WORLD> America
|
WORLD> America
|
|
Some facts adrift in US veep debate
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-10-03 21:28 Palin: Said the United States has reduced its troop level in Iraq to a number below where it was when the troop increase began in early 2007. The facts: Not correct. The Pentagon says there are currently 152,000 US troops in Iraq, about 17,000 more than there were before the 2007 military buildup began.
Biden: "As a matter of fact, John recently wrote an article in a major magazine saying that he wants to do for the health care industry - deregulate it and let the free market move - like he did for the banking industry." The facts: Biden and Obama have been perpetuating this distortion of what McCain wrote in an article for the American Academy of Actuaries. McCain, laying out his health plan, only referred to deregulation when saying people should be allowed to buy health insurance across state lines. In that context, he wrote: "Opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking, would provide more choices of innovative products less burdened by the worst excesses of state-based regulation."
Palin: Said Alaska is "building a nearly $40 billion natural gas pipeline, which is North America's largest and most expensive infrastructure project ever to flow those sources of energy into hungry markets." The facts: Not quite. Construction is at least six years away. So far the state has only awarded a license to Trans Canada Corp., that comes with $500 million in seed money in exchange for commitments toward a lengthy and costly process to getting a federal certificate. At an August news conference after the state Legislature approved the license, Palin said, "It's not a done deal."
Palin: "Barack Obama even supported increasing taxes as late as last year for those families making only $42,000 a year." Biden: "The charge is absolutely not true. Barack Obama did not vote to raise taxes." The facts: The vote was on a nonbinding budget resolution that assumed that President Bush's tax cuts would expire, as scheduled, in 2011. If that actually happened, it could mean higher taxes for people making as little as about $42,000. But Obama is proposing tax increases only on the wealthy, and would cut taxes for most others.
Palin: Said a McCain-Palin administration "will support Israel," including "building our embassy ... in Jerusalem." The facts: Moving the US Embassy from its present location in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is a perennial promise of presidential candidates courting the Jewish-American vote. In fact, moving the embassy is actually required by US law. But successive administrations of both parties, including George W. Bush's, have made the same pledge only to find that the realities of Middle East peacemaking have forced them to invoke a waiver to delay it. Jerusalem is claimed as a capital by both Israel and the Palestinians and Israel's occupation of east Jerusalem is not internationally recognized. The city's status is one of the key issues of disagreement in peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. |
