What a debate, eh?
A CNN poll showed that 67% of people thought Romney won the debate, as opposed to 25% for Obama. The major issues at hand during the first debate of the election season, held at the University of Denver, were the economy, healthcare and, of course, taxes. The debate went back and forth, for roughly an hour and a half, and what can we take away from it? A whole lot of porkies.
porkies -noun
Lies. Another Cockney rhyming slang, but almost completely detached from its origin Lies = Pork Pies = Porkies. For some reason seldom used in the singular.
From The Online Slang Dictionary
So how does one sort through these fibs? Well it just so happens that FactCheck.org, a non-partisan and non-profit website whose goal is to reduce the confusion surrounding U.S. politics, decided to do some tweeting during the debates. Let’s tally up the tall tales, and see if we can gain some clarity, shall we?
1. Obama says Romney wants to “double down” on policies that caused the recession.
So who caused the recession? The Federal Reserve, the Clinton administration, the Bush (W.) administration, and Congress, as well as home buyers, were all to blame. So Obama’s saying Romney’s going to basically keep things the way they are now.
2. Romney says he will pay for a $5 trillion tax cut without raising the deficit or raising taxes on the middle class.
Well, you can’t actually do that. The two go hand in hand.
3. Obama says he’d increase the tax rate on high-income earners no more than they paid under Clinton.
New taxes to pay for the Affordable Care Act say otherwise.
4. Romney says six studies prove his revenue-neutral tax plan can work.
Romney’s studies may as well have been written by Sean Hannity.
5. Romney said Obama doubled deficits.
Actually, Obama inherited $1.2 trillion deficit from the Republicans. At the end of 2009′s fiscal year, we were at $1.4 trillion. I’d hardly call that doubling.
6. Obama says Romney-Ryan Medicare plan’s a “voucher” plan.
How is that different from Obama’s plan? Both plans subsidize private insurance.
7. Romney said Obama “cut” Medicare by $716 billion.
What Obama is actually doing is prolonging the life of Medicare by cutting the growth of future spending.
8. Romney says a board will tell seniors which treatments Medicare will cover.
By law, the board is prohibited from doing just that.
9. Obama says Americans will get a rebate from insurance costs.
Actually, most of those rebates are going to go to employers, not employees.
10. Romney said that 23 million Americans are out of work.
Half, actually. The number he’s giving (for some reason) includes part-time employees and those who’ve stopped looking for a job.
So by FactCheck.org’s count, the blatant lies go as follows – Obama: 4, Romney: 6.
What does this tell us? It tells us that our politicians are corporate shills who will say anything to get elected.
Take a look at both of these guys, standing up there in their monkey suits, wearing the colors of their teams, and their flag pins. Listen to their doublespeak. Actually listen to the debate and understand that nowhere in the debate did either of the two give a straight answer that the average American can comprehend.
There’s a line that Romney said during the debate that FactCheck didn’t jump on and I’d like to point that out real fast:
11. Romney said that America has the “best healthcare record”.
I know people from Africa, and they even say our healthcare sucks. Let’s just say this: I work for a very, very lucrative company who provides excellent healthcare, and I still don’t go because it’s too damn expensive. If you think America’s healthcare is good, you’re probably in Congress.
The most adorable part of this is that Romney makes a big deal about Obamacare being pushed through with “not a single Republican vote” as if Obama has been super-partisan. The reality is that back in 2010, the Republicans made it their number one priority to make sure that Obama didn’t see a second term. Not healthcare. Not jobs. Partisan bull.
I’d like to see things shaken up a bit. I’d like to see a third party in the debates. Perhaps we’d actually have some decent dialogue.
