DEBUNKED CLAIM: MCCAIN WARNED ABOUT THE FINANCIAL CRISIS IN 2006
 
Ø  REALITY: McCain’s Implication That His 2006 Remarks On Fannie And Freddie Were A Warning About The Financial Markets Disaster Is “Quite A Stretch” And “Barely True.” “If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole,’ McCain declared in a May 26, 2006, news release. … The implication in McCain's remarks is that his remarks in 2006 were in some way a warning about the financial markets disaster that struck in 2008. That strikes us as quite a stretch. … His attempts to depict those efforts as some sort of early warning that could have lessened the current credit crisis just don't wash. All McCain was talking about then was the potential fallout of accounting troubles in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He didn't say anything about a freewheeling climate among creditors that had major financial institutions becoming badly leveraged on bad loans. We rule his claim Barely True.” [Politifact, accessed: 9/19/08]
 
DEBUNKED CLAIM: MCCAIN LED ON REINING IN EXECUTIVE PAY
 
Ø  REALITY: Obama “Called For Controls On Executive Compensation Much Earlier” Than McCain. The Obama campaign points out that its candidate has called for controls on executive compensation much earlier, sponsoring “say-on-pay” legislation in April 2007 that would have required public companies to hold a nonbinding shareholders vote on CEO pay. McCain hadn’t signed on to the bill, and a senior adviser told the Wall Street Journal that McCain opposed government regulations aiming to fix executive-pay issues.” [Factcheck.org, 9/24/08]
 
DEBUNKED CLAIM: MCCAIN LED ON THE HOUSING CRISIS
 
Ø  REALITY: In McCain’s September 19^th Speech He Called For The Creation Of A Mortgage And Financial Institutions Trust To Keep People In Their Homes Which “Sounds Awfully Similar To The Pronouncements” Of Obama. “In his Sept. 19 speech, McCain also called for the creation of a “Mortgage and Financial Institutions trust — the MFI,” which would “keep people in their homes and safe guard the life savings of all Americans by protecting our financial system and capital markets.” Sounds awfully similar to the pronouncements of another presidential candidate.” [Factcheck.org, 9/24/08]
DEBUNKED CLAIM: MCCAIN CAMPAIGN MANAGER RICK DAVIS WAS NOT BEING PAID BY FREDDIE MAC
Ø  REALITY: McCain Campaign “Has Been Unable To Demonstrating Factual Errors” In The Reporting That Campaign Manager Rick Davis’s Firm Was Being Paid By Freddie Mac Up Until August And Receives Three Pinocchio’s. “The McCain camp is furious with the New York Times for its reporting on the relationship between McCain campaign manager Rick Davis and the mortgage giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, that are at the center of the current financial crisis. … The ‘guilt by association’ war heated up last week when John McCain approved an ad accusing his rival, Barack Obama, of accepting advice on housing issues from the former chief executive of Fannie Mae, a claim denied by the Obama campaign. … On Wednesday, the Times reported that Freddie Mac had paid Davis's firm, Davis Manafort, a monthly retainer free of $15,000 from the end of 2005 through August 2008. … The McCain camp has accused the Times of a ‘willful disregard for the truth,’ but has been unable to demonstrate factual errors in the newspaper's reporting of the Davis-Freddie Mac relationship. Three Pinocchio’s” [Washington Post Fact Checker, 9/24/08]
DEBUNKED CLAIM: MCCAIN HAS NEVER ASKED FOR AN EARMARK
 
Ø  REALITY: Claim That McCain Has Never Sought A Single Dollar In Earmarks Is “Not True.” McCain claims to have ‘never sought a single dollar’ in pork barrel funding. It's just not true. … McCain in 2006 co-sponsored legislation that asked for $10-million for an academic center at the University of Arizona to honor the late Supreme Court chief justice William Rehnquist. In 2003, Frank noted, McCain won authorization to buy property to create a buffer zone around Luke Air Force Base in Arizona, and in 1992, McCain asked the Environmental Protection Agency to provide $5-million toward a wastewater project in Nogales, Ariz.” [Politifact, accessed: 9/25/08]
 
DEBUNKED CLAIM: MCCAIN HAS A PERFECT VOTING RECORD FROM VETERANS’ SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS
 
