political rhetoric, via New York Times
McCain:
Rhetoric: "I will keep taxes low and cut them where I can. My opponent will raise them."
Reality: This drastically simplifies what the candidates' tax plans would do. Mr. McCain would preserve all of the Bush tax cuts, while Mr. Obama would let them expire for those making more than $250,000 a year. Mr. McCain would also double the child tax exemption to $7,000 and reduce business taxes. Mr. Obama would reduce income taxes and provide credits for people earning less than $250,000 a year. The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center found that Mr. Obama's plan would amount to a tax cut for 81 percent of all households, or 95.5 percent of those with children. The center calculated that by 2012 the Obama plan would let middle-income taxpayers keep about 5 percent more income on average, or nearly $2,200 a year, while Mr. McCain would give them an average 3 percent break, or about $1,400. The richest 1 percent would pay an average $19,000 more in taxes each year under Mr. Obama's plan but see a tax cut of more than $125,000 under Mr. McCain.
Rhetoric: "Senator Obama thinks we can achieve energy independence without more drilling and without more nuclear power."
Reality: Mr. Obama at first flatly opposed lifting longstanding restrictions on offshore drilling, but a month ago he suggested that he would be open to additional drilling if it were part of a broader energy plan. "If in order to get that passed,'' he said, "we have to compromise in terms of a careful, well-thought-out drilling strategy that was carefully circumscribed to avoid significant environmental damage, I don't want to be so rigid that we can't get something done." Mr. Obama also says he supports nuclear energy, although he has not been as specific as Mr. McCain.
Rhetoric: "My health care plan will make it easier for more Americans to find and keep good health care insurance. His plan will force small businesses to cut jobs, reduce wages, and force families into a government-run health care system where a bureaucrat stands between you and your doctor."
Reality: Mr. McCain's proposed tax credit of up to $5,000 for families would probably likely help some uninsured and healthy Americans find good coverage, policy experts say. But those with health problems would have trouble, and most plans are more costly than the proposed credit in any case, some analysts add. But workers with employer-provided coverage would have to pay income taxes on the value of their insurance, long excluded from taxable income, to encourage cost awareness. As for Mr. Obama's plan, small businesses currently insuring their workers would benefit from new subsidies. Those that do not insure workers would face new costs. Obama advisers, and some nonpartisan analyses, say these employers would more likely withhold raises than cut wages, and freeze jobs rather than drop workers.
Obama:
Rhetoric: "We measure progress in the 23 million new jobs that were created when Bill Clinton was president when the average American family saw its income go up $7,500 instead of go down $2,000, like it has under George Bush."
Reality: The number of jobs grew substantially during Mr. Clinton’s presidency, as did median income, but the numbers depend on the category and year cited. An August Census Bureau report shows median household income fell by $324 from 2000 to 2007, not the $2,000 Mr. Obama cited. The $2,000 figure probably referred to median non-elderly household income, which has dropped by $2,010 since 2000. If counting from 2001, the year Mr. Bush took office and the last recession ended, overall median household income rose $778 by 2007. While it is true that incomes grew far more under Mr. Clinton (by $5,312 from 1993 to 2001), the median household income adjusted for inflation in 2007 was still the third highest on record.
Rhetoric: "Now, I don’t believe that Senator McCain doesn’t care what’s going on in the lives of Americans; I just think he doesn’t know. Why else would he define middle-class as someone making under $5 million a year?"
Reality: This refers to Mr. McCain’s answer at a forum last month when the Rev. Rick Warren of the Saddleback Church asked the candidate to give a specific number for the income level that divides the rich from the middle class. “How about $5 million?” Mr. McCain initially answered. The audience laughed and Mr. McCain went on to say: “But seriously, I don’t think you can” cite a number. He also foresaw how the opposition would use his answer. “I’m sure that comment will be distorted,” he said. The nonpartisan FactCheck.org concluded that was what Mr. Obama did - distort what it called Mr. McCain’s “clumsy attempt at humor.”
Rhetoric: "Now, many of these plans will cost money, which is why I’ve laid out how I’ll pay for every dime."
Reality: Mr. Obama’s health-care plan alone would absorb all revenue from letting the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy expire. He says other big-ticket items - expanded national security, foreign aid, veterans and education benefits - will be offset with savings from leaving Iraq, cuts in subsidies and spending earmarks, and fees for polluting emissions. But the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center has concluded that both he and Mr. McCain “would substantially increase the national debt over the next ten years” -Mr. Obama by $3.5 trillion in the decade and Mr. McCain by $5 trillion.
