Palin Debate Lies

It was difficult to really call into question many of the facts that Palin made in her debate because of the few times she actually said anything noteworthy beyond the word 'Maverick' and the often repeated Republican mantra of a vote for democrats means higher taxes.

If they were both running for president and not VP, 82% of the people watching the debate said that Biden would have been a better presidential candidate then Palin. Considering that on any give issue, there are about 20-25% who always vote the party line or choice, this means Palin barely got the hard core party vote. Of course our current commander in chief doesn't have an approval rating much higher, so I guess she's got a chance...

Everything here can be verified on FactCheck.org or CNN's Fact Check pages.

• Palin mistakenly claimed that troop levels in Iraq had returned to “pre-surge” levels.
  
  FACT: Levels are gradually coming down but current plans would have levels higher than pre-surge numbers through early next year, at least.
  
• Palin repeated a false claim that Obama once voted in favor of higher taxes on “families” making as little as $42,000 a year.
  
  FACT: He did not. The budget bill in question called for an increase only on singles making that amount, but a family of four would not have been affected unless they made at least $90,000 a year.
  
• Palin claimed McCain’s health care plan would be “budget neutral,” costing the government nothing.
  
  FACT: Independent budget experts estimate McCain's plan would cost tens of billions each year.
  
• Palin wrongly claimed that “millions of small businesses” would see tax increases under Obama’s tax proposals.
  
  FACT: several hundred thousand business owners would see increases.
  
• Palin said that Obama had accused American troops of doing nothing but killing civilians, a claim she called "reckless" and "untrue."
  
  FACT 1: Heres what Obama said. "We’ve got to get the job done there and that requires us to have enough troops so that we’re not just air-raiding villages and killing civilians, which is causing enormous problems there."
  
  FACT 2: The Associated Press found that in fact U.S troops were killing more civilians at the time than insurgents: "As of Aug. 1, the AP count shows that while militants killed 231 civilians in attacks in 2007, Western forces killed 286. Another 20 were killed in crossfire that can’t be attributed to one party." Afghan President Hamid Karzai had expressed concern about these civilian killings, a concern President Bush said he shared.

And while not in the debate, the latest lie is that Obama is supported a terrorist. Talk about a stretch. The article she is basing this on concluded the article with this statement:

"the two men do not appear to have been close. Nor has Mr. Obama ever expressed sympathy for the radical views and actions of Mr. Ayers."

Of course coming from Palin, this actually makes sense. She basis that she has good foreign policy experience because her state borders both Canada and Russia. Based upon that, I must have excellent foreign policy experience from partying in Cabo.

Based upon McCains age and Obama's race, their is a significant chance that whichever presidential candidate actually takes office, they may not live through their entire term. That's just they way it is. That being said, the VP that will go into office needs to be given greater consideration then in previous elections. Watch the Couric interviews and tell me this is the right person to be staring down a Putin or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a time of crisis. Compare that with Biden in the same situation and the choice is easy.