For the record

Matthew Hoy
By Matthew Hoy on October 5, 2008

For those who were impressed by Sen. Joe Biden's command of the facts on Thursday night, take note: a combination of the McCain campaign, bloggers and fact-checkers have identified 24 inaccuracies by Biden in a 90-minute debate.

Nos. 1-14 are from the McCain campaign.

1. TAX VOTE: Biden said McCain voted “the exact same way” as Obama to increase taxes on Americans earning just $42,000, but McCain DID NOT VOTE THAT WAY.

2. AHMEDINIJAD MEETING: Joe Biden lied when he said that Barack Obama never said that he would sit down unconditionally with Mahmoud Ahmedinijad of Iran. Barack Obama did say specifically, and Joe Biden attacked him for it.

3. OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING: Biden said, “Drill we must.” But Biden has opposed offshore drilling and even compared offshore drilling to “raping” the Outer Continental Shelf.”

4. TROOP FUNDING: Joe Biden lied when he indicated that John McCain and Barack Obama voted the same way against funding the troops in the field. John McCain opposed a bill that included a timeline, that the President of the United States had already said he would veto regardless of it’s passage.

5. OPPOSING CLEAN COAL: Biden says he’s always been for clean coal, but he just told a voter that he is against clean coal and any new coal plants in America and has a record of voting against clean coal and coal in the U.S. Senate.

6. ALERNATIVE ENERGY VOTES: According to FactCheck.org, Biden is exaggerating and overstating John McCain’s record voting for alternative energy when he says he voted against it 23 times.

7. HEALTH INSURANCE: Biden falsely said McCain will raise taxes on peoples health insurance coverage -- they get a tax credit to offset any tax hike. Independent fact checkers have confirmed this attack is false

8. OIL TAXES: Biden falsely said Palin supported a windfall profits tax in Alaska -- she reformed the state tax and revenue system, its not a windfall profits tax.

9. AFGHANISTAN / GEN. MCKIERNAN COMMENTS: Biden said that top military commander in Iraq said the principles of the surge could not be applied to Afghanistan, but the commander of NATOs International Security Assistance Force Gen. David D. McKiernan said that there were principles of the surge strategy, including working with tribes, that could be applied in Afghanistan.

10. REGULATION: Biden falsely said McCain weakened regulation -- he actually called for more regulation on Fannie and Freddie.

11. IRAQ: When Joe Biden lied when he said that John McCain was “dead wrong on Iraq”, because Joe Biden shared the same vote to authorize the war and differed on the surge strategy where they John McCain has been proven right.

12. TAX INCREASES: Biden said Americans earning less than $250,000 wouldn’t see higher taxes, but the Obama-Biden tax plan would raise taxes on individuals making $200,000 or more.

13. BAILOUT: Biden said the economic rescue legislation matches the four principles that Obama laid out, but in reality it doesn’t meet two of the four principles that Obama outlined on Sept. 19, which were that it include an emergency economic stimulus package, and that it be part of “part of a globally coordinated effort with our partners in the G-20.”

14. REAGAN TAX RATES: Biden is wrong in saying that under Obama, Americans wont pay any more in taxes then they did under Reagan.

From Jim Geraghty over at National Reviews CampaignSpot blog:

15. THE CONSTITUTION: Biden: Vice President Cheney's been the most dangerous vice president we've had probably in American history. He has — he has — the idea he doesn't realize that Article I of the Constitution defines the role of the vice president of the United States, thats the executive — he works in the executive branch. He should understand that. Everyone should understand that.

As noted by the McCain Camp, Article I of the Constitution does not, in fact, define the role of the Vice President of the United States. It defines the role of the legislative branch, otherwise known as the branch in which Joe Biden has served for the last 36 years.

[A reader writes in noting that Article I does mention the veep at one point — The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided. However, by describing the veeps role in the legislature, it doesnt really help Biden's claim that it defines the role, thats the executive, he works in the executive branch.]

16. IRAQ-AFGHANISTAN SPENDING: Biden said that the U.S. spends more in Iraq in one month than it has in Afghanistan in six or seven years. That figure is off by 2000 percent.

17. ‘KICKED HEZBOLLAH OUT OF LEBANON’: Biden: When we kicked — along with France, we kicked Hezbollah out of Lebanon, I said, and Barack said, ‘Move NATO forces in there. Fill the vacuum, because if you don’t know — if you don’t, Hezbollah will control it.”

Reuters thinks he meant to refer to Syria, but I still dont think it would be accurate to say the U.S. kicked Syria out of Lebanon. The Lebanese kicked Syria out of Lebanon.

18. VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ACT: Biden's statement that McCain voted against the Violence Against Women Act is accurate. But as Robert Byers notes, the Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Morrison, the Court ruled that much of Biden's law was an unconstitutional power grab by Congress of rights reserved to the states. Nobody voted against the WAWA because they support violence against women; they objected over constiutional concerns that a Supreme Court majority validated.

19. RESTAURANT: Look, all you have to do is go down Union Street with me in Wilmington or go to Katies Restaurant or walk into Home Depot with me where I spend a lot of time and you ask anybody in there whether or not the economic and foreign policy of this administration has made them better off in the last eight years.

According to this Delaware site, Katie's Restaurant is no longer in business; locals remember it on Union Street 25 to 30 years ago.

20. ARMS CONTROL TREATY: Biden: Number two, with regard to arms control and weapons, nuclear weapons require a nuclear arms control regime. John McCain voted against a Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty that every Republican has supported.

I have no idea where Biden gets this every Republican has supported claim, as 49 other Republican senators voted no with McCain.

21. WEST BANK ELECTIONS: Biden: President Bush insisted on elections in the West Bank, when I said, and others said, and Barack Obama said, Big mistake. Hamas will win. You'll legitimize them.

The Washington Posts Glenn Kessler notes that Obama had been a senator for only a few days when the election took place, but if he made such statements, they did not appear in news reports or transcripts that are contained in the Nexis or Factiva databases.

22. PAKISTANI WEAPONS: Pakistan already has nuclear weapons. Pakistan already has deployed nuclear weapons. Pakistans weapons can already hit Israel and the Mediterranean.

The top range of Pakistans nuclear-capable missile is 1,000 miles -- not enough to hit Israel or the med.

From FactCheck.org:

23. FOREIGN POLICY: Biden wrongly claimed that McCain had said he wouldnt even sit down with the government of Spain. Actually, McCain didnt reject a meeting, but simply refused to commit himself one way or the other during an interview.

From Geraghty again:

24. ISRAEL: Nobody in the Senate has been a better friend to Israel than Joe Biden. said Joe Biden. Thats a rather audacious statement coming from a man who, according to Israeli leaders, threatened a total cutoff of aid in 1982.

So much for having a command of the issues. I think if Palin had made Biden's "we kicked Hezbollah out of Lebanon line" that the press would've crucified her as an ignoramus, but Biden gets a pass.

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