FACT CHECK: Flunking geography, history

October 23, 2012 @ 12:02 am


| Zoom
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - Voters didn't always get the straight goods when President Barack Obama and Republican Mitt Romney made their case for foreign policy and national security leadership Monday night before their last super-sized audience of the campaign. A few of their detours into domestic issues were problematic too.

Romney flubbed Middle East geography. Obama got Romney's record as Massachusetts governor wrong.

At the same time, they injected a little more accuracy into two leading misstatements of the campaign: Romney's claim for months that Obama went around apologizing for America, and the president's assertion, going back to his State of the Union address in January, that the U.S. military's exit from Afghanistan will yield money to rebuild America.

A look at some of their statements and how they compare with the facts:

ROMNEY: "Mr. President, the reason I call it an apology tour is because you went to the Middle East and you flew to Egypt and to Saudi Arabia and to Turkey and Iraq. And by the way, you skipped Israel, our closest friend in the region, but you went to the other nations. And by the way, they noticed that you skipped Israel. And then in those nations, and on Arabic TV, you said that America had been dismissive and derisive. You said that on occasion America had dictated to other nations."

OBAMA: "Nothing Gov. Romney just said is true, starting with this notion of me apologizing. This has been probably the biggest whopper that's been told during the course of this campaign. And every fact checker and every reporter who's looked at it, governor, has said this is not true."

THE FACTS: Romney has indeed repeatedly and wrongly accused the president of traveling the world early in his presidency and apologizing for U.S. behavior. Obama didn't say "sorry" in those travels. But in this debate, Romney at last explained the context of his accusation: not that Obama apologized literally, but that he had been too deferential in his visits to Europe, Latin America and the Muslim world.

Obama said while abroad that the U.S. acted "contrary to our traditions and ideals" in its treatment of terrorist suspects, that "America has too often been selective in its promotion of democracy," that the U.S. "certainly shares blame" for international economic turmoil and has sometimes "shown arrogance and been dismissive, even divisive" toward Europe. Yet he also praised America and its ideals.

___

OBAMA: "What I think the American people recognize is, after a decade of war, it's time to do some nation-building here at home. And what we can now do is free up some resources to, for example, put Americans back to work, especially our veterans, rebuilding our roads, our bridges, our schools."

THE FACTS: If Romney's "apology tour" was a campaign whopper, so has been Obama's repeated claim that ending expensive wars meant the U.S. now has money to spend at home. There is no such peace dividend because the wars were financed largely by borrowing.

Yet Obama, too, watched his words a little more carefully Monday night, with his milder suggestion that "some resources" are freed up. That's a more plausible point, if only because U.S. "resources" include the ability to continue to go deeper in debt, but for the purpose of fixing roads, bridges and the like, instead of for making war.

___

ROMNEY: "Syria is Iran's only ally in the Arab world. It's their route to the sea."

THE FACTS: Iran has a large southern coastline with access to the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. And it has no land border with Syria.

___

ROMNEY: Said that when he was Massachusetts governor, high-school students who graduated in the top quarter "got a four-year, tuition-free ride at any Massachusetts public institution of higher learning."

OBAMA: "That happened before you came into office."

ROMNEY: "That was actually mine, actually, Mr. President. You got that fact wrong."

THE FACTS: Romney was right. The John and Abigail Adams scholarship program began in 2004 when he was governor.

___

ROMNEY: "I said that we would provide guarantees, and that was what was able to allow these (auto) companies to go through bankruptcy, to come out of bankruptcy. Under no circumstance would I do anything other than to help this industry get on its feet. And the idea that has been suggested that I would liquidate the industry. Of course not. That's the height of silliness. I have never said I would liquidate the industry."

OBAMA: "Gov. Romney, you keep on trying to airbrush history here. You were very clear that you would not provide government assistance to the U.S. auto companies, even if they went through bankruptcy. You said that they could get it in the private marketplace. That wasn't true. They would have gone through a liquidation."

THE FACTS: It's true that Romney didn't preach liquidation of GM and Chrysler and that he saw his approach as a way to save the auto companies. But his was an improbable course. Opposing a government bailout, Romney instead favored private loans to finance the automakers' restructuring in bankruptcy court. His proposed government loan guarantees would only have come after the companies went through bankruptcy. At the time, however, both automakers were nearly out of cash and were bad credit risks. The banking system was in crisis and private money wasn't available. So without hefty government aid, the assets of both companies probably would have been sold in liquidation auctions.

___

ROMNEY on SYRIA: "What I'm afraid of is we've watched over the past year or so, first the president saying, `Well, we'll let the U.N. deal with it.' And Assad _ excuse me, Kofi Annan _ came in and said we're going to try to have a cease-fire. That didn't work. Then it went to the Russians and said, `Let's see if you can do something.' We should be playing the leadership role there."

