Statements we say are Half-True
Obama
Half-True
Obama says his bill "reduced welfare rolls nearly 80 percent."

Barack Obama on Monday, June 30th, 2008 in a TV ad. >>Details


Obama
Half-True
John McCain "opposed legislation to fund levees and flood control programs, which he considers pork."

Barack Obama on Saturday, June 21st, 2008 in remarks to U.S. Conference of Mayors >>Details


Obama
Half-True
Barack Obama "extended health care for wounded troops who’d been neglected."

Barack Obama on Thursday, June 12th, 2008 in a television ad >>Details


McCain
Half-True
We are "borrowing Saudi money for Saudi oil" with the result being "dependency and debt."

John McCain on Tuesday, June 17th, 2008 in Houston, Texas >>Details


Obama
Half-True
We're borrowing money from China and Saudi Arabia "to finance this war" in Iraq.

Barack Obama on Tuesday, May 13th, 2008 in Cape Girardeau, Mo. >>Details


The Democratic National Committee
Half-True
John McCain says he never supported the privatization of Social Security, even though video shows he did.

The Democratic National Committee on Friday, June 13th, 2008 in a Web ad >>Details


McCain
Half-True
"Casualties and deaths are at (their) lowest point since literally the beginning" of the war.

John McCain on Monday, June 2nd, 2008 in a town hall meeting in Nashville, Tenn. >>Details


Chain e-mail
Half-True
Obama's wife said her goal in life was to put the black community "first and foremost."

Chain e-mail on Tuesday, May 13th, 2008 in a chain e-mail >>Details


Obama
Half-True
A gas tax holiday is a gimmick that "every economist says will just go into the pockets of the oil companies."

Barack Obama on Tuesday, May 13th, 2008 in a Q&A in Cape Girardeau, Mo. >>Details


MoveOn.org
Half-True
McCain "voted against a bill to ban waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban."

MoveOn.org on Saturday, April 5th, 2008 in an e-mail >>Details


MoveOn.org
Half-True
"The pastor McCain calls his 'spiritual guide,' Rod Parsley, believes America's founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls a 'false religion.' "

MoveOn.org on Saturday, April 5th, 2008 in an e-mail message >>Details


Clinton
Half-True
"If West Virginia had voted for our Democratic nominee in 2000 and 2004, we wouldn't have had to put up with George Bush for the last 7½ years."

Hillary Clinton on Monday, May 12th, 2008 in Logan, W. Va. >>Details


McCain
Half-True
"We spend a staggering amount of money on health care — over $2-trillion and almost twice as much as any other country per person."

John McCain on Monday, April 28th, 2008 in a campaign stop at Miami children’s hospital >>Details


Obama
Half-True
"If Senator Clinton or John McCain had stood up in previous years for increases in fuel efficiency standards . . . then we would not be in this same situation in the first place."

Barack Obama on Sunday, May 4th, 2008 in an appearance on NBC's Meet the Press. >>Details


McCain
Half-True
Barack Obama "wants to nearly double the capital gains tax" increasing taxes on "mutual funds, 401(k)s" for "policemen, firemen, nurses."

John McCain on Sunday, April 20th, 2008 in in an interview on "This Week." >>Details


The Democratic National Committee
Half-True
"McCain has voted repeatedly at least six times against funding for global HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB fund, once as one of only 14 senators."

The Democratic National Committee on Monday, April 28th, 2008 in a news release. >>Details


Obama
Half-True
Hillary Clinton is "willing to have workers' wages garnisheed if they refuse to buy health insurance."

Barack Obama on Friday, April 18th, 2008 in a television ad >>Details


Obama
Half-True
"Hillary Clinton supported NAFTA and permanent China trade. Pennsylvania lost thousands of jobs."

Barack Obama on Thursday, April 17th, 2008 in a mailer to Pennsylvania voters >>Details


Clinton
Half-True
"Obama voted for the Bush-Cheney energy bill that put $6-billion in the pocket of big oil."

Hillary Clinton on Tuesday, April 15th, 2008 in a TV ad airing in Pennsylvania. >>Details


Obama
Half-True
Barack Obama's network of small donors constitutes a "parallel public financing system."

Barack Obama on Tuesday, April 8th, 2008 in Washington, D.C. >>Details


Obama
Half-True
"He took on special interests and won, passing the toughest ethics law yet."

Barack Obama on Monday, April 14th, 2008 in a television ad. >>Details


Clinton
Half-True
"I did very well with young people in Ohio, Massachusetts, California."

