POLITIFACT Weighs In On Medicare: Romney Camp Lying, Obama Camp Telling the Truth

[berni_mccoy]

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2012/aug/15/checking-facts-700-billion-medicare-cut/

Checking the facts on the $700 billion Medicare 'cut'

By Angie Drobnic Holan
Published on Wednesday, August 15th, 2012 at 5:57 p.m.

Seems like just yesterday that the big Republican talking point was that Obamacare cuts $500 billion from Medicare. Now, it's $700 billion.

That's the number -- $716 billion to be precise -- that's gotten tossed around this week.

We've posted two fact-checks to explore the back and forth between the campaigns.
...
While the health care law reduces the amount of future spending growth in Medicare, the law doesn't actually cut Medicare.
...
Responding to the Romney attack, Obama campaign spokeswoman Stephanie Cutter said Ryan's budget relies on the same $700 billion in savings from Medicare that Mitt Romney and other Republicans have been attacking Democrats about.

Ryan has confirmed that, and we rated it True.

I've posted a screen cap to those rulings below for full effect:


This brings to mind a saying Al Franken is fond of: "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them". He was predicting Romney's campaign (or he retroactively coined the phrase after seeing Romney's campaign in the future).

[cleduc]

1. There was one point Obama campaign exec Stephanie Cutter made

that I really liked on the 55+ question in Ryan's plan.

Paraphrased "If Romney-Ryan's plan is so good, why do they have two of them? Why not one plan for all ages?"

[Tx4obama]

2. Kick! n/t

[Martin Eden]

3. Will his multitude of LIES catch up with Rmoney at the polls in November?

Or has the public become so inured to lies in politics that truth is no longer relevant?

[monmouth]

6. If the media would do their job and just tell the truth, the public would be informed..n/t

[zbdent]

8. zzzzzzzzz

Oh, that's the sound of the "liberally-biased media" doing its job in investigating Republicans ...

[spanone]

4. k&r...

[reformist2]

5. The press needs to do their job and slap Romney/Ryan down on this one.

They need to keep reporting that they are lying until Romney/Ryan team either recant, or at least stop making the false accusations.

[KharmaTrain]

7. And It Took This Long???

Willard's been out throwing that whopper around for nearly the past week and finally Politi-"Facts" weighs in? Too little too late as the lie has been spread around faux noise and hate radio as well as by many in the corporate media. Another case of a lie spreading around the world while the truth is getting its pants on.

Rmoney will continue to lie cause he knows he can get away with it. When caught...usually days or weeks after the fact...he shrugs and just goes onto the next lie.

Politi-"Facts" is worthless...

[berni_mccoy]

9. To be fair, I don't think many people expected them to continue with the bald faced lie.

[Scuba]

10. Vulture and Voucher don't care. They'll just drown the truth in more lies.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

11. So much for "both sides are doing it"

Now, we just need an epic smackdown of the "welfare reform" BS as I see that the Romney camp still appears to be flogging that one too.

[ProSense]

12. "Mostly false"?

It's a fucking blatant despicable lie.

I mean, they gave Harry Reid a pant's on fire about a claim they had no way of proving false, and then gave Romney a "false" for the blatant and despicable lie about Ohio.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1083927

Politifact seems to do these things to stay in the game, but its factchecking is biased. Period.