November 2, 2012

Politician 'Truthiness' Stats: Obama vs. Romney

A fun little excercise ;) According to Politifact.com Truth-o-Meter:



(scroll to bottom to see results)
  • Barack Obama: Says "Mitt Romney’s plan rolls back regulations" on banks. - The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly True
  • Barack Obama: "There are millions of women all across the country who rely on Planned Parenthood for not just contraceptive care; they rely on it for mammograms." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Half-True
  • Barack Obama: Says Mitt Romney’s plan makes "catastrophic cuts to education." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Half-True
  • Barack Obama: "The sequester is not something that I've proposed. It is something that Congress has proposed." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly False
  • Barack Obama: Says Mitt Romney wants to add $2 trillion to defense budget that the military hasn’t asked for. - The Truth-o-Meter says: True
  • Barack Obama: Says Romney said "we should ask Pakistan for permission" to take a shot at Osama bin Laden. - The Truth-o-Meter says: Half-True
  • Barack Obama: Says Mitt Romney "just gave a speech a few weeks ago" and said "we should still have troops in Iraq." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly True
  • Barack Obama: Says Mitt Romney was clear that he "would not provide government assistance to the U.S. auto companies, even if they went through bankruptcy." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly False
  • Barack Obama: "Veterans’ unemployment is actually now lower than (the) general population. It was higher when I came into office." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Half-True
  • Barack Obama: "A few months ago when you were asked what's the biggest geopolitical threat facing America, you said Russia." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Half-True
  • Barack Obama: "George Bush never suggested that we eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly True
  • Barack Obama: Says his administration put more border patrol agents on the U.S.-Mexico border than at "any time in history, and the flow of undocumented workers across the border is actually lower than it's been in 40 years." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Half-True
  • Barack Obama: Says his administration has created "5 million jobs … over the last 30 months in the private sector alone." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Half-True
  • Barack Obama: Says Mitt Romney suggested that "employers should be able to make the decision as to whether or not a woman gets contraception through her insurance coverage." - The Truth-o-Meter says: True
  • Barack Obama: Says Mitt Romney "called the Arizona law a model for the nation." - The Truth-o-Meter says: False
  • Barack Obama: Says Mitt Romney refused to say whether he'd sign the Lilly Ledbetter bill. - The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly True
  • Barack Obama: When Mitt Romney was governor of Massachusetts, he "stood in front of a coal plant and pointed at it and said, ‘This plant kills.’" - The Truth-o-Meter says: True
  • Barack Obama: As governor, "Mitt Romney raised nursing home fees eight times." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly False
  • Barack Obama: Says economists Harvey Rosen and Martin Feldstein have said that "paying for (Mitt) Romney’s tax cuts would require large tax increases on families making between $100,000 and $200,000." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly False
  • Barack Obama: Says Romney invested in a firm that made goods in China that "could have been made here in America." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly False
  • Barack Obama: The federal tax code has "loopholes that are giving incentives for companies that are shipping jobs overseas." - The Truth-o-Meter says: True
  • Barack Obama: "In Romney's first budget (in Massachusetts), he cut $248.7 million from K-12 education." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Half-True
  • Barack Obama: Says 50 million people would lose their health insurance if Obamacare is repealed. - The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly False
  • Barack Obama: Says Romney wants to add $2 trillion to the defense budget that the military hasn’t asked for. - The Truth-o-Meter says: True
  • Barack Obama: "Under Gov. Romney's definition ... Donald Trump is a small business." - The Truth-o-Meter says: False
  • Barack Obama: Because of Obamacare, "over the last two years, health care premiums have gone up -- it's true -- but they've gone up slower than any time in the last 50 years." - The Truth-o-Meter says: False
  • Barack Obama: Romney’s Medicare plan was estimated to "cost the average senior about $6,000 a year." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Half-True
  • Barack Obama: Obama says he’s "put forward a specific $4 trillion deficit reduction plan." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Half-True
  • Barack Obama: Says Mitt Romney's plan "calls for a $5 trillion tax cut." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Half-True
  • Barack Obama: Romney "would turn Medicare into a voucher program." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly True
  • Barack Obama: Chinese tire imports threatened 1,000 American jobs, so President Obama "stood up to China and protected American workers. Mitt Romney attacked Obama's decision." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly True
  • Barack Obama: "Taxes are lower on families than they've been probably in the last 50 years." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly True
  • Barack Obama: "Over the last four years, the deficit has gone up, but 90 percent of that is as a consequence of" President George W. Bush’s policies and the recession. - The Truth-o-Meter says: False
  • Barack Obama: Says Romney tax plan "could take away middle-class deductions for child care, mortgages and college tuition." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly False
  • Barack Obama: "Even today part of Romney’s fortune is invested in China." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly True
  • Barack Obama: Says Romney and Ryan "both backed proposals that would outlaw abortions even in cases of rape or incest." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Half-True
  • Barack Obama: Says he "will protect your guaranteed benefits" in Medicare while "Mitt Romney would take away Medicare as guaranteed benefits." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Half-True
  • Barack Obama: Says that under Mitt Romney, 89 million Americans could be denied coverage if they have a pre-existing condition. - The Truth-o-Meter says: Half-True
  • Barack Obama: "We've doubled our use of renewable energy." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly False
  • Barack Obama: "After 30 years of inaction, we raised fuel standards so that by the middle of the next decade, cars and trucks will go twice as far on a gallon of gas." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Half-True
  • Barack Obama: Says Romney called Russia our No. 1 enemy. - The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly True
  • Barack Obama: "I've cut taxes for ... middle-class families, small businesses." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly True
  • Barack Obama: Says his budget plan "would cut our deficits by $4 trillion." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Half-True
  • Barack Obama: "After a decade of decline, this country created over half a million manufacturing jobs in the last two and a half years." - The Truth-o-Meter says: True