Ø  REALITY: McCain Doesn’t Have A Perfect Voting Record With The Disabled Veterans American Veterans Who Gave Him A 20% Score In 2006. “[McCain] said that he had ‘a perfect voting record from organizations like the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion.’ … McCain doesn’t have a perfect score with DAV (Disabled American Veterans), a group of 1.3 million disabled veterans that supports more funding for veterans health care. McCain has a 20 percent record of voting the way DAV would like him to in 2006.” [FactCheck.org, 7/15/08]
 
DEBUNKED CLAIM: MCCAIN’S ENERGY PLAN WILL PRODUCE “RENEWABLE ENERGY” TO CREATE “JOBS AND ENERGY INDEPENDENCE”
 
Ø  REALITY: McCain’s Energy Plan Doesn’t Specify Any New Federal Spending For Renewable Energy And The Plan And Statements About Renewables Are “Vague And Left To Interpretation.” McCain’s “energy plan doesn't specify any new federal spending for renewable energy and says only that he'd ‘rationalize’ existing tax credits to provide incentives. In the past, however, he's opposed extending such tax credits when paid for by tax increases elsewhere. … McCain's energy plan doesn't say a whole lot about ‘renewable energy.’ … McCain's energy plan and statements about such renewables are vague and left to interpretation.” [FactCheck.org, 8/8/08]
 
DEBUNKED CLAIM: MCCAIN WILL BALANCE THE BUDGET BY THE END OF HIS FIRST TERM
 
Ø  REALITY: McCain’s Plant To Balance The Budget By 2013 “Is Not Credible.” “McCain says that President McCain would balance the federal budget by 2013. The plan is not credible. … Mr. McCain sells American voters short -- and he does himself a disservice -- with his implausible claim.” [Editorial, Washington Post, 7/14/08]
 
DEBUNKED CLAIM: OBAMA OPPOSES LABELING THE IRAN REVOLUTIONARY GUARD AS TERRORISTS
 
Ø  REALITY: McCain’s Argument That Obama’s Opposition To The Kyl-Lieberman Bill Was Based On An Unwillingness To Label Iran Revolutionary Guard As Terrorists Is “False.” “McCain claims that Obama's opposition means that he also opposed calling the IRGC terrorists. We find otherwise: Obama cosponsored an earlier bill that also called for designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization; The Kyl-Lieberman amendment did more than just label the IRGC terrorists. Obama stated at the time that he opposed the bill on the grounds that it constituted 'saber-rattling'; McCain claims that Obama must oppose calling the IRGC a terrorist group because Obama's Web site doesn't say anything about the IRGC. McCain's argument is a glaring example of the logical fallacy of argumentum ad ignorantiam… We do know that McCain's claim that Obama's opposition to the bill was based on an unwillingness to label the IRGC as terrorists is false” [FactCheck.org, 6/5/08]
 
DEBUNKED CLAIM: OBAMA VOTED AGAINST FUNDING THE TROOPS
 
Ø  REALITY: The Claim That Obama Voted To Cut Off Funding For Our Troops Is “Highly Misleading” And Using The McCain Standards, It Would Be “Literally True” To Say That “McCain Urged A Veto Of Funding For Our Troops.” “Lieberman also said that "colleagues like Barack Obama were voting to cut off funding for our American troops on the battlefield." That's a highly misleading claim that McCain also touted in an ad this summer. Obama has voted in favor of war-funding bills at least 10 times since becoming a senator. The McCain camp and Republicans cite one vote Obama cast against a funding bill as justification for their claim – but that vote came after President Bush had vetoed a version of the bill that included a date for withdrawal from Iraq. In fact, most Republicans voted against that 2007 war-funding bill Obama and the Democrats supported. McCain was absent for the vote, but he urged the president to veto the bill. As we said about this subject previously, ‘Based on those facts, it would be literally true to say that ‘McCain urged a veto of funding for our troops.’ But that would be oversimplified to the point of being seriously misleading.’ And the same goes for Lieberman’s claim at the convention.” [Factcheck.org, 9/3/08]
 
