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<div class="timestamp">August 31, 2012</div>
<h1>Facts Take a Beating in Acceptance Speeches</h1>
<h6 class="byline">By
<span>
<a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/michael_cooper/index.html" rel="author" title="More Articles by MICHAEL COOPER"><span>MICHAEL COOPER</span></a></span></h6>
<div id="articleBody">
<p>
Representative <a href="http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/candidates/paul-ryan?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Paul D. Ryan." class="meta-per">Paul D. Ryan</a> used his convention speech on Wednesday to fault <a href="http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/candidates/barack-obama?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Barack Obama" class="meta-per">President Obama</a>
for failing to act on a deficit-reduction plan that he himself had
helped kill. He chided Democrats for seeking $716 billion in <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/medicare/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="Recent and archival health news about Medicare." class="meta-classifier">Medicare</a>
cuts that he too had sought. And he lamented the nation’s credit rating
— which was downgraded after a debt-ceiling standoff that he and other
House Republicans helped instigate. </p>
<p>
And <a href="http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/primaries/candidates/mitt-romney?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Mitt Romney." class="meta-per">Mitt Romney</a>,
in his acceptance speech on Thursday night, asserted that President
Obama’s policies had “not helped create jobs” and that Mr. Obama had
gone on an “apology tour” for America. He also warned that the
president’s Medicare cuts would “hurt today’s seniors,” claims that have
already been labeled false or misleading. </p>
<p>
<span style="color:rgb(255,0,0)"><font size="4"><b>The two speeches — peppered with statements that were incorrect or
incomplete — seemed to signal the arrival of a new kind of presidential
campaign, one in which concerns about fact-checking have been largely
set aside. </b></font></span></p>
<p><b>
</b>In recent weeks, the Romney campaign has broadcast television
advertisements leveling the widely debunked assertion that Mr. Obama had
gutted the work requirements for welfare recipients. The Obama
campaign, for its part, ran a deceptive ad saying that Mitt Romney had
“backed a bill that outlaws all abortion, even in case of rape and
incest,” although he currently supports exceptions in cases of rape,
incest or when the life of the mother is at risk. </p>
<p>
The growing number of misrepresentations appear to reflect a calculation
in both parties that shame is overrated, and that no independent
arbiters command the stature or the platform to hold the campaigns to
account in the increasingly polarized and balkanized media firmament.
Any unmasking of the lies or distortions, the thinking goes, rarely
seeps into the public consciousness. </p>
<p>
But an interesting question unfolding is whether there is a tipping
point at which a candidate becomes so associated with falsehoods that it
becomes part of his public persona — which hampered Vice President Al
Gore during his run for president in 2000, when his misstatements on the
campaign trail were used to stoke the perception that he could not be
trusted in general. </p>
<p>
In the case of Mr. Ryan’s speech, the jury is still out. It was received rapturously by the <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/r/republican_party/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about Republican Party" class="meta-org">Republican Party</a>
faithful, but his many questionable assertions ensured that much of the
analysis on Thursday focused on his accuracy more than his acumen.
</p>
<p>
The Obama campaign fanned the flames with a Web video mocking Mr. Ryan,
showing anchors from CNN and Fox News questioning some of his
statements. And Stephanie Cutter, the president’s deputy campaign
manager, was blunt. “There’s no delicate way to say this: last night
Paul Ryan lied, repeatedly, knowingly and brazenly,” she said. </p>
<p>
Here are some of the misleading section of their convention speeches: </p>
<p>
<strong>Deficit Commission</strong> </p>
<p>
One of Mr. Ryan’s most pointed attacks on Mr. Obama was on the deficit. “He created a new bipartisan <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/national_commission_on_fiscal_responsibility_and_reform/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform." class="meta-org">debt commission</a>,”
Mr. Ryan noted. “They came back with an urgent report. He thanked them,
sent them on their way and then did exactly nothing.” </p>
<p>
Left unsaid: Mr. Ryan served on that commission himself, and his
opposition to its final proposals helped seal its fate. The panel, known
as the Simpson-Bowles deficit commission, made a number of
recommendations that Mr. Ryan <a title="Times article." href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/01/us/politics/01obama.html?ref=nationalcommissiononfiscalresponsibilityandreform">ultimately opposed</a> on the grounds that they would have raised some taxes while<a title="Times article." href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/02/us/politics/02fiscal.html?ref=nationalcommissiononfiscalresponsibilityandreform"> failing to cut enough</a>
from health programs. His dismissal of the plan was seen as a
significant blow to its chances of success, since it soured other House
Republicans on it. </p>
<p>
<strong>Credit Rating</strong> </p>
<p>
In his attack on the president’s time in office, Mr. Ryan said: “It
began with a perfect AAA credit rating for the United States. It ends
with the downgraded America.” </p>
<p>
When Standard & Poor’s lowered the nation’s credit rating, it was in large part because of the standoff last year over the <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/n/national_debt_us/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="More articles about the national debt." class="meta-classifier">debt ceiling</a> — which needed to be raised so the government could <a title="Times article." href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/28/us/politics/28default.html?pagewanted=all">borrow money</a>
to pay for spending that Congress had already approved. The White House
had asked Congress to simply raise the debt ceiling; Mr. Ryan and House
Republicans balked at doing so without reaching a deal on <a title="YouTube video." href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YNZ4dsg_yg0">significant spending cuts</a>. The ensuing standoff took the nation to the brink of default. </p>
