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FactCheck.org: 4 out of 5 claims of Obama’s Congressional speech were false

Posted by Chet Nichols on Sep 15th, 2009 and filed under Feature. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

Obama-Abortion-LieFrom FactCheck.org

SUMMARY:

President Obama’s prime-time address to Congress and the nation on health care prompted a Republican congressman to shout “you lie!” Did he? Here’s what we’ve found:

  • Obama was correct when he said his plan wouldn’t insure illegal immigrants; the House bill expressly forbids giving subsidies to those who are in the country illegally. Conservative critics complain that the bill lacks an enforcement mechanism, but that hardly makes the president a liar.  PIN Comment:  While this is true, legislation at the time of Obama’s speech did not contain provision(s) that require proof of citizenship.  In fact, democrat members had blocked four separate amendments that would require proof of citizenship.
  • The president said “no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions.” But the House bill would permit a “public option” to cover all abortions, and would also permit federal subsidies to be used to purchase private insurance that covers all abortions, a point that raises objections from anti-abortion groups. That’s true despite a technical ban on use of taxpayer dollars to pay for abortion coverage. 
  • The president repeated his promise that his plan won’t add “one dime” to the federal deficit. But legislation offered so far would add hundreds of billions of dollars to the deficit over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office.  PIN Comment:  Neither President Obama, nor supporters of his plan, have provided facts to substantiate their “deficit neutral” claim.
  • The president overstated the degree of concentration in the insurance industry. He said that in 34 states the “insurance market” is controlled by five or fewer companies, but that’s true only of insurance bought by small groups, not the entire “insurance market.”  PIN Comment:  President Obama has yet to address the issue of interstate competition.
  • Obama said his plan won’t “require you or your employer to change the coverage or the doctor you have.” It’s true that there’s no requirement, but experts say the legislation could induce employers to switch coverage for millions of workers. 

Political Integrity Now believes that FactCheck.org provided a fair and non-partisan analysis of the the Presidents address to Congress. 

You can read their full analysis here.

Other articles of interest:

Rebutting Obama’s Health Care Speech (Dick Morris)

Just keep talking Obama

The more he talks, the less we beleive him

3 Responses for “FactCheck.org: 4 out of 5 claims of Obama’s Congressional speech were false”

  1. PJ says:

    Chet:

    Why does the text of your article show that in all 5 cases the President’s comments were either “true” or “true but could be questioned if looked at in a certain way” but your headline reads 4 out of 5 are false?

  2. Chet Nichols says:

    As you said, my headline reads “false”, It did not say that the President “lied”. The definitions of “false” include:

    • Incorrect: not conforming to facts or truth, was given false information
    • Mistaken: resulting from a mistaken belief or a misunderstanding, have a false impression of the situation
    • Artificial: imitating, copying, or having the same function as a particular thing and replacing or used alongside it
    • Deliberately deceptive: done with or having the intention of deceiving somebody
    false promises
    •Not genuine: intentionally made or adopted to deceive somebody
    false papers

    The headline was accurate, not a play on words, but based on the definition of “false”.

    http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861610379/false.html

  3. PJ says:

    I think you have this one pegged.
    Deliberately deceptive: done with or having the intention of deceiving somebody.
    This strains your credibility.
    Also the picture – not nice.

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