Politics
Fact Checking the First GOP Presidential Debates
(The Washington Post) – Welcome to our first edition of fact checks of the debates for the 2016 presidential election cycle. Fox News aired two debates on Thursday: a prime-time event starring 10 candidates and an earlier debate featuring seven second-tier candidates, based on an average of recent polls.
Not every candidate uttered facts that are easily fact checked, but following is a list of 21 suspicious claims. As is our practice, we do not award Pinocchios when we do a roundup of facts in debates. But astute readers should be able to figure out the whoppers. These claims are examined in the order in which they were uttered.
The Main Event
“I cut taxes every year, totaling $19 billion . . . During my eight years, 1.3 million jobs were created.”
— Former governor Jeb Bush (Fla.)
The tax-cut number is a cumulative figure, and big chunks came from legislative actions that did not involve Bush, such as a phasing out of the federal estate tax in a law passed by Congress.
