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By CJP | March 7, 2008
TGIFCF- Thank God It's Fact Check Friday- the day we take a tour of the three best sites on the Internet that spend all day every day trafficking in dirty, filthy lies. The past week has ushered in an official nominee on the Republican side and an official Hot Mess on the Democratic side. And as the stakes got higher, you just knew the lies would get bigger. This week's Fact Check does not disappoint, so let's go on our Tour of Truth:
- The RNC has launched a clever "Spend-o-Meter" to track the cost of the moon it sometimes seems like Barack Obama promises voters. In response, PolitiFact launched it's Truth-o-Meter on the Spend-o-Meter and they caught the GOP using fuzzy math on the Illinois senator. Although some of Obama's proposals are big ticket items, the RNC includes several measures already signed into law by President Bush as new Obama spending. It also lists Obama's proposed tax cuts against Obama, even though the Rs never count their own tax cuts as spending. That makes the Spend-o-Meter only HALF TRUE.
- A rumor recently began on the liberal blog, DailyKos, accusing the Clinton campaign of darkening Barack Obama's skin for a TV commercial. FactCheck.org evaluated the commercial in question, which is posted on YouTube. FactCheck found that the clip on YouTube is darker than the actual commercial, and that everything in the ad, including the backdrop, the image of Obama AND the image of Clinton, is darker. FactCheck says the darkness on YouTube could have been caused unintentionally by the technology used to upload to the site, or could have been done intentionally using PhotoShop. However, the commercial on television is much lighter and the YouTube poster is anonymous, so the rumor accusing the Clinton campaign of dirty tricks is FALSE.
- During her victory speech in Ohio, Hillary Clinton said, "No candidate in recent history, Democrat or Republican, has ever won the White House without winning the Ohio primary!" Clinton earlier failed to add "in recent history" when talking to an Ohio TV station. The Washington Post's Fact Checker came up with plenty of people who became president without winning their Ohio primary, including JFK. They also note that in "recent history," Ohio's primary has come so late in the process that the nominee has been decided and Buckeyes have nobody else for whom to vote. The Post gives Mrs. Clinton the dreaded "Three Pinocchios," and says her statement is just NOT TRUE.
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