DEBUNKED CLAIM: OBAMA HAS NOT HELD A SINGLE COMMITTEE HEARING ON AFGHANISTAN
 
Ø  REALITY: The Full Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Not Obama’s Subcommittee, Held Hearings On Afghanistan; McCain Missed All Seven Hearings On Afghanistan Held By Senate Armed Services Committee In The Last Two Years. “It was the full Senate Foreign Relations Committee, not Obama's subcommittee, that had the hearings on this global hot spot, and Obama attended one of those. Over the same time period, McCain himself attended none of the Afghanistan hearings held by the Armed Services Committee on which he serves. … Although he's the highest ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, he missed all seven of the hearings that his panel held on Afghanistan during the same two years, according to ABCNews.com.” [FactCheck.org, 7/22/08]
 
DEBUNKED CLAIM: OBAMA CALLED IRAN A “TINY COUNTRY” THAT IS AN “INSIGNIFICANT’ THREAT
 
Ø  REALITY: McCain “Took Liberties” With Obama’s Quote On Iran And They “Ruled This McCain Statement To Be False.”  McCain when “took liberties when he dropped the comparison to the Soviet Union and claimed Obama characterized Iran as a “tiny” or “insignificant” threat. What Obama said was this: ‘Iran, Cuba, Venezuela, these countries are tiny compared to the Soviet Union. They don’t pose a serious threat to us the way the Soviet Union posed a threat to us. And yet we were willing to talk to the Soviet Union at the time when they were saying we’re going to wipe you off the planet.’  Obama only characterized Iran as tiny compared to the threat faced by the Soviet Union, which he noted had a significant nuclear arsenal. He has consistently called Iran a “grave” threat, as he did again after McCain made his comments. We ruled this McCain statement to be False.” [Politifact, 5/21/08]
 
DEBUNKED CLAIM: OBAMA’S WILLINGNESS TO MEET WITH FOREIGN DICTATORS CONSTITUTES “APPEASEMENT”
 
Ø  REALITY: It Is “Incorrect” To Suggest That Obama’s Willingness To Meet Or Negotiate With Foreign Dictators Constitutes “Appeasement.” “McCain is distorting history when he suggests that Barack Obama is bucking American presidential tradition in expressing a willingness to meet with the leaders of countries hostile to the United States. Hitler apart, U.S. presidents have held meetings with some of the greatest mass murderers in history. It is also incorrect to suggest, as both McCain and President Bush have done, that the mere willingness to meet or negotiate with foreign dictators constitutes "appeasement," a term used to describe actions such as the surrender of the Czech Sudetenland to Nazi Germany in a desperate bid to avoid World War II.” [Washington Post Fact Checker, 5/21/08]
 
DEBUNKED CLAIM: UNDER OBAMA’S PLAN, AMERICANS OF EVERY BACKGROUND WOULD SEE THEIR TAXES INCREASE
 
Ø  REALITY: McCain’s Claim That Obama “Promises More Taxes On Small Business, Seniors, Your Life Savings, Your Family” Is “Dishonest” And “Mischaracteriz[es]” Obama’s Tax Plan. “The McCain ad continues in the same dishonest vein: ‘He promises more taxes on small business, seniors, your life savings, your family.’ Mr. Obama would increase taxes on small business -- but only the tiny sliver that earn more than $250,000 a year. He would… lower taxes on seniors, excusing those making less than $50,000 a year from paying any tax whatsoever. As for going after people's ‘life savings,’ Mr. Obama would exempt 99.7 percent of households from paying the estate tax. He would tax the ‘life savings’ only of couples who leave a combined estate worth more than $7 million. … Mr. McCain should stop trying to scare voters by mischaracterizing Mr. Obama's tax plan.” [Editorial, Washington Post, 8/10/08]
 
DEBUNKED CLAIM: OBAMA VOTED TO INCREASE TAXES ON “FAMILIES” MAKING $42,000 A YEAR
 
Ø  REALITY: Claim That Obama Would Have Raised Taxes On “Families” Making $42,000 Is “Simply False.” “A Spanish-language radio ad claims the measure Obama supported would have raised taxes on ‘families’ making $42,000, which is simply false. Even a single mother with one child would have been able to make $58,650 without being affected. A family of four with income up to $90,000 would not have been affected.” [FactCheck.org, 8/8/08]