Republican National Convention speakers held back their harshest rhetoric against Barack Obama and Democrats on Tuesday, but some got in a lick or two that require a touch of context.
SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN, I-CONN.: "When Barack Obama was voting to cut off funding for our troops on the ground, John McCain had the courage to stand against the tide of public opinion and support the surge."
THE FACTS: Lieberman's statement is true — Obama voted once, in May of last year, against money for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill, however, passed overwhelmingly. He had voted in favor of troop funding in April, but that legislation was vetoed by President Bush because it included a call to pull troops out of Iraq. Before his May vote, Obama had voted for every bill that financed the troops since he joined the Senate.
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER JOHN BOEHNER, R-OHIO: "They see Congress adjourning for the summer without a vote on comprehensive energy reforms ... When (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi sent Congress home last month without an energy vote, Republicans refused to leave."
THE FACTS: Republicans have remained in the House during Congress' regularly scheduled August recess, demanding that Pelosi call the House back into session to vote on an energy bill that includes an increase in offshore oil drilling. The show of urgency is mostly theatrical, however, since offshore drilling would increase oil production, but not for seven to 10 years. Republicans had blocked Democratic proposals to tap the nation's petroleum reserve, curb oil speculation and force oil companies to drill on already leased federal lands.
FORMER SEN. FRED THOMPSON, R-TENN.: "Now our opponents tell you not to worry about their tax increases. They tell you they are not going to tax your family. No, they're just going to tax 'businesses'! So unless you buy something from a 'business,' like groceries or clothes or gasoline, or unless you get a paycheck from a big or a small 'business,' don't worry, it's not going to affect you."
THE FACTS: Obama would raise income taxes on the wealthiest and their capital gains and dividends taxes. He would raise payroll taxes on wealthiest by applying it to the portion of income over $250,000 and he would also raise corporate taxes. Only small businesses that make more than $250,000 a year would see taxes rise. Obama would provide $80 billion in tax breaks mainly for poor workers and the elderly, including tripling the Earned Income Tax Credit for minimum-wage workers and higher credits for larger families. The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama's plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain's plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded.
Labels: Politics