Sarah Palin:
Rhetoric: "I told the Congress, ‘Thanks, but no thanks,’ on that Bridge to Nowhere. If our state wanted to build a bridge, we were going to build it ourselves."
Reality: This refers to a $220 million federal allocation for a bridge to the tiny island of Gravina, with a population of just a few dozen people. As governor of Alaska, Ms. Palin was for it before she was against it. Asked about that bridge and one other in an October 2006 television debate in her campaign for governor, she said, "I do support the infrastructure projects that are on tap here in the state of Alaska that our Congressional delegations worked hard for." She repeated her support later that month. She abandoned the project in September 2007, saying it would require too much state money to finish it.
Rhetoric: "I got rid of a few things in the governor's office that I didn't believe our citizens should have to pay for. That luxury jet was over the top. I put it on eBay."
Reality: Yes, she did put the $2.7 million Westwind II jet on eBay. The plane got one bid, which fell through. The speaker of the Alaska House then arranged its sale to a businessman for $2.1 million, not the profit Mr. McCain claimed Friday.
Joe Biden:
Rhetoric: "Barack Obama will bring down health care costs by $2,500 for the average family and, at long last, deliver affordable, accessible health care for every American."
Reality: The $2,500 figure is based on assumptions that have provoked debate among experts. The Obama campaign says his plan would save more than $200 billion in health care spending each year and that would average $2,500 for each family. But his aides acknowledge a lot of those savings would not go directly to families but to the government or private employers, and there is no guarantee they would be passed along to families in the form of higher salaries or lower taxes. Some experts also say the Obama plan is overly optimistic about how quickly and deeply it can cut health care spending. Some say the savings Mr. Obama envisions would not be realized for a decade or more, rather than by the end of his first term, as he has suggested. Mr. Obama’s plan, for instance, relies on saving $77 billion a year through computerizing medical records, an estimate taken from a Rand Corp. study in 2005 that also warned it would take 15 years to realize such savings. The Congressional Budget Office in May criticized the Rand estimate’s methodology in projecting such sizable savings. The Obama campaign has fought back by rounding up other experts who endorse its plan as tough but doable.
Rhetoric: "I will keep taxes low and cut them where I can. My opponent will raise them."
Reality: This drastically simplifies what the candidates' tax plans would do. Mr. McCain would preserve all of the Bush tax cuts, while Mr. Obama would let them expire for those making more than $250,000 a year. Mr. McCain would also double the child tax exemption to $7,000 and reduce business taxes. Mr. Obama would reduce income taxes and provide credits for people earning less than $250,000 a year. The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center found that Mr. Obama's plan would amount to a tax cut for 81 percent of all households, or 95.5 percent of those with children. The center calculated that by 2012 the Obama plan would let middle-income taxpayers keep about 5 percent more income on average, or nearly $2,200 a year, while Mr. McCain would give them an average 3 percent break, or about $1,400. The richest 1 percent would pay an average $19,000 more in taxes each year under Mr. Obama's plan but see a tax cut of more than $125,000 under Mr. McCain.
Rhetoric: "Senator Obama thinks we can achieve energy independence without more drilling and without more nuclear power."
Reality: Mr. Obama at first flatly opposed lifting longstanding restrictions on offshore drilling, but a month ago he suggested that he would be open to additional drilling if it were part of a broader energy plan. "If in order to get that passed,'' he said, "we have to compromise in terms of a careful, well-thought-out drilling strategy that was carefully circumscribed to avoid significant environmental damage, I don't want to be so rigid that we can't get something done." Mr. Obama also says he supports nuclear energy, although he has not been as specific as Mr. McCain.
Rhetoric: "My health care plan will make it easier for more Americans to find and keep good health care insurance. His plan will force small businesses to cut jobs, reduce wages, and force families into a government-run health care system where a bureaucrat stands between you and your doctor."
Reality: Mr. McCain's proposed tax credit of up to $5,000 for families would probably likely help some uninsured and healthy Americans find good coverage, policy experts say. But those with health problems would have trouble, and most plans are more costly than the proposed credit in any case, some analysts add. But workers with employer-provided coverage would have to pay income taxes on the value of their insurance, long excluded from taxable income, to encourage cost awareness. As for Mr. Obama's plan, small businesses currently insuring their workers would benefit from new subsidies. Those that do not insure workers would face new costs. Obama advisers, and some nonpartisan analyses, say these employers would more likely withhold raises than cut wages, and freeze jobs rather than drop workers.
