Fact Sheet: John Kerry's 22 Inaccurate Statements Last Night

George W. Bush ^ | October 14, 2004

[RWR8189]

1.   Fox News' Carl Cameron Said Kerry's Claim To Have Personally Authored 56 Bills "Not Entirely Accurate."  CARL CAMERON:  "That's not entirely accurate. Some of them were bills that he cosponsored or worked with and by putting his name on it.  In legislative parlance, being a cosponsor does not necessarily mean that one is a principal in the writing of the legislation but one who has joined on it." (Fox News' "Special Debate Coverage," 10/13/04)

• Since Joining The U.S. Senate In 1985, Kerry Has Been The Lead Sponsor On 316 Bills, Only 5 (1.6 Percent) Of Which Became Law.  (Thomas Website, http://thomas.loc.gov, Accessed 10/3/04)

2.   According To The New York Times, "Kerry Was Not Accurate When He Said He Had Shown 'Exactly How' He Intended To Pay For All His Spending Proposals."  (David E. Rosenbaum, "Under Pressure, Mischaracterizations And Misstatements," The New York Times, 10/14/04)

3.   FactCheck.Org:  Kerry Claim That The Bush Administration "Cut" Pell Grants Is False When Under President Bush An Additional 1.3 Million Students Have Received Grants And There Has Been "A Jump Of Nearly 60%" In Funding.  ("New And Recycled Distortions At Final Presidential Debate," FactCheck.Org, 10/14/04, Available At http://www.factcheck.org/article281.html, Accessed 10/14/04)

• The Associated Press:  "[Kerry] Also Said Bush Has Cut Pell Grants, But Later Altered The Accusation When The President Pointed Out Accurately That About 1 Million More Students Are Getting The Aid Than When He Took Office." (Calvin Woodward, "Bush Overlooks Own Flip-Flop In Debate," The Associated Press, 10/13/04)

• According To The Los Angeles Times, Kerry's Claim That The Administration Cut Pell Grants Is Wrong When "In Fact, The Total Number Of Pell Grant Recipients Has Grown Under Bush, As Has The Maximum Amount." (Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar And Warren Vieth, "Rivals Choose Their Numbers Wisely," Los Angeles Times, 10/14/04)

4.   FactCheck.Org:  "Kerry Wrongly Claimed Bush 'Hasn't Met With The Black Congressional Caucus.' He Garbled The Organization's Name, For One Thing. It's Actually The Congressional Black Caucus, Made Up Of 39 African-American Members Of The House.  And In Fact, Bush Met With The Caucus A Few Days After Taking Office, On Jan. 31, 2001."  ("New And Recycled Distortions At Final Presidential Debate," FactCheck.Org, 10/14/04, Available At http://www.factcheck.org/article281.html, Accessed 10/14/04)

• "Kerry, Trying To Show Bush Has Paid Too Little Heed To Civil Rights, Stated Flatly, 'This Is A President Who Hasn't Met With The Black Congressional Caucus.' Actually, Bush Met The Caucus At The White House Within Two Weeks Of Taking Office." (Calvin Woodward, "Bush Overlooks Own Flip-Flop In Debate," The Associated Press, 10/13/04)

• ABC's Jake Tapper:  Kerry's Claim That President Bush Never Met With The Congressional Black Caucus "Is Decidedly Untrue."  (ABC's Special Debate Coverage, 10/13/04)

5.   Kerry Again Exaggerated His Role In The Passage Of A 1990s Early Childhood Health Care Bill.  Previously, both the Boston Globe and ABC's "World News Tonight" have criticized Kerry for taking credit for a bill "sources in both parties say he did not play a significant role in passing."  (Sen. John Kerry, Third Presidential Debate, Tempe, AZ, 10/13/04; ABC's "World News Tonight," 1/30/04; John Aloysius Farrell, "At The Center Of Power, Seeking The Summit," The Boston Globe, 6/21/03) 

• Nina Easton, The Boston Globe: Sen. Ted Kennedy "Carried The Water" On Children's Health Insurance Bill And Was "Angry" At The Time That Kerry Took Credit.  (CNN's "NewsNight With Aaron Brown," 10/13/04)

6.   Kerry Misleadingly Implied He Supported Gramm-Rudman To Balance The Budget, But In 1986, He Defended His Vote As A Tactic To Force The Reagan Administration To Cut Defense Spending.  In 1986, "Kerry told about a dozen Massachusetts mayors he voted for the Gramm-Rudman deficit reduction bill to force the Reagan administration to cut defense spending. … Kerry refused to commit himself to saving any military program and lectured mayors on the poor economics of much defense spending."  (Sen. John Kerry, Third Presidential Debate, Tempe, AZ, 10/13/04; Kevin Landrigan, "Kerry: Defense Bills Aren't Jobs Bills," The [Lowell, MA] Sun, 2/14/86)