OBAMA: "We are playing the leadership role."

THE FACTS: Under Obama, the United States has taken a lead in trying to organize Syria's splintered opposition, even if the U.S. isn't interested in military intervention or providing direct arms support to the rebels. The administration has organized dozens of meetings in Turkey and the Middle East aimed at rallying Syria's political groups and rebel formations to agree on a common vision for a democratic future after Syrian President Bashar Assad is defeated. And Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton brought dozens of nations together as part of the Friends of Syria group to combine aid efforts to Syria's opposition and help it win the support of as many as Syrians as possible. The U.S. also is involved in vetting recipients of military aid from America's Arab allies like Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Romney is partly right in pointing out Obama's failure to win U.N. support for international action in Syria. But the Friends of Syria group has helped bring in hundreds of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid and other forms of assistance to Syrian civilians and the political opposition.

___

OBAMA: "What I would not have had done was left 10,000 troops in Iraq that would tie us down. And that certainly would not help us in the Middle East." THE FACTS: Obama was suggesting that he had never favored keeping U.S. troops in Iraq beyond the December 2011 withdrawal deadline that the Bush administration had negotiated with the Iraqi government. Actually, the Obama administration tried for many months to win Iraqi agreement to keeping several thousand American troops there beyond 2011 to continue training and advising the Iraqi armed forces. The talks broke down over a disagreement on legal immunity for U.S. troops.

___

ROMNEY: "We have an enormous trade imbalance with China, and it's worse this year than last year and it's worse last year than the year before."

THE FACTS: That's true as far as it goes but the imbalance is far from unique to the Obama years. The U.S. has run a trade deficit with China since 1985 and the gap has widened nearly every year since. According to Chinese customs data, Beijing reported a $181.3 billion trade surplus with the United States in 2010. That grew to $202.3 billion last year. The surplus for the first nine months of this year was $161.9 billion, well ahead of the level at this point in 2011.

___

OBAMA: "You are familiar with jobs being shipped overseas because you invested in companies that were shipping jobs overseas. And, you know, that's your right. I mean, that's how our free market works."

THE FACTS: Bain Capital, the private equity company that Romney ran from 1984 to 2001, did invest in several companies that shifted American jobs and operations from the U.S. to China and other foreign nations. In one instance in 1998, Bain bought a 10 percent investment stake in Global-Tech, a Hong Kong firm that used mainland Chinese factories to make toasters and other appliances for U.S. manufacturers that were phasing out American operations and jobs. Romney held full Bain partnership stakes in that deal before the firm sold its holding later that year. Bain also invested in several firms that outsourced to Mexico in the early 2000s, but by then Romney had begun shifting away from Bain to a role running the Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. And in almost all of these cases, it remains unclear how much oversight Bain had in the overseas shifts. The Romney campaign has said that Romney's holdings were mostly passive in nature, particularly after he left the firm.

___

ROMNEY: "In the 2000 debates, there was no mention of terrorism."

THE FACTS: There was passing mention of terrorism in the 2000 debates. In the Oct. 17, 2000, debate between Democrat Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush, Gore talked about his work in Congress to "deal with the problems of terrorism and these new weapons of mass destruction." And in the vice presidential debate, Democrat Joe Lieberman defended the Clinton administration's record of preparing the armed forces to "meet the threats of the new generation of tomorrow, of weapons of mass destruction, of ballistic missiles, terrorism, cyber warfare." Romney's larger point, that the U.S. did not anticipate anything on the scale of terrorist threat that existed, is supported by the light attention paid to the subject in the debates.

___

Associated Press writers Bradley Klapper, Robert Burns, Tom Raum and Stephen Braun in Washington, Charles Hutzler in Beijing and Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to this report.


(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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Comments (28)