  • Mitt Romney: Says Barack Obama "sold Chrysler to Italians who are going to build Jeeps in China" at the cost of American jobs. - The Truth-o-Meter says: Pants on Fire!
  • Mitt Romney: "Women in Barack Obama's White House are earning less than men." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Half-True
  • Mitt Romney: "Under President Obama: $4,000 tax hike on middle-class families." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Pants on Fire!
  • Mitt Romney: Says Barack Obama was silent on Iran "when the students took to the streets in Tehran and the people there protested, (and) the Green Revolution occurred." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly False
  • Mitt Romney: "Pakistan has 100 nuclear warheads and they’re rushing to build a lot more. They’ll have more than Great Britain sometime in the relatively near future." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly True
  • Mitt Romney: "Latin America’s economy is almost as big as the economy of China." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Half-True
  • Mitt Romney: "I went to the Olympics that was out of balance, and we got it on balance." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly True
  • Mitt Romney: "The president said he was going to create daylight between ourselves and Israel." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly True
  • Mitt Romney: Says a university survey concluded his Massachusetts administration "had more women in senior leadership positions than any other state in America." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly True
  • Mitt Romney: "Regulations have quadrupled. The rate of regulations quadrupled under this president." - The Truth-o-Meter says: False
  • Mitt Romney: Says Barack Obama began his presidency "with an apology tour." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Pants on Fire!
  • Mitt Romney: Says President Obama waited two weeks to call the attack in Libya "terror." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Half-True
  • Mitt Romney: "Oil production is down 14 percent this year on federal land." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Half-True
  • Mitt Romney: Says Obama broke his promise to offer a comprehensive immigration bill in his first year. - The Truth-o-Meter says: True
  • Mitt Romney: "Since President Obama took office, there are over 450,000 more unemployed women." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Half-True
  • Mitt Romney: "In one year, (President Obama) provided $90 billion in breaks to the green energy world … into solar and wind, to Solyndra and Fisker and Tesla and Ener1." - The Truth-o-Meter says: False
  • Mitt Romney: Says President Obama has "doubled" the deficit. - The Truth-o-Meter says: False
  • Mitt Romney: "Pre-existing conditions are covered under my (health care) plan." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly False
  • Mitt Romney: Massachusetts schools "are ranked No. 1 of all 50 states." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly True
  • Mitt Romney: Says Obama promised to cut the deficit in half. - The Truth-o-Meter says: True
  • Mitt Romney: "Right now, the (Congressional Budget Office) says up to 20 million people will lose their insurance as Obamacare goes into effect next year." - The Truth-o-Meter says: False
  • Mitt Romney: Says Barack Obama "put in place a board that can tell people ultimately what treatments they're going to receive." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly False
  • Mitt Romney: "We’re now spending 42 percent of our economy on government." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly True
  • Mitt Romney: "On Medicare for current retirees, he's cutting $716 billion from the program." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Half-True
  • Mitt Romney: College tuition "costs have risen by 25 percent under the Democrats." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly False
  • Mitt Romney: "Redistribution" has "never been a characteristic of America." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Pants on Fire!
  • Mitt Romney:  "Seven times Obama could have stopped China's cheating. Seven times, he refused." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Half-True
  • Mitt Romney: "Under Obama, families have lost over $4,000 a year in income." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Half-True
  • Mitt Romney: "Forty-seven percent of Americans pay no income tax." - The Truth-o-Meter says: True
  • Mitt Romney: The "48, 49 percent" that supports President Barack Obama are "people who pay no income tax." - The Truth-o-Meter says: False
  • Mitt Romney: "Fifty percent of kids coming out of school can't get a job." - The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly True
  • Mitt Romney: Says President Obama promised "he'd keep unemployment below 8 percent" if the stimulus passed. - The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly False
  • Mitt Romney: Says five studies show his tax plan can cut rates and still bring the same revenue without raising taxes on the middle class. - The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly False
  • Mitt Romney: Under Obama, home values in Florida collapsed, construction jobs were lost and the state had a high foreclosure rate. - The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly False
Obama truth stats (since Sept):  
    False:4,  Mostly False:8,  Half-True:16,  Mostly True:10,  True:6
     Total: 44

Romney truth stats (since Sept): 

    False:5,  Mostly False:7,  Half-True:8,  Mostly True:7,  True:3, Pants on Fire!:4
     Total: 34