We're in the final stretch of the race for who will win the presidency.
With one debate down, three to go and the political climate surrounding all of
us taking on an increasingly intense tone, it's hard not to wonder... can
what they're saying all be true?
The answer is simple: no. Being a liberal, I tend to take most things Obama
says as true and doubt plenty of the things that Mitt Romney says, but am I
right in doing that? Another simple answer: no. The same goes for the
Republicans who put Romney on a pedestal and take everything he says at face
value.
The October 15th issue of Time magazine featured an artistic cover photo of
the two candidates facing each other and glowering. Their faces are made of
words and phrases that they use a lot; Obama's cheek says "We cut taxes for 95%
of working families" and Romney's nose says, "Obamacare adds trillions to our
deficit." The focus of the cover article is the misleading statements,
half-truths, low blows and broad generalizations that both candidates and
parties make at each other. It brings to light that no matter which side you're
on, you've probably been had at least a few times by your candidate of
choice.
As a diehard liberal, I opened the magazine drooling for a scathing article
decrying Mitt Romney and all his lies while putting Obama up on the righteous
platform he belongs, but I didn't find either of those things. What I got was a
seven-page spread of statements from each candidate that had been taken apart
and analyzed by the experts at Time magazine and found to be wrong, misleading
or only partially true.
First, I'll disseminate some of my own candidate's untruths. I'll stick to
only a few of them:
What he said: "We do not need an outsourcing pioneer in the Oval
Office."
Reality: Bain Capital was doing what it needed to to make money, and it was
certainly not the first to outsource jobs. To be fair, Mitt Romney wasn't fully
responsible for the outsourcing when it happened.
The Truth: This statement is a distortion.
What he said: "The U.S. is less dependent on foreign oil than at any time
in the past two decades."
Reality: The nation's dependence on foreign oil has been steadily dropping
since 2005 and has little to do with who's president and more to do with who
companies buy oil from -- this wasn't regulated by the government.
The Truth: This is a true statement, but it's misleading for Obama to take
credit for it.
What he said: "Romney would give millionaires another tax break and raise
taxes on middle class families by up to $2,000 a year."
Reality: Although a part of the Republican party platform is to cut taxes
on the upper class (which would inevitably raise them on lower classes), Mitt
Romney actually hasn't specified what his tax plan is. Is that bad? Yes, but it
doesn't mean we should accuse him of something he hasn't proposed at this
time.
The Truth: This statement is speculation.
Before you think to yourself, Wow, Obama really is full of it, I better
not trust a word he says, read a few untruths from the Romney side of the
field:
What he said: "I have a plan to create 12 million jobs."
Reality: Independent economists predict growth of about 12 million new jobs
over the next four years no matter who is president.
The Truth: Mitt Romney is taking credit, in advance, for something that
would happen anyway; it's like saying "I have a plan to make October colder than
September was so that all the leaves fall off the trees." That's not something
someone can take credit for, you know?
What he said: "We are inches away from no longer being a free
economy."
Reality: The conservative Heritage Foundation ranks us as no. 10 in
the world for economic freedom worldwide, ahead of Germany, the U.K. and
Japan.
The Truth: This statement is false, even by his own party's
standards.
What he said: "Under Obama's [welfare] plan, you wouldn't have to work and
wouldn't have to train for a job. They just send you your welfare check."
Reality: Obama granted waivers to a few states to allow for flexibility in
order to more effectively end dependency by a welfare-to-work system.
The Truth: This claim is 100% false.
After reading all this, it's hard to know where to get information from.
Who's biased, who's lying, is anyone telling the truth? The best thing
you can do is fact-check. If you hear from Obama on TV that Romney and Paul Ryan
voted for a law that banned all abortion, or if you see in a debate that Mitt
Romney wants to completely eliminate Medicare, look it up. Break away from the
sound bytes and attack ads and see for yourself what's true -- you can't always
believe what you hear.
I love this blog post, because it shows that for every candidate that runs for president, or even any political position, they're going to be lies or over-exaggerations. I really liked how Maggie stated that she would often put Obama on the pedestal, and not believe what Romney says, but in reality, both parties tend to say things that aren't exactly true. This is the truth for almost everybody who chooses one side over the other, they look at what one side says as the utmost truth, and what the other party says as complete lies. However, people have to realize that no matter who's running for whatever political position, there're going to be things stated that aren't exactly the truth.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with you Maggie, every person running for President will lie to make themselves look better, or make their opponenet lookd worse. Truth is they both lie, a lot. I'm taking Current Issues right now, along with Government, and a lot of what we talk about in Government, we talk about in Current Issues. There is a website called, Politicafact.com, that will tell you whether a statement or "fact" is true or false. Overalll, good blog, I still can't believe we elect people that constantly lie.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with the Presidential race or any political race for that matter is the lies, over-exaggerations, twisted truths, and the manipulation of words. Both sides are always guilty of these traits, but it's a trust issue that Americans are always going to have when picking who they are going to vote for. Maggie stated that there is many statements that were 100% false only proved when doing your research. It's unfortunate because most Americans probably won't double check on these facts and their vote will be tarnished. You can see that Romney manipulated words when he was talking about how he was going to create 12 million jobs. Like she said, that is going to happen anyways. Both candidates want to create jobs, and just because Romney said it, doesn't mean he is the only one who is going to make it happen. Along with everything else that both people say that morally shouldn't be included in a Presidential race, it's part of a very flawed election system that is fateful for all Americans.