Hillary Clinton on Tuesday, March 25th, 2008 in a news conference in Greensburg, Pa. >>Details


MoveOn.org
Half-True
"He positions himself as pro environment, but he scored a zero — yes, zero — from the League of Conservation Voters last year."

MoveOn.org on Saturday, April 5th, 2008 in an e-mail message >>Details


Clinton
Half-True
McCain's "plan for the economy is to extend George Bush’s tax cuts for billionaires and give a $100-billion additional corporate tax cut."

Hillary Clinton on Tuesday, April 1st, 2008 in Philadelphia. >>Details


Clinton
Half-True
"I've been standing up against ... the Chinese government over women's rights and standing up for human rights."

Hillary Clinton on Wednesday, March 5th, 2008 in an interview on CNN's American Morning >>Details


Clinton
Half-True
"I helped to bring peace to Northern Ireland."

Hillary Clinton on Wednesday, March 5th, 2008 in an interview on CNN's American Morning. >>Details


Republican National Committee
Half-True
"Obama's liberal fiscal agenda: Over $874-billion in new spending."

Republican National Committee on Friday, February 29th, 2008 in a graphic on the RNC website. >>Details


Obama
Half-True
A mailer from the Obama campaign "accurately indicates" that Hillary Clinton would "force uninsured people to buy insurance, even if they can't afford it."

Barack Obama on Tuesday, February 26th, 2008 in Cleveland, Ohio >>Details


Clinton
Half-True
Barack Obama said in 2004 "that he basically agreed with the way George Bush was conducting the war."

Hillary Clinton on Tuesday, February 26th, 2008 in Cleveland, Ohio >>Details


Clinton
Half-True
"I want to freeze interest rates for five years."

Hillary Clinton on Thursday, January 31st, 2008 in Los Angeles, Calif. >>Details


The Democratic National Committee
Half-True
The DNC says McCain flip-flopped on whether the Iraq War would be easy.

The Democratic National Committee on Thursday, February 14th, 2008 in a Web video. >>Details


Clinton
Half-True
"On issue after issue that really were hard to explain or understand, you voted present . . . And anytime anyone raises that, there's always some kind of explanation."

Hillary Clinton on Monday, January 21st, 2008 in Myrtle Beach, S.C. >>Details


McCain
Half-True
"(Romney's) record was that he raised taxes by $730-million."

John McCain on Wednesday, January 30th, 2008 in a debate in Simi Valley, Calif. >>Details


Huckabee
Half-True
"Let's not blame President Bush for all of this. We've got a Congress who sat around on their hands and done nothing but spend a lot of money ... leaving us $9-trillion in debt that we're passing on to our grandchildren."

Mike Huckabee on Wednesday, January 30th, 2008 in a debate in Simi Valley, Calif. >>Details


McCain
Half-True
Hillary Clinton wants to "wave the white flag of surrender and set a date for withdrawal."

John McCain on Thursday, January 24th, 2008 in a debate in Boca Raton. >>Details


Huckabee
Half-True
"The average American is working through the month of May just to pay off the government."

Mike Huckabee on Friday, January 25th, 2008 in a debate in Boca Raton. >>Details


Obama
Half-True
"But it was Hillary Clinton, in an interview with Tom Brokaw, who quote 'paid tribute' to Ronald Reagan's economic and foreign policy."

Barack Obama on Wednesday, January 23rd, 2008 in a radio ad in South Carolina >>Details


Giuliani
Half-True
"Bill Clinton's peace dividend . . . cut the military 25 and 30 percent."

Rudy Giuliani on Thursday, January 24th, 2008 in a Republican debate in Boca Raton. >>Details


Clinton
Half-True
The Bush administration has "the Pentagon trying to take away the signing bonuses when a soldier gets wounded and ends up in the hospital, something that I'm working with a Republican senator to try to make sure never can happen again."

Hillary Clinton on Tuesday, January 15th, 2008 in a debate in Las Vegas >>Details


McCain
Half-True
"Congress just passed another huge, pork-filled spending bill. The Democrats allowed less than a day to read all 3,400 pages and stuffed it with nearly 10,000 earmarks costing about $10-billion dollars."

John McCain on Saturday, January 12th, 2008 in a speech to the Americans for Prosperity Michigan summit in Livonia, Mich. >>Details


Obama
Half-True
Says he passed a bill to stop a military requirement that wounded soldiers pay for meals and phone calls.