Obama:
Rhetoric: "We measure progress in the 23 million new jobs that were created when Bill Clinton was president when the average American family saw its income go up $7,500 instead of go down $2,000, like it has under George Bush."
Reality: The number of jobs grew substantially during Mr. Clinton’s presidency, as did median income, but the numbers depend on the category and year cited. An August Census Bureau report shows median household income fell by $324 from 2000 to 2007, not the $2,000 Mr. Obama cited. The $2,000 figure probably referred to median non-elderly household income, which has dropped by $2,010 since 2000. If counting from 2001, the year Mr. Bush took office and the last recession ended, overall median household income rose $778 by 2007. While it is true that incomes grew far more under Mr. Clinton (by $5,312 from 1993 to 2001), the median household income adjusted for inflation in 2007 was still the third highest on record.
Rhetoric: "Now, I don’t believe that Senator McCain doesn’t care what’s going on in the lives of Americans; I just think he doesn’t know. Why else would he define middle-class as someone making under $5 million a year?"
Reality: This refers to Mr. McCain’s answer at a forum last month when the Rev. Rick Warren of the Saddleback Church asked the candidate to give a specific number for the income level that divides the rich from the middle class. “How about $5 million?” Mr. McCain initially answered. The audience laughed and Mr. McCain went on to say: “But seriously, I don’t think you can” cite a number. He also foresaw how the opposition would use his answer. “I’m sure that comment will be distorted,” he said. The nonpartisan FactCheck.org concluded that was what Mr. Obama did - distort what it called Mr. McCain’s “clumsy attempt at humor.”
Rhetoric: "Now, many of these plans will cost money, which is why I’ve laid out how I’ll pay for every dime."
Reality: Mr. Obama’s health-care plan alone would absorb all revenue from letting the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy expire. He says other big-ticket items - expanded national security, foreign aid, veterans and education benefits - will be offset with savings from leaving Iraq, cuts in subsidies and spending earmarks, and fees for polluting emissions. But the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center has concluded that both he and Mr. McCain “would substantially increase the national debt over the next ten years” -Mr. Obama by $3.5 trillion in the decade and Mr. McCain by $5 trillion.
Sarah Palin:
Rhetoric: "I told the Congress, ‘Thanks, but no thanks,’ on that Bridge to Nowhere. If our state wanted to build a bridge, we were going to build it ourselves."
Reality: This refers to a $220 million federal allocation for a bridge to the tiny island of Gravina, with a population of just a few dozen people. As governor of Alaska, Ms. Palin was for it before she was against it. Asked about that bridge and one other in an October 2006 television debate in her campaign for governor, she said, "I do support the infrastructure projects that are on tap here in the state of Alaska that our Congressional delegations worked hard for." She repeated her support later that month. She abandoned the project in September 2007, saying it would require too much state money to finish it.
Rhetoric: "I got rid of a few things in the governor's office that I didn't believe our citizens should have to pay for. That luxury jet was over the top. I put it on eBay."
Reality: Yes, she did put the $2.7 million Westwind II jet on eBay. The plane got one bid, which fell through. The speaker of the Alaska House then arranged its sale to a businessman for $2.1 million, not the profit Mr. McCain claimed Friday.
Joe Biden:
Rhetoric: "Barack Obama will bring down health care costs by $2,500 for the average family and, at long last, deliver affordable, accessible health care for every American."
Reality: The $2,500 figure is based on assumptions that have provoked debate among experts. The Obama campaign says his plan would save more than $200 billion in health care spending each year and that would average $2,500 for each family. But his aides acknowledge a lot of those savings would not go directly to families but to the government or private employers, and there is no guarantee they would be passed along to families in the form of higher salaries or lower taxes. Some experts also say the Obama plan is overly optimistic about how quickly and deeply it can cut health care spending. Some say the savings Mr. Obama envisions would not be realized for a decade or more, rather than by the end of his first term, as he has suggested. Mr. Obama’s plan, for instance, relies on saving $77 billion a year through computerizing medical records, an estimate taken from a Rand Corp. study in 2005 that also warned it would take 15 years to realize such savings. The Congressional Budget Office in May criticized the Rand estimate’s methodology in projecting such sizable savings. The Obama campaign has fought back by rounding up other experts who endorse its plan as tough but doable.