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How does PolitiFact Georgia’s Truth-O-Meter work?
Our goal is to help you find the truth in American politics. Reporters from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution fact-check statements by local, state and national political leaders, including lobbyists and interest groups. We then rate them on the AJC Truth-O-Meter.
To fact-check a claim, reporters first contact the speaker to verify the statement. Next, the research begins. Reporters consult a variety of sources, including industry and academic experts. This research can take hours or a few days or even longer, depending on the claim. Reporters then compile the research into story form and include a recommended Truth-O-Meter ruling.
The fact check then moves on to a panel of veteran editors who debate the statement and the reporter’s recommended Truth-O-Meter ruling. The panel votes on a final ruling; majority prevails.
Martin O’Malley, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are making last-minute appeals to voters as they ready for the Iowa Caucuses early this week.
The Democratic presidential candidates all took a ride last week on the AJC Truth-O-Meter, courtesy of those fact-checking scribes at PolitiFact and PolitiFact Georgia.
Abbreviated versions of our fact checks are below.
Want to comment on our rulings or suggest one of your own? Just go to our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/politifact.georgia). You can also follow us on Twitter (http://twitter.com/politifactga).
Full versions can be found at www.politifact.com/georgia/.
Hillary Clinton on Wednesday, January 20th, 2016 in a speech in Burlington, Iowa:
“I am the only candidate on either side who has laid out a specific plan about what I would do to defeat ISIS.”
Clinton’s plan is more detailed, by some measurements, than those of other candidates.
But at least seven other candidates in both parties have released multi-point plans for taking on ISIS. Some plans approach Clinton’s in either length or degree of detail.
In fact, there’s a significant degree of overlap between the agenda items in Clinton’s plan and in plans released by other candidates.
We don’t see strong evidence for Clinton’s claim that she’s the only member of the 2016 field with a “specific plan.”
We rate the claim False.
Bernie Sanders on Sunday, January 24th, 2016 in comments on “Meet the Press.”
Says his views on reparations for slavery are the same as Barack Obama’s and Hillary Clinton’s.
Sanders said he opposes reparations “for the same reason that Barack Obama has and the same reason, I believe, that Hillary Clinton has.”
The reason, he said, is the need to focus instead on addressing current economic problems in the black community by improving education, providing jobs and addressing poverty. That is basically what Obama and Clinton has suggested in lieu of reparations.
It’s worth noting that Sanders previously suggested that reparations were politically impractical and divisive. Obama and Clinton have not made comments to this effect. In 2007, Obama said reparations could be used an excuse not to do more for African-Americans.
We rate Sanders’ claim Mostly True.
Martin O’Malley on Thursday, January 14th, 2016 in a column posted on Medium.com:
“Fifty years ago, the average GM employee could pay for a year of a son or daughter’s college tuition on just two weeks wages.”
That’s not quite right. It would have taken about four weeks of work at GM, not two, to pay for a year at the average four-year college in 1965, and more than that if you take account of taxes.
Still, O’Malley has a point that the situation in 1965 was quite a deal compared to today, when a typical auto worker would have to work for 10 weeks in order to pay for a year of tuition at the average four-year college.
We rate O’Malley’s statement Mostly True.
Bernie Sanders on Tuesday, January 19th, 2016 in a town hall meeting in Underwood, Iowa.
“Almost all of the polls that have come out suggest that I am a much stronger candidate against the Republicans than is Hillary Clinton.”
The NBC News/Wall Street Journal national poll released before Sanders’ statement supports his claim for Trump, but it has no data against Cruz or Rubio.
Earlier polls say he doesn’t outperform Clinton at all against Cruz, Rubio or Bush, and the narrow races combined with the margins of error make his contention even more dubious.
Beating Clinton in only two of eight hypothetical matchups is far from “almost all.”
The statement is not accurate, so we rate it False.
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