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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.
President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech, Obama’s promise on immigration reform and Donald Trump’s slam against fellow GOP presidential hopeful Ted Cruz.
They 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.
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Full versions can be found at www.politifact.com/georgia/.
President Barack Obama on Tuesday, January 12th, 2016, in his State of the Union speech
We’ve “lifted high school graduation rates to new highs.”
Even when we checked this statistic two years ago, there was a consensus in the education community that graduation rates were rising. But uncertainty persists about those old rates.
If Obama had restricted his time frame to the past four years, the numbers would be on firmer ground.
But he didn’t. He gave the impression that these were the highest rates ever.
Obama’s statement is partially accurate. But it leaves out important details or takes things out of context.
We rate it Half True.
President Barack Obama on Tuesday, January 12th, 2016, in his State of the Union speech
We have cut “our deficits by almost three-quarters.”
Presidents don’t move the economy on their own (the economy can be affected for good or ill by global trends and technological change) and must cooperate with Congress when steering fiscal policy.
Obama’s numbers do check out if you start with fiscal year 2009, his first year in office.
But it’s worth remembering that 2009 had a historically high deficit and that projections show the deficit increasing again in just a couple years.
We rate Obama’s claim Mostly True.
Donald Trump on Tuesday, January 5th, 2016, in an interview with The Washington Post
Canadian-born Ted Cruz “has had a double passport.”
There’s no such thing, far as we could tell, as a “double passport.” We suspect Trump was suggesting Cruz had obtained both a U.S. one and a Canadian one — though our requests for factual backup drew no replies from Trump representatives.
When we asked Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler about Cruz ever having a “double passport,” Tyler replied that Cruz had “never” had a Canadian passport or, he said by email, applied for one.
Trump didn’t provide and we didn’t find evidence that Cruz, who relinquished his dual citizenship in 2014, ever carried passports for the U.S. and Canada — nor, Cruz’s camp advises, did he ever apply for a Canadian passport.
We rate Trump’s claim False.
President Barack Obama: Promised to provide a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants
During his 2008 campaign, Obama promised to support “a system that allows undocumented immigrants who are in good standing to pay a fine, learn English, and go to the back of the line for the opportunity to become citizens.”
In 2012, Obama announced Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which gives temporary status for illegal immigrants who came to the country as children.
In 2013, a bipartisan group of senators dubbed the Gang of Eight — including GOP presidential candidate Marco Rubio of Florida — introduced legislation to overhaul immigration laws.
However, the bill stalled in the House, and it never became law.
We rate outcomes, not intentions, and Obama has not delivered on his promise to provide a path to citizenship.
We rate this a Promise Broken.
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