and the AP also found oopses and false statements and....lets call it what they are, LIES.
By way of MSNBC.com:
The truth vs. talking points: Fact-checking the GOP debate in Florida
From Social Security to HPV vaccines, a look at how the claims compare with the facts
updated 9/13/2011 7:58:11 AM ET 2011-09-13T11:58:11
WASHINGTON — Rick Perry 1.0 thought Social Security was a "disease" inflicted on the population by the federal government.
Rick Perry 2.0 thinks Social Security deserves being saved "for generations to come."
That metamorphosis by the Republican presidential hopeful over recent months contributed to some factual stretches Monday night in a GOP debate , both by the Texas governor and his opponents for the nomination.
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.A look at some of the claims in the debate and how they compare with the facts:
PERRY: On Social Security for younger workers, "No one's had the courage to stand up and say, here is how we're going to reform it."
THE FACTS: Many have done just that. Former President George W. Bush and a variety of Republicans since, including some running for president now, have stood for the position that Social Security should be partially privatized, enabling younger workers to divert some of their payroll taxes to individual investment accounts while the entitlement program is kept whole for those already using it or close to retirement.
.MITT ROMNEY: "The real issue is, in writing his book, Gov. Perry pointed out that in his view that Social Security is unconstitutional, that this is not something the federal government ought to be involved in, that instead it should be given back to the states."
THE FACTS: Perry indeed roundly criticized Social Security in his book, but not quite to the point of calling it unconstitutional. In words he is trying to walk back now, Perry branded the program the "best example" of the "fraud" and "bad disease" spread by Washington in Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. Perry furthermore criticized the Supreme Court of that era for "abdicating its role as the protector of constitutional federalism."
That falls somewhere short of declaring Social Security unconstitutional. Nor has Perry pushed to transfer Social Security to the states, an idea he has promoted for Medicare.
Perry now has abandoned such rhetoric, adopting the conventional Republican view in a USA Today column Monday that its finances must be made whole to protect current and imminent retirees and make it viable for "generations to come."
MICHELE BACHMANN: Obama "stole over $500 billion out of Medicare to switch it over to Obamacare. ... These are programs that need to be saved to serve people, and in their current form, they can't."
ROMNEY: "He cut Medicare by $500 billion. This is a Democrat president. The liberal, so to speak, cut Medicare. Not Republicans, the Democrat."
THE FACTS: "Stole" is a hyperbolic way to describe the kinds of shifts in budget priorities that happen every day in Washington. To pay for expanded insurance coverage, Obama's health care law cuts $500 billion in payments to the Medicare Advantage program, which a congressional agency said was being overpaid — and to hospitals and nursing homes. Nearly all House Republicans, including Bachmann, later voted for a GOP budget plan that retained the same cuts Obama had made.
PERRY: The $814 billion economic stimulus program pushed by President Barack Obama "created zero jobs."
THE FACTS: There is no support for that assertion. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said last year that the stimulus increased the number of people employed by between 1.4 million and 3.3 million as of mid-2010. It cut the unemployment rate between 0.7 and 1.8 percentage points, the CBO found.
Economists debate whether the stimulus lived up to its promise or was worth the cost, but no one seriously argues that it created no jobs. Many believe it helped to end the recession even while falling short of its employment goals.
Most Outrageous line :
ReplyDeleteGINGRICH: I think we are at the edge of an enormous crisis in national security. I think that we are greatly underestimating the threat to this country. And I think that the day after we celebrated the 10th anniversary of 9/11
...
celebrated ? ? ?
how about memoralized those that lost their lives and the renewed our thanks for those that have worked tirelessly to help the families that were impacted.
So much for a history professor.
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Did anybody review this interchange :
BLITZER: Mr. Cain?
CAIN: Yes.
BLITZER: You were once with the Kansas City Federal Reserve. Should it be audited?
CAIN: Yes, it can -- it should be audited. And, secondly, I believe that its focus needs to be narrowed. I don't believe in ending the Fed; I believe in fixing the Fed.
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Cain was appointed as a Class C director of the Kansas City Fed board in 1992 and opposed auditing the Fed.
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As you pointed out, if this comment came out of a used-car salesman, you would never buy from him ...
CAIN: Start with optional personal retirement accounts. In 1981, the Galveston County employees, they opted out because that was a very short window of opportunity. They took it. Today, when people retire in Galveston County, Texas, they retire making at least 50 percent more than they would ever get out of Social Security.
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Interesting since this is an annuity ... meaning that a private company is standing behind the guarantee ... and The company that administers the Galveston Plan offers a guarantee of a minimum 4% return. I don't know who the guarantor is but I hope it is not someone like Lehmann Brothers ... or Bank of America.
I wonder what sort of "survivor's benefits" are available for the Alternate Plan ... pity the poor widow (or widower) raising a family that loses its bread-winner.
There are plenty of teachers that do not pay into Social Security and as such are bound to the changes that the Plan Administrator may make (ask an Ohio teacher how they feel about Governor Kasich.)
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Another one that deserves a comment
BLITZER: Senator Santorum, staying on the issue of spending, budget deficits, you voted for the prescription drug benefits for seniors when you were in the United States Senate costing about $1 trillion. If you had to do it over again, you wouldn't vote for that, but if you were president of the United States, would you repeal prescription drug benefits for seniors under Medicare?
SANTORUM: I think we have to keep a prescription drug component, but we have to pay for it. In other words, we have to have a program that is funded.
Now, the reason that that program has actually worked well is it's come in 40 percent under budget
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One reason costs came in under budget is that drug spending did not increase in the 2000s as fast as it increased in the 1990s. So initial cost projections likely overestimated how fast drug spending would grow during the first 10 years of the program.
Part of the reason for that is that there were more generic drugs coming onto the market and fewer new blockbuster drugs during the 2000s.
Another reason is that not as many people signed up for the benefit as the government expected. The government projected that about 93 percent of people who use Medicare would also sign up for the prescription drug benefit. But actual enrollment is only at about 77 percent of those eligible.
Regardless if it is coming in under budget, it still was not paid for ... it still adds to the spending ... thus it is adding to the debt ... and Santorum does not want to take it away.