Latest Fact-Checks By Alexander Lane

Clear

Joe Scarborough
stated on April 7, 2009 in a discussion on MSNBC:

President Obama has never received a paycheck from a profitmaking business in his entire life.

False

By Alexander Lane • April 15, 2009

Rush Limbaugh
stated on April 8, 2009 in a radio broadcast:

"You can't read a speech by George Washington . . . without hearing him reference God, the Almighty."

False

By Alexander Lane • April 10, 2009

Rachel Maddow
stated on April 6, 2009 in an episode of her MSNBC show:

Gov. Sarah Palin "got precisely zero support for her call for Alaska's Democratic Senator Mark Begich to resign because Ted Stevens' corruption conviction was overturned."

False

By Alexander Lane • April 10, 2009

Michele Bachmann
stated on March 25, 2009 in a press release.:

"Secretary Geithner has left the option on the table" of abandoning the dollar for a multinational currency.

False

By Alexander Lane • April 1, 2009

Barack Obama
stated on March 27, 2009 in a speech at the White House. :

"2008 was the deadliest year of the war (in Afghanistan) for American forces."

True

By Alexander Lane • March 31, 2009

House Republican Conference
stated on March 24, 2009 in a press release and Web post:

"The administration raises revenue for nationalized health care through a series of new taxes, including a light switch tax that would cost every American household $3,128 a year."

Pants on Fire!

By Alexander Lane • March 30, 2009

Arlen Specter
stated on March 24, 2009 in a speech on the Senate floor:

The Employee Free Choice Act mandates the "elimination of the secret ballot."

Mostly True

By Alexander Lane • March 27, 2009

House Republican Conference
stated on March 23, 2009 in a blog post.:

Obama nominee Dawn Johnsen "called motherhood 'involuntary servitude.'"

False

By Alexander Lane • March 24, 2009

Barack Obama
stated on March 22, 2009 in a television interview:

"Warren (Buffett) still does support me."

True

By Alexander Lane • March 23, 2009

Chris Dodd
stated on March 19, 2009 in a CNN interview.:

On whether he wrote a provision that allowed AIG to dole out bonuses.

Full Flop

By Alexander Lane • March 23, 2009

National Republican Senatorial Committee
stated on March 18, 2009 in a fundraising e-mail.:

"Senator Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, placed an amendment in the ‘stimulus’ bill that allowed for banks bailed out with taxpayer money — including AIG — to hand out huge bonuses."

Half-True

By Alexander Lane • March 20, 2009

Ron Wyden
stated on March 17, 2009 in an interview on The Rachel Maddow Show:

"We had bipartisan legislation that got through the Senate" that would have prevented bonuses like AIG's "and then somehow mysteriously disappeared."

Mostly True

By Alexander Lane • March 18, 2009

Christina Romer
stated on March 15, 2009 in an interview on Meet the Press.:

"Last week the Blue Chip Economic Indicators came out that surveys lots of private forecasters. Almost all of them are predicting a turnaround in the third quarter and positive growth in the fourth quarter."

True

By Alexander Lane • March 17, 2009

Barack Obama
stated on March 10, 2009 in a speech on education:

"In eighth grade math, we’ve fallen to ninth place."

False

By Alexander Lane • March 13, 2009

Robert Gibbs
stated on March 5, 2009 in a White House briefing:

"A middle-class family donates $1 to charity, they get 15 cents off their income tax. Bill Gates donates $1 to charity, he takes 35 cents off his income tax."

True

By Alexander Lane • March 11, 2009

Barack Obama
stated on March 5, 2009 in a White House conference on health care.:

"Teddy Roosevelt first called for (health care) reform nearly a century ago."

True

By Alexander Lane • March 5, 2009

Mitch McConnell
stated on February 27, 2009 in a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference:

"In just one month, the Democrats have spent more than President Bush spent in seven years on the war in Iraq, the war in Afghanistan and Hurricane Katrina combined."

False

By Alexander Lane • March 3, 2009

John Boehner
stated on February 25, 2009 in a speech on the House floor.:

"The president campaigned against this type of legislation."

True

By Alexander Lane • March 3, 2009

John McCain
stated on February 27, 2009 in a speech on the Senate floor.:

"The president's plan, even after the end of its withdrawal timeline is reached, will leave in place up to 50,000 U.S. troops."

False

By Alexander Lane • February 27, 2009

Bobby Jindal
stated on February 24, 2009 in the Republican response to Obama's speech to Congress:

The stimulus bill includes "$8 billion for high-speed rail projects, such as a 'magnetic levitation' line from Las Vegas to Disneyland."

Half-True

By Alexander Lane • February 27, 2009

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