The Whoppers of 2008

McCain did support Bush's Social Security plan. But that plan would not have cut benefits at all. Everybody who gets a check now, or who is nearing retirement, would have remained in the current system. For younger workers who retire in the future, Bush proposed to slow the rate at which benefits grow – keeping pace with the rise of prices but not with the faster rise in wages, as is now the case. Compared with what today's retirees get, that's a smaller increase, not a reduction.

Obama also claimed that if McCain had his way, "millions" who rely on Social Security would have seen their investments disappearing in the recent stock market turmoil. He referred to "elderly women" at risk of poverty and said families would be scrambling to support "grandmothers and grandfathers." Balderdash.  The Bush plan, which McCain embraced, would not have allowed anybody born before 1950 to have private accounts, so nobody retired on Social Security today could possibly be relying on private accounts for even a small portion of his or her benefit check. For younger workers, the accounts would have been voluntary anyway.

Scaring Seniors  September 19
Obama's Social Security Whopper  September 20  

The "Bridge to Nowhere"
Both McCain and his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin, have portrayed Palin's supposed opposition to that infamous Bridge to Nowhere as a major feather in her cap. The claim that Palin told Congress "thanks, but no thanks" on the bridge is a serious distortion of the record. In fact, Palin supported the Gravina Access Project (the formal name of the Bridge to Nowhere) during her run for governor, even as McCain was denouncing it repeatedly as pork-barrel spending. When she finally changed her position in 2007, it was only after Congress had removed the earmark. She complained at the time that there was too little money for the bridge and griped about "inaccurate portrayals." She didn't say who was making these portrayals, but the portrayer-in-chief was, well, you know who. As for saying "no thanks," Palin still received all of the funds originally earmarked for building the bridge but was free to spend them as she wished.

GOP Convention Spin, Part II  September 4
One Bridge, Two Bridge  September 12
What's the full story on the Bridge to Nowhere?  September 22  

McCain's Energy Errors
McCain has puffed up his own energy plan while offering a few falsehoods about Obama's. Economists from across the political spectrum scoffed at McCain's claim that a summer-long "gas tax holiday" would save motorists money. And McCain has released several ads promising support for renewable energy. His energy plan, however, contains a number of provisions for expanded oil drilling, "clean coal" and nuclear power, while his proposal for supporting renewable energy is limited to re-shuffling existing tax credits in some yet-to-be-specified way. McCain also claims that Obama doesn't support "the electric car" or nuclear power. In fact, Obama proposes lots of new spending on alternative energy and vehicles, and says, at least, that he's open to building new nuclear plants if safety issues are addressed. Then there's McCain's July ad that preposterously claims that Obama is personally responsible for higher gas prices, even though McCain himself has said that the problem was "30 years in the making."

Gas Price Fixes that Won't  May 2
McCain's Power Outage  June 20
Distorting Obama  June 26
A Full Tank of Nonsense  July 22
Wind Power Puffery  August 8

Obama's Energy Errors
Obama has committed his share of energy-related misleads, too. In July, we caught him saying that his plan will "fast track alternatives" to imported oil. In reality, Obama's offers a 10-year research and development fund, which doesn't sound all that "fast" to us. Obama also claimed that if Americans properly inflated their tires, we could save as much oil as offshore drilling would produce. That's true in the very short term, but not over the long haul. And Obama, too, has distorted McCain's energy claims. He accused McCain of receiving $2 million from the oil and gas industry; that figure was $700,000 too high at the time. And Obama continues to claim that McCain will give $4 billion in tax breaks to oil companies. But these tax cuts are the result of an across-the-board decrease in corporate tax rates, which would also benefit companies that provide alternative energy.

Straining a Point  July 17  
Obama's Overstatement  August 4
The Truth About Tire Pressure  August 14

McCain: Obama doesn't take Iran seriously.
McCain has launched two different deceptive attacks on Obama's Iran policy. Back in June, McCain implied that Obama did not support naming Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a terrorist organization. And more recently, McCain blasted Obama for saying that Iran was "tiny" and "didn't pose a serious threat." Both claims are seriously misleading. It's true that Obama voted against an amendment that would have named the IRGC a terrorist organization. But Obama opposed the bill for other reasons and had earlier cosponsored a different bill that would have named the IRGC a terrorist group. And as for Obama's assessment of the Iranian threat: He actually said that Iran is tiny compared with the Soviet Union and doesn't pose a serious threat the way the Soviet Union and its thousands of nuclear-tipped missiles did. McCain left that qualifier out.