ReplyDeleteAustin - Great points. Do you think there is any way to change our "flawed" election system?
DeleteI agree that it's very hard to tell what's true and what are lies with these candidates. Everything contradicits each other. For example, when I see campaign ads on Tv, Romney says bad things about Obama, but Obama's ads about himself state the complete opposite of what Romney said about him. It's hard to know who is telling the truth, which is what can change someones views on a candidate.
DeleteI also agree with what you said about candidates taking credit for things that will happen with or without them. Instead of stating what is already going to happen, maybe they could say what they're going to do to make it even better than what is expected.
Quite tranquilly I think that it is really hard to choose Obama or Romney for president because of the lies they say. Again, they each participate in lies and participate in making each other look bad through their lies. If I were voting, I'd be in a real trouble of hurt because I wouldn’t know what they say is the truth and I don’t know what they say are lies. In the end it comes down to who gets elected, one of them will do what they say and don’t do what they said during the campaign.
ReplyDeleteWhy would we just let people who can basically sit around get money for that? The best people at that job should be getting paid the most. It's not fair to people who work twice as hard to get the same pay check as someone that really doesn't show much effort. That's where Romney has it right and if we stick with Obama the country will move closer and closer to a socialist economy.
ReplyDeleteWhy would we just let people who can basically sit around get money for that? The best people at that job should be getting paid the most. It's not fair to people who work twice as hard to get the same pay check as someone that really doesn't show much effort. That's where Romney has it right and if we stick with Obama the country will move closer and closer to a socialist economy.
ReplyDeleteSorry I didn't mean to make anonymous
I don't think you understand welfare as well as you think you do. No one is having half of their paycheck taken away and given to someone who is lazy and freeloading. If you'd read my post and/or the article I analyzed, you would know that that's a fact.
DeleteMaggie, I thought this article was really well written. I loved how you initally stated your political views and mentioned how even you yourself are sometimes swayed by one candidate over the other simply based on political party. I think that one thing we all need to be conciounce of is making sure we do look at candidates not for their political party symobls but for they're actual ideas. I also liked at the end where you said the only real way to know who's telling the truth is fact checking. We all need to hold ourselves responsible and make sure we know who we're really voting for or else voting is pointless
ReplyDeleteI am amazed at the amount of “half truths” being used this election campaign. We are used to seeing them in tv ads but it is becoming more prevalent in candidate’s speeches and debates as well. For voters it can be frustrating because you want to make an informed decision based on the facts but what “facts” are you to believe? It shows the importance of being a critical viewer or reader and questioning the statements made. Whose responsibility is it to make sure the facts are out there: candidates, the media or the voters themselves? On one hand it is easier than ever to be an informed voter today because we have an abundance of information at our finger tips, but how do we know what to trust?
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that a lot of the facts that the candidates say aren't fully true. Even in the presidential debate yesterday I noticed that Romney said there would be 12 million new jobs in America in the next for years with his plan. This is true but like Time Magazine said there will be 12 million new jobs even with Obama's plan. That fact isn't a lie, it is just misleading which is just as bad as lying but just avoiding accusations. There was also a huge lie that Obama said in the debate regarding Syria that looks very bad on him. Once a president gets caught blatantly lying then every thing he says will be questioned. Also both Romney and Obama say that they will bring jobs to America and that the opponent will lose jobs for the American people. The truth I believe is that each side will lose some jobs but try their hardest to bring more jobs into America than they lost leaving America with more jobs than it started with. Overall I trust Romney more because of the obvious lies that I have noticed Obama saying during the debates.
ReplyDeleteLike what? You said Obama lied about something pertaining to Syria, what was that? Sorry, I missed what you were referencing.
DeleteI agree that it's very hard to tell what's true and what are lies with these candidates. Everything contradicits each other. For example, when I see campaign ads on Tv, Romney says bad things about Obama, but Obama's ads about himself state the complete opposite of what Romney said about him. It's hard to know who is telling the truth, which is what can change someones views on a candidate.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with what you said about candidates taking credit for things that will happen with or without them. Instead of stating what is already going to happen, maybe they could say what they're going to do to make it even better than what is expected.