7.   FactCheck.Org:  Kerry's Claim That 500,000 Children Lost After-School Programs Simply "Isn't The Case" Because "Congress Kept Funding At About $1 Billion."  ("New And Recycled Distortions At Final Presidential Debate," FactCheck.Org, 10/14/04, Available At http://www.factcheck.org/article281.html, Accessed 10/14/04)

8.   FactCheck.Org:  Kerry's Claim That President Bush "Has Taken A $5.6 Trillion Surplus And Turned It Into Deficits As Far As The Eye Can See" Is An Exaggeration When "The Country Never Actually Had A $5.6 Trillion Surplus" And "The Largest Annual Surplus Actually Realized Was $236 Billion In Fiscal Year 2000, Which Ended A Month Before Bush Was Elected."  ("New And Recycled Distortions At Final Presidential Debate," FactCheck.Org, 10/14/04, Available At http://www.factcheck.org/article281.html, Accessed 10/14/04)

• According To USA Today, "The Federal Budget Never Showed A Surplus Anywhere Near" What Kerry Claimed.  ("Misleading Statements From Both Candidates," USA Today, 10/14/04)

9.   FactCheck.Org:  Kerry's Claim That 1.6 Million Jobs Have Been Lost "Is 1 Million Too High."  ("New And Recycled Distortions At Final Presidential Debate," FactCheck.Org, 10/14/04, Available At http://www.factcheck.org/article281.html, Accessed 10/14/04)

10.  According To The Los Angeles Times, Kerry's $9,000 Pay Gap Is Based On A Study And Data That Some Analysts Consider "Ambiguous" And "Other Studies Have Reached The Opposite Conclusion."  (Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar and Warren Vieth, "Rivals Choose Their Numbers Wisely," Los Angeles Times, 10/14/04)

11.  FactCheck.Org:  Kerry's Claim That "I Have A Plan To Cover All Americans" For Health Care Is An Exaggeration When "His Plan Wouldn't Cover All Americans."  ("New And Recycled Distortions At Final Presidential Debate," FactCheck.Org, 10/14/04, Available At http://www.factcheck.org/article281.html, Accessed 10/14/04)

12.  According To The Washington Post, Kerry "Neglected To Say" That Education Funding Has "Increased About 60 Percent During Bush's Tenure."  (Glenn Kessler And Mike Allen, "Attacks Misleading And Out Of Context," The Washington Post, 10/14/04)

13.  Los Angeles Times:  Kerry's Accusations About The President's Tax Cuts Are "Incomplete" Because "The Tax Measures Passed Since Bush Took Office Have Reduced The Taxes Of All Income Classes."  (Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar And Warren Vieth, "Rivals Choose Their Numbers Wisely," Los Angeles Times, 10/14/04)

14.  The Washington Post Reported Kerry "Misspoke" When He Claimed That The Current Minimum Wage Is "The Lowest Minimum Wage Value It Has Been In Our Nation In 50 Years."  (Glenn Kessler And Mike Allen, "Candidates' Misleading Assertions Reveal Deep Divide," The Washington Post, 10/14/04)

15.  According To The New York Times, "Mr. Kerry Was Also Wrong In Saying The President's Refusal To Allow The Government To Negotiate Drug Prices Had Contributed To The Increase In Medicare Premiums Next Year." (David E. Rosenbaum, "Under Pressure, Mischaracterizations And Misstatements," The New York Times, 10/14/04)

16.  The Washington Post: "Kerry Misspoke When He Cited A Washington Post Article" Kerry Used While On Defensive About Being Called A "Tax-And-Spend Liberal."  "However, Kerry misspoke when he cited a Washington Post article on the issue, adding the figure of $3 trillion on top of the transition costs for private Social Security accounts." (Glenn Kessler And Mike Allen, "Candidates' Misleading Assertions Reveal Deep Divide," The Washington Post, 10/14/04)

17.  According To The Associated Press, Kerry's Claim About Cargo Inspections Is Wrong Because It "Ignores" Those Cargoes Inspected Before They Reach American Ports.  "Kerry's claim ignores that the manifests of all U.S.-bound cargo are screened before they reach American ports and all high-risk cargo is identified. U.S. officials then physically inspect the high-risk cargo - which accounts for about 5 percent of the overall total." (Calvin Woodward, "Bush Overlooks Own Flip-Flop in Debate," The Associated Press, 10/13/04)

18.  According To NBC's Brian Williams, Kerry's Charge That Big Drug Companies Would Get "A $139 Billion Windfall" From The Medicare Drug Benefit "Is Based On A Study That Has Since Been Countered."  (MSNBC's "Special Debate Coverage," 10/13/04)

