Fred's Facts Check Out; Rudy's Don't

FactCheck.org ^ | Oct 10, 2007 | FactCheck

[esarlls3]

Fred's Facts Check Out; Rudy's Don't

October 10, 2007

Thompson avoids error at his GOP debate debut. But Giuliani commits multiple gaffes.

Summary

Former Sen. Fred Thompson got the facts straight for his GOP debate debut Oct. 9. But former Mayor Rudy Giuliani added to a lengthening string of exaggerations and misstatements:

• Giuliani claimed Sen. Hillary Clinton once called the free-market economy "the most destructive force in modern America." She didn't say that. She quoted another author who said free markets were "disruptive." She also said free markets bring prosperity.
• The mayor falsely claimed Clinton proposes to give $1,000 to "everybody." Her proposed subsidies to workers' retirement accounts would be for couples making up to $60,000 a year and would be $500 for those making up to $100,000.
• Giuliani falsely claimed that more than 2 percent of the nation's gross domestic product is spent on "frivolous" lawsuits. The figure is from a study about the cost of all lawsuits.

See analysis here: http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/freds_facts_check_out_rudys_dont.html

[esarlls3]

Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!

[Politicalmom]

You mean FRed isn't just bull-bleeping his way through the debate? That can't be right, everyone knows *long, boring, repetitious list of FRed's horrible "flaws"* and he has a trophy wife, to boot!!

PING!!

Fredipedia: The Definitive Fred Thompson Reference

WARNING: If you wish to join, be aware that this ping list is EXTREMELY active.

[americanophile]

"Giuliani claimed Sen. Hillary Clinton once called the free-market economy "the most destructive force in modern America." She didn't say that. She quoted another author who said free markets were "disruptive." She also said free markets bring prosperity."

That's a bad gaffe if its true. I have no doubt that she thinks that, but you can't misquote people.

[esarlls3]

See also from Fact Check:

Cop-Counting Cop-Out

October 9, 2007

Giuliani's wrong when he claims to have added 12,000 new NYC cops while he was mayor.

http://www.factcheck.org/cop-counting_cop-out.html

[Rick_Michael]

Facts don’t matter!? You just have to be a northeastern liberal republican to apply.

[Sonny M]

Giuliani's wrong when he claims to have added 12,000 new NYC cops while he was mayor.

Yes and No, and Factcheck is right.

How weird is that?

He can claim he did add 12,000 new cops, and the union (which hates him, because he screwed them) will say the same thing, but the way he did it, was fancy enron style math.

He folded groups that were never, ever considered "real" cops, and made then cops by mergining them.

If you play games with the math and accounting, you can make the numbers work, he did, he took his mergers, and counted them as gains.

I don't like it, I think its misleading (and dishonest) but it is still accurate.

By the way, if you think this was dishonest, check out his real economic background and tax record.

There is a reason why Ed Koch can honestly say he shrank government more then Rudy ever did.....and Koch is as big a liberal as anyone can ever find.

[Grunthor]

You mean that Fred knows his stuff and the “annointed one” was...shall I say it, wrong?

[Steely Tom]

I know the secret for beating Hillary.

It's this: be bigger than her.

OK. No jokes here. I don't mean "that" kind of "bigger."

I mean... be a bigger person than her.

Fred's got it. Rudy might too, but Fred's got more of it.

A gentle touch, judicious use of humor, and never losing your cool. It'll drive her bat-excrement.

Cause here's the thing about Hillary. Besides being dumb, she's petty.

[paudio]

IIRC, Reagan also made several mistakes with his data in his debates...

[malia]

I wonder what Saul Alinsky and also Noam Chomsky thoughts were/are on free-market economy, whether they consider(ed) it “the most destructive force in modern America.”

[Cowboy Bob]

I caught a few minutes of CNBC yesterday morning (6:30am EST). Fred had mentioned during the Debate that Congress had an 11% approval rating. According to CNBC, that was a falsehood. They posted some polls that said that Congress's ratings were around 26-28% (IIRC).

I've heard the 11% figure recently. What's the deal?

[freeangel]

saving

[guinnessman]

Yesterday afternoon, on the Roe Conn show in WLS in Chicago, they had on Laura Schwartz, who’s a Democratic consultant, to give analysis of the debate.

She ridiculed Thompson for proposing that Social Security benefits be indexed for inflation, claiming that SS benefits already are indexed for inflation.

But from this factcheck.org piece, I get the impression that benefits aren’t indexed for inflation.

Who’s correct?

[TheRake]

Whew! I thought you said pretty! It’s early.

[Fresh Wind]

I've heard the 11% figure recently. What's the deal?

Depends on which poll you cite. The 11% figure was from Zogby.

[Cowboy Bob]

The 11% figure was from Zogby.

Thanks for that information. Why would CNBC bash Fred for citing the 11% figure, when a poll actually exists?

CNBC - Fact Check Fraud?

[raybbr]

Some more Rooty news.

[johnny7]

Lets hope Rooty/Romney lie their way out of contention...

[Brilliant]

It’s kinda hard to prove a negative. What evidence is there that she did NOT say that?

[W04Man]

THE MAN WITH PRINCIPLES AND NOTHING BUT THE FACTS!

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