On Day 2 of the Democratic National Convention, speakers
cherry-picked employment numbers to make President Barack Obama's record
on jobs look better than it is and misrepresented Republican proposals
on Medicare to cast them in the worst light.
A look at some of the claims from the stage, in speeches preceding former President Bill Clinton's featured address Wednesday night, and how those assertions compare with the facts:
Rep. NANCY PELOSI of California, House Democratic leader: "Democrats will preserve and strengthen Medicare. Republicans will end the Medicare guarantee."
REP. STEVE ISRAEL, D-N.Y., chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee: "Paul Ryan wrote the budget that turns Medicare into voucher care and could charge seniors $6,400 more every year, while funding tax breaks for millionaires. Here's their economic plan: if you're a millionaire, you win the lottery. If you're a senior, you lose your Medicare guarantee."
THE FACTS: Both are on shaky ground in declaring that Republicans will end the "Medicare guarantee," and Israel's figure for how much more seniors could pay is outdated. It's actually based on a Congressional Budget Office analysis of the 2011 version of Rep. Paul Ryan's Medicare proposal, different in several important ways from the Republican vice presidential candidate's latest 2012 version.
The latest Ryan plan would offer future retirees the choice of a government program modeled on Medicare or private plans subsidized by government. That's not a proposal to end a Medicare guarantee. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office does, though, estimate future retirees would get less from the government under the Ryan plan than if current law continues. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has endorsed Ryan's Medicare ideas in broad terms while saying the White House agenda will be his own, not his running mate's, if they win.
A look at some of the claims from the stage, in speeches preceding former President Bill Clinton's featured address Wednesday night, and how those assertions compare with the facts:
Rep. NANCY PELOSI of California, House Democratic leader: "Democrats will preserve and strengthen Medicare. Republicans will end the Medicare guarantee."
REP. STEVE ISRAEL, D-N.Y., chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee: "Paul Ryan wrote the budget that turns Medicare into voucher care and could charge seniors $6,400 more every year, while funding tax breaks for millionaires. Here's their economic plan: if you're a millionaire, you win the lottery. If you're a senior, you lose your Medicare guarantee."
THE FACTS: Both are on shaky ground in declaring that Republicans will end the "Medicare guarantee," and Israel's figure for how much more seniors could pay is outdated. It's actually based on a Congressional Budget Office analysis of the 2011 version of Rep. Paul Ryan's Medicare proposal, different in several important ways from the Republican vice presidential candidate's latest 2012 version.
The latest Ryan plan would offer future retirees the choice of a government program modeled on Medicare or private plans subsidized by government. That's not a proposal to end a Medicare guarantee. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office does, though, estimate future retirees would get less from the government under the Ryan plan than if current law continues. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has endorsed Ryan's Medicare ideas in broad terms while saying the White House agenda will be his own, not his running mate's, if they win.
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