Is There Truth Behind Palin's Claims?
It's probably apparent from Gov. Sarah Palin's speeches how her running mate, Sen. John McCain, will go after Sen. Barack Obama at the presidential candidates' second debate. The standard Republican claim is that Obama has voted to raise taxes 94 times, CBS News correspondent Wyatt Andrews reports.
The fact is the 94-vote total is misleading. Twenty-three of these votes were against tax cuts; seven votes would have lowered some taxes and, according to the non-partisan Factcheck.org, most of the other votes were budget resolutions which are guidelines but not law.
"These are not actual bills that would raise taxes; further action would be required before any tax increase could take effect," said Viveca Novak of Factcheck.org.
Palin, along with a new McCain ad, also claims Obama disparaged U.S. forces in Afghanistan by saying this: that our troops in Afghanistan are just "air raiding villages and killing civilians."
The fact is: That's just part of what Obama said. He was actually saying, more troops in Afghanistan would reduce civilian casualties.
In August of 2007, he said: "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."
McCain's newest and toughest ad says Obama, in his ads, has been lying.
Especially when Obama claimed that McCain would slash Social Security by half.
In fact, the Obama claim is false. McCain wants to slow future spending on Social Security, but has never called for cuts.
Palin continues to question Obama's ties to William Ayers, once a Vietnam War protester linked to several bombings.
Palin said: "Bill Ayers is an unrepentant domestic terrorist."
The facts are: today William Ayers is professor of education. Obama has served with Ayers on two education and charity related boards, but has condemned Ayer's violent past as "detestable."
