lva%3D%26p_sp%3DcF9zcmNoPSZwX3NvcnRfYnk9JnBfZ3JpZHNvcnQ9JnBfcm93X2NudD0xMjYsMTI2JnBfcHJvZHM9JnBfY2>posted
on the Obama campaign website, Obama paid Rezko $104,166 for the
piece of property in question -- above its appraised value of $40,500, as
has <http://mediamatters.org/items/200806110007>
been<http://mediamatters.org/items/200808220019?f=s_search>
repeatedly <http://mediamatters.org/items/200806040009>
documented<http://mediamatters.org/items/200803070004>.
Obama told the *Chicago Tribune* in a March 14
interview<http://74.125.113.104/search?q=cache:EX8m_oqtYcIJ:www.courant.com/entertainment/chi-obamafullwebmar16,0,762680.story%3Fpage%3D4+the+appraisal+did+note+that+the+other+parcel,+Rezko%27s+remaining+parcel,+would+be+fully+developable+if+he+sold+this+to+me.+And+>how
the price for the parcel of land was determined: "[T]he appraisal did
note that the other parcel, Rezko's remaining parcel, would be fully
developable if he sold this to me. And so rather than pay the appraised
price, I paid one-sixth of the cost of his property. He agreed to sell that
10-foot strip."
*CLAIM: Obama is the most liberal member of the U.S. Senate.*
* *
*FACTS: There are many ratings of members of Congress; only one -- and one
that used a subjective methodology -- found Obama to be the Senate's most
liberal member in 2007.*
The source for the claim is the *National Journal*'s 2007 Vote
Ratings<http://nj.nationaljournal.com/voteratings/>.
Unlike other ranking systems that use all or most votes cast, this ranking
is based only on 99 "key" Senate votes selected by *National
Journal*reporters and editors. Among the votes Obama cast that earned
him
*National Journal*'s "most liberal senator" label were those to implement
the 9-11 Commission's homeland security recommendations, reauthorize and
expand the State Children's Health Insurance Program, support embryonic
stem-cell research, and oppose the repeal of a federal minimum wage. By
contrast, a study <http://voteview.com/sen110.htm> by political science
professors Keith Poole and Jeff Lewis that used every non-unanimous vote
cast in the Senate in 2007 to determine relative ideology -- in other words,
not a subjective assessment of which votes are "key" -- placed Obama in a
tie for the ranking of 10th most liberal senator. American Enterprise
Institute resident scholar Norman J. Ornstein has also
criticized<http://www.aei.org/research/politicalCorner/publications/pubID.27780,projectID.14/pub_detail.asp>the
*National Journal*'s rating of Obama, calling it "pretty ridiculous."
###
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