GOP Candidates: What is Truth?

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Fact Check—GOP hopefuls

There is no candor in the GOP candidates.

Once again, the GOP candidates demonstrate their loose affiliation with the truth. First out of the gate is Rick Perry, who declared in the latest debate he had never advocated turning Social Security over to the states. But, last year, he said Let the states do it.

Artistic rendering of the GOP debate

Michele Bachmann misread presidential approval polls, then denied making a statement she made week before regarding HPV vaccinations. And Mitt Romney denied supporting an Obama administration education program that he formerly praised.

Some consider the most consequential moment of the debate was GOP front runner Perry’s flip-flip on Social Security.

The Texas governor’s position on Social Security changes with the audience. In this debate, he said believes that states should be allowed to exempt certain state or local government employees from the program in favor of a state-approved alternative. That’s a reality in some states—including Texas.

GOP candidates pledge allegiance prior to debate

Perry claimed he wanted to dismantle Social Security as a federal entitlement and make states responsible for basic retirement security of all its residents. Yet, he asserted in the debate, We never said that we were going to move this back to the states. Then, he seemed to favor state-sponsored Social Security. In a November appearance on MSNBC, he said of Social Security, Get it back to the states. Why is the federal government even in the pension program or the health care delivery program? Let the states do it.

What’s clear is Perry trashed Social Security as a Ponzi scheme and crumbling monument to the failure of the new deal. He’s since backtracked since rival Romney came to the defense of the popular entitlement.

Which Perry should we believe: neither or both?

Here’s a review of statements from the AP by the GOP hopefuls contrasted with the facts.


BACHMANN: President Obama has the lowest public approval ratings of any president in modern time.

THE FACTS: That’s true, if you leave out Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, George W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Lyndon Johnson, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and Gerald Ford. All of them at some point in their terms dipped lower than Obama’s low point of 38 percent job approval, including GOP presidents, according to Gallup.


ROMNEY: I don’t support any particular program that he’s describing he said, disputing Perry’s claim that Romney favors some of President Barack Obama’s education initiatives, specifically the Race to the Top program.

THE FACTS: GOPer Romney was reluctant to tell Republican primary voters he doesn’t hate every Obama policy. Romney supports some of the specific policy changes encouraged by the Race to the Top program. He stated so on Wednesday in Miami. He praised the president’s education secretary, Arne Duncan, for the program. During debate, Romney acknowledged supporting elements of the initiative, including teacher evaluations and charter schools.


ROMNEY: I believe government is too big. It’s gone from 27 percent of our economy in the years of JFK to 37 percent of our economy.

THE FACTS: More lies, damned lies, and statistics from the GOP? Well, sort of… Romney included state and local government spending along with federal spending. Most of the big increases came from Social Security and Medicare payments. Medicare started after Kennedy’s presidency. Now it is one of the biggest government spending programs, and one of the most popular. Federal spending alone accounted for 23.8% of the GDP last year and is expected to reach 25.3% this year.


PERRY: It’s not the first time that Mitt has been wrong on some issues before. And the bottom line is, we never said that we were going to move this (Social Security) back to the states

ROMNEY: Well, it’s different than what the governor put in his book just, what, six months (ago), and what you said in your interviews following the book. So I don’t know. There’s a Rick Perry out there (who) … says that the federal government shouldn’t be in the pension business, that it’s unconstitutional. Unconstitutional and it should be returned to the states.

THE FACTS: Perry heavily criticized Social Security, advocated states’ rights, and suggested federal entitlements were unconstitutional in general. But, he never tied these beliefs together as succinctly as GOP candidate Romney claimed. Romney did come close to calling Social Security unconstitutional, stating the program tosses aside any respect for our founding principles of federalism. If only the New Dealers had been kind enough to allow workers to make their own choice about whether to participate Is he pandering to the hard-right GOP when he said Social Security was introduced at the expense of respect for the Constitution and limited government.


ROMNEY: Obama addressed the United Nations in his inaugural address and chastised our friend, Israel, for building settlements, and said nothing about Hamas launching thousands of rockets into Israel.

THE FACTS: Obama in his 2009 address to the U.N. General Assembly by no means ignored the plight of Israelis. Describing those who pay the greatest price for the conflict, Obama spoke of an Israeli girl in the Sderot, which borders the Gaza strip, who closes her eyes in fear that a rocket will take her life in the middle of the night. The area has been the target of hundreds of rockets fired into Israel from Hamas-controlled Gaza.

The president also rejected the legitimacy of Israeli settlement construction in lands the Palestinians want for their state. This sentiment is largely reflective of American thinking over the last three-and-a-half decades. The Obama administration later vetoed a U.N. resolution that would have condemned Israel for the policy.


BACHMANN: I didn’t make that claim nor did I make that statement, she said when asked by a moderator if she stood by her comment that the HPV vaccine against cervical cancer was potentially dangerous.

THE FACTS: Bachmann, the GOP’s Ms. Malaprop, can’t escape the tape. Bachmann used that exact phrase during the last debate when she criticized Perry for trying to order pre-teen girls to get the vaccine in Texas. Little girls who have a negative reaction to this potentially dangerous drug don’t get a mulligan. They don’t get a do-over, Bachmann said then. Now, she’s distancing herself from remarks she made after the debate linking the vaccine to mental retardation—a claim debunked by scientists.

You can view her Bushisms at the previous debate here.

The audience can skp the GOP debates nothing new

PERRY: A friend and GOP financial supporter was also a lobbyist for HPV vaccine maker. Perry had to backpedal his position on the vaccine: I got lobbied by a 31-year-old young lady who had stage 4 cervical cancer. I spent a lot of time with her. She came by my office. She talked to me about this program.

THE FACTS: Perry met the cancer patient, Heather Burcham, only after he issued the inoculation order, with an opt-out provision, on February 2, 2007. He came under immediate criticism from conservatives in the Legislature. Perry said at Heather Burcham’s funeral that he had met her when she visited the Texas Capitol on February 19 to ask him to stand by his order and not retract it.


Mad Mike’s America thanks AP.


Do you have any GOP truthiness to share?

About Post Author

Dorothy Anderson

I want to know what you think and why, especially if we disagree. Civil discourse is free speech: practice daily. Always question your perspective.
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Bradley Scott
12 years ago

The fact that these…I can’t think of a title they’re worthy of without insulting some one. But, the fact that they will stand flat-footed and lie straight out, even though they must know that the truth that condemns them-their own words-is on tape, in the papers, in their own books just proves that should not be believed, trusted, and damn sure should not be elected dog-catchers, much less President.
Their entire manner shows that they are convinced that they are etitled not only to their own opinions, but their own facts as well.

12 years ago

Aww shucks… 🙂

12 years ago

The nitwits can’t be believed. Thanks for doing the dirty work so we don’t have to.

Admin
12 years ago

I can’t think of a single thing a Republican said that would equal full truth Dorothy. GREAT post by the way. I don’t pay attention to their debates but I enjoyed this read immensely.

lazersedge
12 years ago

Nope. You did a beautiful job Dorothy. Great post.

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