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The Union => Spout => Topic started by: Sal Atticum on September 13, 2008, 11:07:22 AM

Title: FactCheck.org - Find out what is true about the presidential candidates
Post by: Sal Atticum on September 13, 2008, 11:07:22 AM
Democrat, Republican, Independent - this is a good (nonpartisan) site, and exposes both sides of the current presidential race for misstatements and lies.

www.factcheck.org
Title: Re: FactCheck.org - Find out what is true about the presidential candidates
Post by: Admiral Ackbar on September 26, 2008, 01:38:05 PM
Oh cool, check out the Whoppers of 2008:  http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/the_whoppers_of_2008.html
Title: Re: FactCheck.org - Find out what is true about the presidential candidates
Post by: pmp6nl on September 28, 2008, 09:11:25 PM
Go figure, there is always spin one way or another.
Title: Re: FactCheck.org - Find out what is true about the presidential candidates
Post by: Sal Atticum on October 11, 2008, 10:53:07 AM
Fox news (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,433314,00.html), while attacking Joe Biden for what he said about the powers of the Vice President in congress, claims that FactCheck.org and "the media" are not to be trusted:
Quote
Unfortunately, voters who are trying to get an accurate count on whether the candidates are telling the truth can’t rely on the media. FactCheck.org mentions only one of these points, the size of the Iraqi surplus. The Washington Post mentioned Biden’s misstatement on Hamas and Katie’s restaurant. AOL’s coverage of the errors in the vice presidential debate was by far the worst, though that might not be too surprising given that Tommy Christopher, who wrote their news analysis, also blogs on the Obama Web site. None of these checkers mentioned Biden's statements about the role of the vice president.
(links to sources are given in the original)

For one, one has to wonder what Fox News is is not "the media."

For two, they're really stretching.  The Constitution is clear that the VP is part of the executive branch, and is lumped together with the President most of the time.  With the Senate designed to be made up of an even number of members, tie votes will (if rarely) occur.  In the interest of the nation, it's better to get past the tie vote than to spend years politicking, something that I'm sure the Founding Fathers saw clearly.  The next person up the chain of command is the VP, and so he or she should step in to keep the wrangling to a minimum.

Whether the President of the Senate has the power to set policy by actively endorsing one agenda over another and allowing or disallowing votes is interpreted differently according to the different parties, and probably by different individuals.  Joe Biden says he would limit his interaction, inferring that he understands that the legislative branch should work best on its own, while Sarah Palin seeks to use the power of the VP as President of the Senate to set Executive policy.  I think I know who I would rather have in office.
Title: Re: FactCheck.org - Find out what is true about the presidential candidates
Post by: Sal Atticum on October 11, 2008, 10:54:19 AM
Obama also has a site dedicated to answering questions raised by his opponent:  http://www.fightthesmears.com/
Title: Re: FactCheck.org - Find out what is true about the presidential candidates
Post by: pmp6nl on October 13, 2008, 04:41:28 PM
Oh Fox.
Title: Re: FactCheck.org - Find out what is true about the presidential candidates
Post by: Admiral Ackbar on October 25, 2008, 10:31:27 AM
It might be too much toask, but what do people who are not Obama supporters think?

 :evilpop:
Title: Re: FactCheck.org - Find out what is true about the presidential candidates
Post by: Sal Atticum on October 27, 2008, 11:12:58 AM
It might be too much toask, but what do people who are not Obama supporters think?

 :evilpop:

I wish we had more of them here, it would make talking about politics more interesting!

Here (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/17/science/17innoside.html?_r=3&em&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin) is a link to the NYT, comparing projected science funding under McCain and Obama.
Title: Re: FactCheck.org - Find out what is true about the presidential candidates
Post by: Sal Atticum on November 16, 2008, 06:33:13 PM
and now for something much more entertaining (http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2008/11/10day.html).