19.  According To The New York Times, Kerry's Claim That The Bush Administration "Hasn't Fully Funded" The Veterans Affairs Department Is Wrong When "Budget Authority For The Department Increased, From $47.4 Billion In The 2001 Fiscal Year … To $60.3 Billion In The 2004 Fiscal Year." (David E. Rosenbaum, "Under Pressure, Mischaracterizations And Misstatements," The New York Times, 10/14/04)

20.  The New York Post Reported That Kerry Claimed A CBO Study Found The President's Social Security Reform Would Result In Benefit Cuts, But This Is "Not True." "The CBO found that benefit cuts would happen under certain (highly unlikely) assumptions." (Ramesh Ponnuru, "The Final Debate," The New York Post, 10/14/04)

21.  According To CNN, Kerry's Claim That Five Million Americans Have "Lost" Health Insurance "Is Not Correct."  ("CNN Political Unit Debate Fact Check," CNN.Com, Accessed 10/14/04)

22.  Kerry Misleadingly Said He Would "Do It In The Way That" President Ronald Reagan Did, But In The Past He Has Called The Reagan Administration Years Of "Moral Darkness" And During The Democrat Primary Said He Was "Proud" He "Stood Against" President Reagan.  Kerry invoked President Ronald Reagan's name at least twice during the third debate.  (Sen. John Kerry, Third Presidential Debate, Tempe, AZ, 10/13/04; Sen. John Kerry, Remarks At Democratic National Convention, Atlanta, GA, 7/20/88; Sen. John F. Kerry, Remarks At Democratic National Committee Conference, Washington, DC, 10/3/03)

[Samwise]

Democrats lie faster than the Republicans can refute them.

[My2Cents]

You might call these Kerry statements "exaggerations."

[Rakkasan1]

they forgot the story skerry told about hunting in SD. During the time he would have been hunting the "assault weapons" ban was still in place. this time the gun was called an AK47,last time the story was told it was an assault weapon.A lot of good the ban did then, right?

[lothor]

Kerry is an absolute MORON. When listening to the debate I actually found myself daydreaming when he was talking because during his answers, he NEVER pauses. He never gives the listener time to digest what has just been said.

On the other hand, although I suspect it's not intentional, The President frequently takes a break or two when he's speaking. When listening to GW, I found myself actually curious to hear what he's going to say next... especially during his pauses.

[T. Buzzard Trueblood]

Bump

[EdReform]

BTTT

[clyde asbury]

A lot of good the ban did then, right?

Absolutely.

Also, those criminals are very intimidated at the possibility of owning a weapon illegally.

[lothor]

Didn't Kerry also say that he received a long voice-mail message from his close friend Christopher Reeve. However, at the time of the message Mr. Reeve was reported to have been in a coma ?

Why is this not being brought to light ?

[milwguy]

I also thought the assault ban hunting in Iowa story was hilarious. If he was hunting and the assault ban was obviously still in effect, then the guy at the farm house running a drug lab was violating the law. What good did the law do Mr. Kerry, obviously, none,. The funny thing about criminals is that the reason they are criminals is that they do not obey laws, and in this case the assault gun ban which he championed had absolutely no affect on the criminal. What was the point he was trying to make?

[FreeAtlanta]

lol, a rose by any other name....

[FreeAtlanta]

Haven't fully automatic weapons (AK-47s) been illegal since the 1920s and the time of dealing with the mob?

[pollywog]

Democrats lie faster than the Republicans can refute them.

LOLOL!!! If this isn't the truth!!!

[woodb01]

bump for later read

See the new Anti-Dem portal:

http://www.noDNC.com/

[b2stealth]

I think Reagan's spirit will hunt this commy sKerry till the rest of his life..

[Conspiracy Guy]

Only 22?

[Rad_J]

KERRY: I have a record of fighting for fiscal responsibility. In 1985, I was one of the first Democrats — broke with my party. We balanced the budget in the '90s. We paid down the debt for two years.

Wrong, the national debt rose every year during the '90's.

Any budget surplus was spent under Clinton, not used to pay down the national debt.

A budget surplus is just like you getting a surprise bonus at work. It is not included on your family budget but it gets spent anyways.

http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opdpenny.htm

[johnnycap]

John Kerry is a SERIAL LIAR and always has been. This list needs to be made into a commercial. It should say, "It all sounds great when it comes out of his mouth but he will say anything at anytime, true or not..."

[Always Right]

2. According To The New York Times, "Kerry Was Not Accurate When He Said He Had Shown 'Exactly How' He Intended To Pay For All His Spending Proposals."

Quite the understatement. Kerry's key proposal of restoring the old tax rates on those earning more than $200,000, overstates the revenue generated by some 300%. Considering that is his biggest revenue generator, or tax increase, that is a whopper of an exaggeration.

[BunnySlippers]

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