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The Truth-o-Meter says: True | National Right to Life Committee says Baucus bill would permit federal subsidies to go to insurance plans that cover abortions

With the recent release of the Senate Finance Committee plan for health care reform, the abortion issue has re-emerged in the health care debate. And both sides of the issue are choosing their words very carefully to score political points. We are examining two seemingly similar statements from the National Right to Life Committee that we think get to the heart of the rhetoric on both sides of the debate. One is that under the bill proposed by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., federal funds (tax dollars) would subsidize abortions; and the other is that federal subsidies would … >> More

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The Truth-o-Meter says: Mostly True | Hannity says U.S. is reducing its nuclear arsenal

It’s no secret that conservative talk show host Sean Hannity has issues with the Obama administration’s direction on national defense. On the eve of a global summit in New York, Hannity questioned the wisdom of the Obama administration’s commitment to reducing the nation’s nuclear arsenal. “Here is the situation,” Hannity said during a Fox News interview with Sen. John McCain on Sept. 22. “We’ve got (Iranian president Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad, just on the heels of coming to New York, again denying that the Holocaust took place. Our own national Security Agency says that their nuclear ambitions are advancing, and at the … >> More

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The Truth-o-Meter says: Half-True | No difference between Medicare and Medicare Advantage? Maybe

President Obama defended plans to cut funding for a program called Medicare Advantage in an interview on This Week with George Stephanopolous. Stephanopolous cited defenders of Medicare Advantage, such as Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, who say cutting the program isn’t fair to people who are currently enrolled in the optional Medicare program. Obama vigorously defended his plan. Medicare Advantage programs, he said, get “about 14 percent more (in) overpayments, basically subsidies from taxpayers for a program that ordinary Medicare does just as good, if not better, at keeping people healthy. “Now, they package these things in ways that, … >> More

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The Truth-o-Meter says: Full Flop | Pawlenty changes course on cap-and-trade

He hasn’t made it official yet, but it seems everything Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty does these days points to a White House run in 2012.Case in point: his stance on a cap-and-trade plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Back in 2007, Pawlenty was positioning himself as an environmental leader, pushing for aggressive reductions in greenhouse gases and a regional cap-and-trade plan.  Fast-forward to 2009, and he’s writing letters to Washington calling a Democratic plan to curb climate change, “overly bureaucratic, misguided” and “very burdensome on our economy.” ”His position has evolved very dramatically from … >> More

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The Truth-o-Meter says: Full Flop | Massachusetts legislature flip-flops on governor’s senatorial appointment power

We’ve never put an entire legislature to the Flip-O-Meter before. But the recent move by the Massachusetts legislature in filling the seat held by the late Sen. Edward Kennedy was too bold to pass up.Massachusetts legislators this week approved a bill that allows the governor to appoint a temporary successor to Kennedy. But that came just over five years after legislators stripped the governor’s longstanding power to appoint a U.S. senator to fill a vacancy. Both moves were consistent in one sense: In the strongly Democratic state, they advanced the Democratic Party’s interests. But the two actions amount … >> More

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The Truth-o-Meter says: Half-True | Hannity says Obama is “cutting back on defense”

  During an interview with Sen. John McCain, Fox News Channel host Sean Hannity closed by asking the former Republican presidential candidate whether President Obama was getting soft on defense. “Do you think the president is adopting a pre-9/11 mentality?” Hannity asked McCain. “I know those are pretty strong words, but I believe he is. I believe he is weakening our national reaction. I think if you look at Gitmo, Mirandizing enemy combatants, cutting back on defense, you know, slowing down our nuclear. It seems to me it’s beyond the pre-9/11 mentality.” For this item we’ll focus on just one … >> More

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The Truth-o-Meter says: True | Barack Obama got many campaign contributions from Goldman Sachs

Liberal filmmaker Michael Moore has a new film coming out — Capitalism: A Love Story — and he appeared on Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report to promote it. The show’s ironically conservative host, Stephen Colbert, defended capitalism and the bailouts of late 2008, which led to a mock debate between them. At first, Wall Street was actually angry about the bailouts, Colbert claimed. “because it might come with strings attached,” he explained. “But they forgave Obama when he didn’t add any. Now all is forgiven.” “That’s why you like Obama so much now?” Moore asked. “I don’t like Obama so … >> More

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The Truth-o-Meter says: True | GOP claims video shows public B. Bernice Young Elementary School students made to sing about Obama

When we first saw a copy of the now-viral video of young school kids singing the praises of President Barack Obama on Sept. 24 (“Hooray, Mr. President, we honor your great plans/To make this country’s economy No. 1 again!”), we looked at our watches to see how long it would take for Republican leaders to react. Turned out, not long. The following morning, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele sent out a blast e-mail with a link to the video and a plea for donations to the RNC to “fight this leftist propaganda and elect more Republicans this … >> More

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The Truth-o-Meter says: Half-True | Hoyer claims Republicans have no health care alternative

No matter which party controls Congress, its leaders usually refer to the opposition as “the party of no.” The Republicans did it when they were in control, and now it’s Democrats’ turn.  The latest complaint from House Democratic leaders is that Republicans have failed to produce an alternative to the five major health care bills circulating in Congress.   In a Sept. 28, 2009, news release, Democratic Leader Steny Hoyer made this claim: ”In June, House Republicans pledged to introduce a bill to reform America’s health care system. Now, over 100 days and numerous excuses later, … >> More

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The Truth-o-Meter says: True | Health reform includes a tax penalty if you don’t have insurance

The Republican National Committee launched a new ad attacking health care reform as a big tax increase. “Barack Obama and Democrats promise that health care reform will lower costs, but their plans deliver increased taxes,” the ad says. It then lists several taxes it says the Obama plan will increase. Here we’re checking the claim that “they’ve even proposed a tax for not having health insurance.” The ad then flashes to video of Obama and George Stephanopolous arguing over the meaning of the word tax on This Week with George Stephanopoulos, with Stephanopolous reading the dictionary definition. Obama said the … >> More