The biggest Pinocchios of Election 2012
(Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)
It’s hard to believe this nasty and brutish presidential campaign has come to an end.
According to our Pinocchio Tracker,
through most of the race President Obama and former governor Mitt
Romney were neck and neck for the average number of Pinocchios,
averaging about 2 Pinocchios each. But then, in the final months, Romney
suddenly pulled ahead (so to speak) with a series of statements and
commercials that stretched the limits. Obama’s average also got worse —
and was nothing to be proud of.
In the end, Romney finished with an average ranking of 2.4
Pinnochios, compared to 2.11 for Obama. Not counting debates (when we
awarded no Pinocchios), we rated 92 statements by Obama and 77 by
Romney, as well as more than 200 claims made by surrogates and interest
groups, as well as Republican presidential contenders.
Among the
primary aspirants, Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.) finished with the worst
rating overall of any candidate — an average of 3.08 Pinocchios.
Here are some of the lowlights of the 2012 campaign.
Most Absurd ‘Fact’ — Republican version
Former House speaker Newt Gingrich’s claim
that Ronald Reagan never got a break from the “elite media” as an
actor. As an example, Gingrich said only one of Reagan’s movies —
“King’s Row” — got a good review from the New York Times. First of all,
Reagan was a Democrat when he was in show business, so Gingrich’s point
was nonsensical. Second, four of Reagan’s top 10 movies got raves from
the New York Times — and King’s Row was panned.
Most Absurd ‘Fact’ — Democratic version
Making a pitch for the president’s jobs bill, Vice President Biden repeatedly claimed
that rape in Flint, Mich., had tripled after the police force was cut,
as part of a dubious argument that there was a connection between the
crime rate and the number of police. He even asserted that rapes and
other crime would increase if the GOP did not vote for the jobs bill.
But you need to have your facts straight if you are going to make
incendiary charges. We investigated and it turned out that incidents of
rape in Flint, Mich., actually fell after the number of police was cut.
Worst SuperPac Ad — Republican version
A pro-Gingrich SuperPac released a 29-minute video
titled “King of Bain,” which portrayed Romney as a greedy job-killer
ruining the lives of Americans. It foreshadowed the Obama attacks on
Romney’s record as chief of Bain Capital, but was so over the top that
it made many of those later ads seem tame. One “case study” featured
selectively edited footage of interviews of workers — who later said
they were misled about the purpose of the film. They actually had no
complaints about Romney or Bain at all.
Worst SuperPac Ad — Democratic version
Priorities USA Action, a pro-Obama group, aired a provocative ad
that suggested that Romney was responsible for the cancer death of the
wife of a former steelworker who had lost his health insurance. But it
turned out she died of cancer five years after the closure of the plant —
and had her own health insurance for a period after the steelworker,
Joe Soptic, lost his job. As we put it, “On just every level, this ad
stretches the bounds of common sense and decency.”
Silliest Blooper — Republican version
Until we highlighted this claim,
Mitt Romney had made this line a regular staple of his campaign stump
speech: “We are the only people on the Earth that put our hand over our
heart during the playing of the national anthem.” We easily disproved
this by randomly searching YouTube and finding numerous examples of
sports figures and school children from around the world placing their
hands on their hearts during the playing of their national anthems.
Apparently, Romney was trying to ding Obama for once failing to do so
during the 2008 campaign, but his belief in American exceptionalism was
misplaced.
Silliest Blooper — Democratic version
President Obama’s claim
that President Rutherford B. Hayes was so averse to new ideas that he
had asked of the telephone: “Who would ever use one?” It turns out that
the 19th president was such an advocate of new technology that not only
did Hayes think the telephone was “wonderful,” but he installed the
first telephone in Washington, in the White House, just four months
after it was introduced. His telephone number was “1.”
Most Baseless Accusation — Republican version
The repeated claim
that Obama said that government, not people, built successful
businesses. The truncated quote “you didn’t build that,” drawn from a
late-night rally with ungrammatical phrasing by Obama, became the basis
of repeated attack ads and even the first night of the GOP convention.
But any fair reading of Obama’s comments showed he was making a standard
Democratic argument about community success — and that “that” referred
to roads and bridges.
Most Baseless Accusation — Democratic version
Harry Reid’s repeated claim,
made with zero evidence, that Romney “hadn’t paid any taxes for 10
years.” Reid said he knew this was true because a person who had
invested with Bain Capital had called his office and told him this
“fact.” We couldn’t find a single expert who thought there was any
credibility to Reid’s reckless claim. Romney eventually released a
summary prepared by his accountants showing he had paid federal and
state taxes in each of the past 20 years.
Claim that would not die — Republican version
Nearly two years ago, we looked deeply
at Mitt Romney’s claim that Obama had gone on an “apology tour” as a
new president — and we found no evidence to back up the assertion. Yet a
version of that claim appeared in almost every speech by the GOP
nominee, and Romney defended it in the final presidential debate. Then
his campaign cut a new ad
from his remarks, skillfully snipping out the fact that Romney
incorrectly said the offending speeches were made in the Middle East.
Claim that would not die — Democratic version
The Obama campaign repeatedly asserted
that Romney, while at Bain Capital, had outsourced jobs to foreign
countries such as China, and had also sent jobs to India as governor of
Massachusetts. The evidence was slim, at best, and often turned on such
obscure issues as whether Romney still ran Bain Capital while taking a
leave to manage the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Few nonfacts ever
received as much ink and television time.
‘Mediscare’ — Republican version
Republicans initially claimed
that Obama raided $500 billion from Medicare to fund the health-care
law — a figure that later jumped to more than $700 billion for arcane
budget reasons. But these were reductions in projected spending, mainly
aimed at providers, and would not affect traditional Medicare benefits.
Moreover, Republicans had adopted virtually the same “cuts” in their own
budgets.
‘Mediscare’ — Democratic version
Democrats repeatedly charged
that seniors would pay $6,400 extra a year in Medicare premiums under
the overhaul plan promoted by Romney’s running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan
(R-Wis.). But this was a figure far in the future, based on an early and
less generous version of the plan. A recent study of the “premium
support” model suggested that any actual increase in premiums would be
far less.
Worst Math Skills — Republican version
Romney’s math showing
how he would add 12 million jobs in his first term as president. He
cited three studies, which collectively added up to 12 million jobs, but
the studies had 10-year time frames, not four. Moreover, two of the
studies did not even evaluate Romney’s own plans.
Worst Math Skills — Democratic version
Obama’s claim
that “90 percent” of the current deficit is due to Bush policies, such
as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Obama certainly inherited a mess,
but any reasonable accounting showed that as his term wore on, Obama’s
policies increasingly were responsible for the deficit. By our estimate,
by 2011, about 44 percent was due to Obama’s policies. Bush’s policies
were responsible for about 10 percent, and the rest was due to the
recession and forecasting errors.
‘Plan’ that Doesn’t Exist — Democratic version
The Obama campaign claimed
that Romney would raise taxes on the middle class by $2,500. This was
based on a nonpartisan study trying to figure out how Romney could cut
tax rates by 20 percent but still make his tax plan revenue neutral. The
study concluded that eventually the elimination of tax deductions for
the wealthy would also affect the middle class. So Romney’s math may not
have added up, but he never had a plan to raise taxes.
‘Plan’ that Doesn’t Exist — Republican version
The Romney campaign countered that attack
by charging that, instead, Obama would raise taxes by $4,000 on the
middle class. This was also based on a study, which calculated the
distribution of the debt burden on Americans. Obama’s budget fell in a
middle range, and Romney’s budget would likely have a similar impact.
But this was not evidence of a planned tax increase — far from it.
Most complex subject for spinning — bipartisan effort
The Obama administration’s memo saying it would accept welfare
waivers related to worker participation targets prompted bipartisan
spinning. The Romney campaign aired an over-the-top ad that accused Obama of gutting the welfare reform law, even though no waivers have been issued. But the Democratic counterspin was also questionable, leaving largely unanswered what the administration hoped to accomplish with the new rules.
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