Barack Obama on Tuesday, January 15th, 2008 in a debate in Las Vegas >>Details


Edwards
Half-True
"I believe, Senator Clinton, you've raised more money from those people (the oil and gas industry) than any candidate, Democrat or Republican."

John Edwards on Tuesday, January 15th, 2008 in Las Vegas >>Details


Clinton
Half-True
Barack Obama "said in 2004 there was no difference between (Obama) and George Bush on the war."

Bill Clinton on Tuesday, January 8th, 2008 in Dartmouth, N.H. >>Details


Obama
Half-True
"You've got a building in the Cayman Islands that supposedly houses 12,000 corporations. That's either the biggest building or the biggest tax scam on record."

Barack Obama on Saturday, January 5th, 2008 in a debate in Manchester, N.H. >>Details


Clinton
Half-True
“You said you would vote against the Patriot Act, then you came to the Senate, you voted for it.”

Hillary Clinton on Saturday, January 5th, 2008 in a debate in Manchester, N.H. >>Details


Giuliani
Half-True
"Bill Clinton cut the military drastically."

Rudy Giuliani on Saturday, January 5th, 2008 in a debate in Manchester, N.H. >>Details


Huckabee
Half-True
"...some of those (tax increases) were either court-ordered, or they were voted on by the people and approved by the people for (such) things as roads."

Mike Huckabee on Sunday, December 30th, 2007 in a TV interview on NBC. >>Details


Thompson
Half-True
"He's a good man but he's a pro-life liberal. He's right on the pro-life part, but he's a liberal."

Fred Thompson on Wednesday, November 7th, 2007 in a Nashville radio interview. >>Details


Huckabee
Half-True
Says he has "the most impressive education record" of the Republican candidates.

Mike Huckabee on Wednesday, December 12th, 2007 in a debate in Des Moines, Iowa >>Details


Club for Growth
Half-True
"As governor, Mike Huckabee supported higher income taxes, sales taxes, gas taxes, grocery taxes, tobacco taxes, beer taxes, Internet taxes, nursing home bed taxes."

Club for Growth on Wednesday, December 26th, 2007 in a TV ad >>Details


Romney
Half-True
"I'm prolife. I'm not going to apologize for becoming prolife. Ronald Reagan followed that same course, as did Henry Hyde and George Herbert Walker Bush. And I'm proud to be prolife."

Mitt Romney on Wednesday, December 12th, 2007 in debate in Johnston, Iowa >>Details


Clinton
Half-True
"Thanks to President Bush's policies....The income gap is now higher than at any time since the Great Depression."

Hillary Clinton on Monday, November 19th, 2007 in Knoxville, Iowa >>Details


Romney
Half-True
Huckabee supported "a tuition break to the children of illegals that are here illegally when citizens are having to pay a higher rate."

Mitt Romney on Wednesday, December 5th, 2007 in an interview >>Details


Clinton
Half-True
Barack Obama's health care plan "would leave 15-million Americans out.”

Hillary Clinton on Thursday, November 15th, 2007 in Las Vegas, Nev. >>Details


Huckabee
Half-True
"Fred's never had a 100 percent record on right-to-life in his Senate career. The records reflect that. And he doesn't support the human life amendment, which is most amazing because that's been a part of the Republican platform since 1980."

Mike Huckabee on Sunday, November 18th, 2007 in an appearance on Fox News Sunday >>Details


Giuliani
Half-True
"Murder went up" when Romney was governor. "Robbery went up. Violent crimes went up.”

Rudy Giuliani on Saturday, November 24th, 2007 in a newspaper interview. >>Details


Giuliani
Half-True
"The $2.3-billion budget deficit I inherited when I came into office became a $2.9-billion surplus."

Rudy Giuliani on Sunday, July 1st, 2007 in “Innovators in Action” magazine >>Details


Clinton
Half-True
"Americans spend 100-million hours a year filling out these forms (FAFSA). That is the equivalent of 55,500 full-time jobs."

Hillary Clinton on Thursday, October 11th, 2007 in Plymouth, N.H. >>Details


Giuliani
Half-True
"America never made up for the gutting of the intelligence services that Bill Clinton did. I think those are (former CIA director George) Tenet’s words ... that Bill Clinton gutted American intelligence."

Rudy Giuliani on Friday, November 2nd, 2007 in a television interview. >>Details


Huckabee
Half-True
"As governor of Arkansas, I cut taxes and fees almost 100 times, saving the taxpayers almost $380-million. I left a surplus of nearly $850-million."