  • Add A Comment

  • rational wrote...
    You know it's bad when...
    April 4, 2012 12:02 am
    The AP is starting to call Obama out on his lies.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • wsualumn wrote...
    This Is Clear Proof
    April 4, 2012 3:38 am
    That the press will expose both sides of the aisle when they aren't giving the entire straight story. Fox News and their cohorts always lament that the mainstream media protects The Dems and doesn't call them out on not being "straight up."
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • turp63 wrote...
    wsualumn
    April 4, 2012 3:48 am
    Actually it's clear proof that he's losing his biggest supporters; the MSM...
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • HPD 5-0 wrote...
    The Dimocrats are SCARED.
    April 4, 2012 5:04 am
    ...now, it's even worse. Yes, when the AP calls out a Dim, it's obvious even they know he's an unqualified liar.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • wsualumn wrote...
    Right
    April 4, 2012 7:21 am
    They ALL do this. They will all get fact checks. They all have their slant. The GOP is the one that know they have already lost The White House. Their focus is to hold onto Congress and get more control of the senate. The only hope you have for The White House is for gas to get much more expensive and a major international conflict to occur, which is what I am sure many of anti-Obama people want. An improved U.S. doesn't matter to them, just get him out at whatever costs. Real patriots you know. The GOP has also lost the votes of women and Hispanics, so I don't think as you put it that "The Dimocrats" are scared, but The "Republicons" are the one that have the tough road ahead of them.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    Anyone listen to the Dear Leader
    April 4, 2012 11:39 am
    stammer and stutter and lie his way through the speeches that he concocted? Obama was and is a mess. This isn't going the way the regime had planned and they are scared &*((*less over it. They think that the Dear Leader will be defeated. And rightly so!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • wsualumn wrote...
    HA HA
    April 4, 2012 1:59 pm
    The GOP in the ranks know the presidential election is lost. They are putting on a brave face. Their focus is the house. You can ramble all you want about Obama. If his approval rating were to hit 35% you would salivate, but then you'd have to deal with the reality of your party and Romney having a 20% approval rating. I know, hope for bad things to happen so you can have it your way. I'll be hope that things get better for this country because I want things to get better.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    wsualumn
    April 4, 2012 3:24 pm
    I am salivating now that he is at 41 percent. The lowest yet and will go lower. Your Dear Leader CANNOT run on his policies. At least not with the American public. The way the Dear Leader fumbled his way through the speech yesterday. Your regime and the Dear Leader are scared out of their shoes that they will lose and lose BIG! And I am certain they will!

    That being said, what do you feel that Obama re immac chances are?

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    I know, hope for bad things to happen so you can have it your way. I'll be hope that things get better for this country because I want things to get better.
    April 4, 2012 3:32 pm
    Bad things have and are happening. They are this regime and the Dear Leader.

    The HOPE that we have is that we will CHANGE from an Obamunist hybrid style of Socialist government to a President that will listen to and do the will of the people of America.

    WSU, you can Parrot the party line all you want. I encourage it. Just don't do something that you will regret when Obama and most of his mindless minions are crushed in November!

    But it's your choice!

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • wsualumn wrote...
    Parrot
    April 4, 2012 4:19 pm
    You are parroting Sean Hannity's rating approval. He has picked the lowest from the poles. They range from 41% to 48%. Fox report's the lowest as the standard. I'll give Obama 52% to 48% over Romney. The Ryan Budget Plan that Romney endorses is a disaster for the middle class and poor. It's all geared for the rich, corporations, and military industry. The rich and corporations sacrifice nothing. A 12% tax cut for the rich and a .2% tax cut for those making less than $10,000. Romney will also have a hard time defending his health care and attacking Obama's.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    The Ryan Budget Plan that Romney endorses is a disaster for the middle class and poor. It's all geared for the rich, corporations, and military industry.
    April 5, 2012 4:46 am
    WSU, where is your Dear Leaders budget?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • rational wrote...
    It's me! Ha ha! wrote
    April 5, 2012 6:36 am
    WSU, where is your Dear Leaders budget?

    I can answer that question...dear leader's budget was voted down 414-0...it was such a sham that even the democrats wouldn't support it.

    Now if you ask the same question about the Senate...they have more important things to do than their job, at least that's what comes out of the democrat leadership of the Senate where the democrats have the majority.

    The only budget that passes any muster at all is the republican ones....democrats have no answer for the problems in American (having created most of them themselves). No budget since Obama has been president...easier to blow through money if you don't have a plan, other than to line the pockets of your friends and supporters.

    History will view the Obama regime as perhaps the most corrupt in US history.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • wsualumn wrote...
    Is The Bet
    April 5, 2012 6:48 am
    Still on?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • HLC wrote...
    wsu what would you bet with?
    April 9, 2012 1:04 pm
    I'm sure whatever you would gamble with would not be yours. That is the way of a liberal. Gamble with other peoples money, don't risk your own. Am I right?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • wsualumn wrote...
    HLC
    April 9, 2012 5:47 pm
    NOPE! By the way, Your Republican party did a heck of job watching our money during Bush!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • CH wrote...
    Look up the word erroneously . . . .
    April 9, 2012 7:15 pm
    rational needs the meaning.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • daveismenotyou wrote...
    Look up the picture of a loser living in his mom's basement
    April 9, 2012 7:20 pm
    and you will find an image of CH
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }