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Saddleback "Bloopers" From Factcheck.org

Monday August 18, 2008
As I noted on Saturday, this weekend Senators and presumed presidential nominees John McCain and Barack Obama were part of a made-for-TV "joint" appearance at Saddleback Church. About.com's Guide to Liberal Politics, Deborah White, covered the event.

Factcheck.org has just released its analysis. (I confess that I still haven't set aside two hours to watch, although I do have it recorded on our Tivo.)

  • Obama overstated his working relationship with McCain on 2006 ethics legislation. Both joined with the minority to vote against the bill that passed the Senate; both voted for the 2007 bill in the Senate. However, "[when] a House-passed version came back to the Senate, McCain voted against it and Obama voted for it. That version passed 83 to 14 and became law."
  • Obama misrepresented the 2007 ethics legislation, saying that he worked "against party loyalty" when the bill in question" was sponsored by Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid and a bipartisan list of 16 others." Only 14 Republicans voted against the final version of bill.
  • Obama said that "over the last eight years, abortions have not gone down." From Factcheck: "This is an erroneous claim that we first tracked down and debunked more than three years ago when it was being repeated by Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean and Sens. Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, among others."
  • McCain misspoke when describing his own tax relief package.
  • McCain gave only half the story when talking about his $5,000 tax credit to buy health insurance. He failed to mention that, in addition, his health care proposal taxes workers "on the value of any health benefits paid for by their employers, which isn't the case under current law."

And over at Salon, Mike Madden says the winner was Warren.

So, which of these are the more egregious boo-boos?

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