Mike Huckabee on Thursday, August 2nd, 2007 in a news release. >>Details


Clinton
Half-True
"My husband has not withheld a single document."

Hillary Clinton on Sunday, November 4th, 2007 in Clinton, Iowa >>Details


Romney
Half-True
"John McCain is right on that one. The line-item veto is the best tool the president has to rein in excessive spending."

Mitt Romney on Tuesday, October 9th, 2007 in an interview on CNBC. >>Details


McCain
Half-True
"Our tax code is so complicated it extracts $140 billion in extra tax preparation costs every year - one thousand dollars for every American family."

John McCain on Friday, September 28th, 2007 in a speech to the Hispanic Business Expo in Detroit. >>Details


Tancredo
Half-True
"There was a report that came out from the FBI – a warning, not a report ... saying that, in fact, al-Qaida was planning to attack malls during the Christmas holidays."

Tom Tancredo on Tuesday, November 13th, 2007 in an interview on CNN. >>Details


Richardson
Half-True
"I've got the most international experience here."

Bill Richardson on Tuesday, October 30th, 2007 in a Democratic debate in Philadelphia, Pa. >>Details


Obama
Half-True
"I'm the only person on this stage who has worked actively just last year passing, along with Russ Feingold, some of the toughest ethics reform since Watergate."

Barack Obama on Tuesday, October 30th, 2007 in a Democratic debate in Philadelphia, Pa. >>Details


Clinton
Half-True
Sen. Obama "made the very argument he is now criticizing back in November 2006."

Hillary Clinton on Thursday, October 25th, 2007 in >>Details


Obama
Half-True
Obama spokesman Bill Burton says Clinton gave Bush "a blank check on a critical foreign policy issue."

Barack Obama on Sunday, October 21st, 2007 in >>Details


Richardson
Half-True
"Going to public financing really disadvantages Democrats because you’re not able to raise funds between the day you win the primaries and the time you’re officially nominated.”

Bill Richardson on Friday, October 5th, 2007 in an interview on CNN >>Details


Richardson
Half-True
"Fences have not worked. The Great Wall of China, the Berlin Wall. That's not good among peoples, especially friends like the United States and Mexico."

Bill Richardson on Friday, October 5th, 2007 in an interview on CNN. >>Details


Romney
Half-True
President Clinton "reduced the scale of our military dramatically."

Mitt Romney on Sunday, October 21st, 2007 in a Republican debate in Orlando, Fla. >>Details


Biden
Half-True
"First, he said he would take all of our troops out in six months, and now he acknowledges it would take a year."

Joe Biden on Friday, October 12th, 2007 in >>Details


Edwards
Half-True
"John Edwards never -- has ever from the beginning of his political career has never taken PAC money or the money of Washington lobbyists. Ever." -Joe Trippi, senior campaign adviser

John Edwards on Thursday, September 20th, 2007 in a television interview. >>Details


McCain
Half-True
"Earmarked dollars have doubled just since 2000, and more than tripled in the last 10 years."

John McCain on Monday, October 8th, 2007 in a campaign Web site. >>Details


Giuliani
Half-True
"I cut taxes 23 times when I was mayor of New York City."

Rudy Giuliani on Tuesday, October 9th, 2007 in a debate in Dearborn, Mich. >>Details


McCain
Half-True
"A lot of people don't know that 50,000 Americans now make their living off eBay."

John McCain on Tuesday, October 9th, 2007 in Dearborn, Mich. >>Details


Edwards
Half-True
Rural schools "face the highest dropout rates, the lowest college enrollment rates, have the lowest average teacher salaries..."

John Edwards on Friday, September 21st, 2007 in Des Moines, Iowa. >>Details


Clinton
Half-True
"Hillary stood up for universal health care when almost no one else would, and kept standing till 6-million kids had coverage."

Hillary Clinton on Thursday, October 4th, 2007 in a TV ad airing in Iowa and New Hampshire. >>Details


Romney
Half-True
“I have not changed my position on the (gay) marriage amendment or anything else related to marriage."

Mitt Romney on Friday, September 14th, 2007 in an interview on MSNBC >>Details


Romney
Half-True
"It doesn't make sense to me to send $1-billion a day out of our country. We can be energy independent and should be."

