Fact-Checking Obama's Speech

Well I guess FactCheck.org must think that details and facts are important in a presidents speech. Or for that matter facts and details are important in any politicians speeches because the site takes the time to find out and make the information available to anyone that may be interested in facts and details. Otherwise how would anyone know anything about ridiculous lies or minor errors or lack of attention to details that come out of Washington .

You're still missing my point, apparently.

Checking the facts is good to do. But sometimes, the facts you check are inconsequential.

Here are two examples of factual errors, one is worse than another.

Example 1: "There is a medical bankruptcy every 30 seconds, therefore we should do more to help people with medical bills"

Not such a big deal if it's 30 seconds or 60 seconds.. the point is, it's a lot.

Example 2: "There is a medical bankruptcy every 30 seconds, based on this figure we suggest an $80 billion dollar program."

In this case, the difference between 30 seconds and 60 seconds is $40 billion dollars.

So you see, how it's not the details that matter, it's only the details that matter that matter.

I think you should check for bias in your sources,unless you have the same biases!

About FactCheck.org
Our Mission

We are a nonpartisan, nonprofit "consumer advocate" for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. We monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases. Our goal is to apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and understanding


https://www.factcheck.org/about/

We all know, had Bush made that many FU's in a speech, it would be headline news.

Sources
U.S. Energy Information Administration. Weekly U.S. Total Crude Oil and Petroleum Products Imports, accessed 25 Feb. 2009.

U.S. Energy Information Administration. Annual U.S. Crude Oil and Petroleum Products Imports from All Countries, accessed 25 Feb. 2009.

Woodward, Calvin and Jim Kuhnhenn. ?Fact Check: Obama?s words on home aid ring hollow.? Associated Press, 25 Feb. 2009.

?FDIC Head Sees Wide Benefit From Foreclosure Plan.? National Public Radio, 19 Feb. 2009.

?Everyday Mysteries.? The Library of Congress, accessed 25 Feb. 2009.

Kaplan, Fred. "The Air Force Tries to Save a Fighter Plan that's Never Seen Combat." 24 Feb. 2009. Slate. 25 February 2009.

DiMascio, Jen. "Gates: F-22 Production Increase Could Hurt More Affordable JSF." 7 Feb. 2008. Defense Daily. 25 February 2009.

U.S. Courts. "Bankruptcy Filings Near Million Mark for 12-Month Period Ending June 30, 2008," 27 Aug. 2008.

Naughton, Keith. "Ford Chooses Johnson Controls-Saft for Plug-in Hybrid Battery." Bloomberg News, 3 Feb. 2009.

Krishner, Tom. "GM picks S. Korea's LG Chem to make Volt batteries." The Associated Press, 12 Jan. 2009.














Maybe if we had paid closer attention to 'details' and 'errors' and points in the past , who knows what would be different now?

Yet another great thread, my friend! Lotsa links with lotas info to read up on.

Cya after classes, take care.

Fact check is right about the oil usage decline since 2005.With the economy the way it is I would be amazed if it hadnt dropped in the last year or so. Shame on the president for not mentioning that. I expect that his speech writers will be admonished, however if one looks at the graph the point that he makes about the high oil consumption is a valid one. Never had the consumption risen above 13,000 barrels a day until 2005 and it remains that way since.

Factcheck.org is pretty unbiased.



I saw "fact checks" of Obama's speech on at least two news sites. Show me a headline of a fact check of a Bush speech that contained nothing but trivial errors.



Such as?