Fact Check on Iowa Debate

I continually get a kick out of reviewing Fact Check after debates. You could almost say that they are pro-Fred because they never mention him as exaggerating anything or lying about anything. Of course the reality is that Fred just gets his stuff right. Have you noticed that Fred usually has no public events the day before a debate? Guess what he is doing? Yep, getting his facts straight.

The Iowa debate is no different. FactCheck.org weighed in on about everyone except Fred from the Iowa debate. Here is the summary:

In the Dec. 12 Republican presidential debate in Des Moines:

* Arizona Sen. John McCain promised to make the U.S. “oil independent” within five years, a goal experts say can’t be achieved.

* Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney claimed American students score in the bottom quarter among industrial nations, but they score about average in the most recent tests.

* Romney also claimed that federal programs to prevent teen pregnancy are “obviously not working,” while in fact births are dramatically below what they were in 1991 despite a relatively small increase last year.

* Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said a big federal tax cut would produce “a major boost in revenues for the government,” a notion that nearly all economists say is a fantasy.

* Former Gov. Mike Huckabee claimed he had the most impressive record on education of any GOP candidate, even though Arkansas children scored below the national average while those in Romney’s Massachusetts were No. 1.

* Rep. Duncan Hunter claimed the cost of administering and complying with the federal income tax is $250 billion a year, far higher than the figure given by a recent presidential advisory commission.