<p>
In its statement explaining the downgrade, <a title="The statement." href="http://www.standardandpoors.com/ratings/articles/en/us/?assetID=1245316529563">Standard & Poor’s wrote</a>
that “the political brinkmanship of recent months highlights what we
see as America’s governance and policy making becoming less stable, less
effective and less predictable than what we previously believed. The
statutory debt ceiling and the threat of default have become political
bargaining chips in the debate over fiscal policy.” </p>
<p>
<strong>Medicare</strong> </p>
<p>
Mr. Ryan spoke out forcefully against the “$716 billion funneled out of Medicare by President Obama,” without noting that his <a title="Times article." href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/22/us/politics/costs-seen-in-romneys-medicare-savings-plan.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all">own past budget plans</a>
had counted on the same savings. And he pledged to protect Medicare
without explaining how the Romney-Ryan plan would change it. Mr. Romney
said that the Medicare cuts would “hurt today’s seniors.” In fact, the
savings would come not from trimming benefits for current recipients,
but from cutting the <a title="Times article." href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/22/us/politics/costs-seen-in-romneys-medicare-savings-plan.html?pagewanted=all">projected growth in reimbursements</a>
to hospitals and insurers over the next decade. The Medicare debate is
shaping up as central to the election: Democrats say that the
Romney-Ryan plan to reshape Medicare would force future beneficiaries to
pay more for their health care, while Republicans fault Mr. Obama for
cutting $716 billion in its projected growth. </p>
<p>
Mr. Romney and Mr. Ryan have proposed limiting the government’s
open-ended financial commitment to Medicare. Under their plan, the
government would contribute a fixed amount on behalf of each
beneficiary, and future beneficiaries could use that money to buy
private insurance or to help pay for coverage under the traditional
Medicare program. It would apply only to people currently under 55.
</p>
<p>
Mr. Ryan’s earlier plans called for capping the rate at which Medicare
spending would grow — which analysts from groups including <a title="The Kaiser report." href="http://www.kff.org/medicare/upload/8179.pdf">the Kaiser Family Foundation found</a> would lead to higher out-of-pocket costs for future beneficiaries. The Romney campaign now says that their plan <a title="The plan." href="http://www.mittromney.com/blogs/mitts-view/2012/08/policy-memo-6400-medicare-question21">would work differently</a>
from Mr. Ryan’s original proposal, and would have the flexibility to
raise the proposed cap on spending if it does not keep up with costs.
</p>
<p>
The $716 billion cut to Medicare that Mr. Obama made <a title="Times article." href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/15/health/policy/battle-over-medicare-savings-intensifies-between-obama-and-paul-ryan.html">will reduce payments</a>
to health maintenance organizations and hospitals and other health care
providers. Mr. Ryan initially counted on the same savings in his budget
plans. </p>
<p>
<strong>G.M.’s Janesville Plant</strong> </p>
<p>
Mr. Ryan appeared to criticize Mr. Obama for the closing of a General
Motors plant in Mr. Ryan’s hometown of Janesville, Wis. — a decision
made before the president was elected and before his bailout of the auto
industry, which was credited with saving a number of other factories.
He noted that Mr. Obama had visited the plant in 2008 and said, “I
believe that if our government is there to support you, this plant will
be here for another hundred years.” </p>
<p>
“Well, as it turned out,” Mr. Ryan said, “that plant didn’t last another year. It is locked up and empty to this day.” </p>
<p>
As a candidate, Mr. Obama did give an <a title="Times article." href="http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/13/in-wisconsin-obama-turns-to-economy/">economic policy speech</a> at the Janesville plant in February 2008. The decision to close the plant was made several months later — as can be seen by a <a title="The letter." href="http://paulryan.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=200270">June 2008 letter</a> from Mr. Ryan urging G.M. to reconsider. </p>
<p>
It took some time for the plant to shut down, and <a title="Article from the Milwaukee paper." href="http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/43254027.html?ipad=y">some work continued there</a> after Mr. Obama was sworn in as president. </p>
<p>
The Ryan campaign said Thursday that the issue was not when the plant
stopped production, but the fact that it has not reopened — and pointed
to accounts of an Obama campaign statement from the fall of 2008 in
which he said, “I will lead an effort to retool plants like the G.M.
facility in Janesville so we can build the <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/f/fuel_efficiency/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="Recent and archival news about fuel efficiency." class="meta-classifier">fuel-efficient</a> cars of tomorrow and create good-paying jobs in Wisconsin and all across America." </p>
<p>
While Mr. Obama bailed out the auto industry, saving jobs, and included
money in the stimulus for “green” energy jobs, the Janesville plant did
not benefit from his moves. </p>
<p>
<strong>The Apology Tour</strong> </p>
<p>
In his floor speech, Mr. Romney repeated his widely debunked charge that
Mr. Obama had gone on an “apology tour” on America’s behalf — an
accusation he feels so strongly about that he laid out his own worldview
in a 2010 book he titled “No Apology.” </p>
<p>
<a title="Politifact article." href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2011/sep/22/mitt-romney/mitt-romney-repeats-claim-obama-went-around-world-/">But independent fact checkers</a> have called the accusation <a title="Washington Post article." href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/romneys-claim-that-obama-is-an-apologist-for-us-is-based-on-distortions/2011/12/01/gIQAdDpXlO_story.html">a distortion</a>,
and it is hard to find evidence that Mr. Obama ever said he was sorry
for the United States. Even in his speeches after winning the Nobel
Peace Prize, Mr. Obama offered a strong defense of American policies,
including the war in Afghanistan, which was growing increasingly
unpopular in the rest of the world. </p>
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