Mitt Romney on Wednesday, September 19th, 2007 in Florida. >>Details


Giuliani
Half-True
"When I was mayor of New York City, I encouraged adoptions. Adoptions went up 65-70 percent. Abortions went down 16 percent."

Rudy Giuliani on Thursday, May 3rd, 2007 in >>Details


Romney
Half-True
"Mayor Giuliani made New York City what's known as a 'sanctuary city,' where illegal aliens were allowed to come. And he instructed the leaders of the city not to enforce the law, not to enforce immigration law."

Mitt Romney on Tuesday, August 14th, 2007 in a campaign event carried on CNN. >>Details


Romney
Half-True
"The Republican governor who stood up and cut spending instead of raising taxes."

Mitt Romney on Friday, September 21st, 2007 in a television ad. >>Details


Gravel
Half-True
"21-million Americans could have a four-year college scholarship for the money we've squandered in Iraq. 7.6-million teachers could have been hired last year if we weren’t squandering this money."

Mike Gravel on Thursday, June 28th, 2007 in Washington, DC. >>Details


Clinton
Half-True
Her health care plan will cost $110-billion in the first year, which can be paid for with savings.

Hillary Clinton on Monday, September 17th, 2007 in a speech in Des Moines, Iowa. >>Details


Kucinich
Half-True
"Our whole food system in this country...most of it is genetically engineered. And (there is) no testing for the health consequences of this food."

Dennis Kucinich on Monday, August 27th, 2007 in a forum on cancer organized by Lance Armstrong. >>Details


Obama
Half-True
"During his tenure in Washington and in the Illinois State Senate, Barack Obama has accumulated a record of bipartisan success."

Barack Obama on Thursday, September 6th, 2007 in the campaign's website. >>Details


Biden
Half-True
"Joe Biden is the only candidate with a plan to get us out of Iraq and keep us out."

Joe Biden on Friday, September 14th, 2007 in a television ad. >>Details


Dodd
Half-True
“John Kerry was at 4 percent in the polls in December of 2003...and he ended up becoming the nominee of the party.”

Chris Dodd on Wednesday, August 29th, 2007 in an interview on CNN's The Situation Room >>Details


Kucinich
Half-True
"When NAFTA was passed, there was an acceleration of immigration from Mexico because people were in search of jobs."

Dennis Kucinich on Sunday, September 9th, 2007 in a debate in Miami, Fla. >>Details


Thompson
Half-True
We live in "a time of historically low violent crime rates and historically high gun ownership rates nationally."

Fred Thompson on Tuesday, August 21st, 2007 in article on his campaign Web site >>Details


Romney
Half-True
"(McCain) said he was opposed to overturning Roe v. Wade. Now he's for overturning Roe v. Wade."

Mitt Romney on Thursday, April 26th, 2007 in Stratham, N.H. >>Details


Republican National Committee
Half-True
Barack Obama supported keeping troops in Iraq, but now he wants a "precipitous withdrawal" regardless of "conditions on the ground" or "consequences of a defeat for the United States," an RNC radio ad.

Republican National Committee on Sunday, July 22nd, 2007 in a radio ad. >>Details


Republican National Committee
Half-True
Hillary Clinton was against setting a deadline for withdrawal, but now she wants a "precipitous withdrawal" regardless of "conditions on the ground" or "consequences of a defeat for the United States," an RNC radio ad.

Republican National Committee on Sunday, July 22nd, 2007 in a radio ad. >>Details


Thompson
Half-True
"... study after study has shown that the death penalty deters murders."

Fred Thompson on Monday, August 20th, 2007 in an ABC radio commentary. >>Details


Obama
Half-True
"He's leading by example, refusing contributions from PACs and Washington lobbyists."

Barack Obama on Tuesday, August 21st, 2007 in a TV ad. >>Details


Dodd
Half-True
"Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have changed their positions (on the Iraq war withdrawal) to follow Chris Dodd."

Chris Dodd on Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007 in a TV ad. >>Details


Giuliani
Half-True
“Democrats are kind of falling over each other seeing who can raise taxes faster. It looks like they’re going to raise taxes anywhere between 20 to 30 percent.”

Rudy Giuliani on Monday, July 30th, 2007 in a speech in Laconia, New Hampshire. >>Details


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PolitiFact is a project of the St. Petersburg Times and Congressional Quarterly to help you find the truth in the presidential campaign. Every day, reporters and researchers from the Times and CQ will analyze the candidates' speeches, TV ads and interviews and determine whether the claims are accurate. >> More

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