Presidential candidates are still making false statements of facts during their debate

Author: Anchor Steve Inskeep, Reporter John Ydstie, Julie Rovner, Andrea Seabrook, Jim Zarroli

Published: October 14, 2004

STEVE INSKEEP, host:

This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.

In last night's final presidential debate, the candidates once again had a difficult time with a few of the facts. In some cases, President Bush and John Kerry repeated the same misstatements they had made in previous debates. Both also came up with some new inaccurate things to say. Here's NPR's John Ydstie.

JOHN YDSTIE reporting:

The first misstatement of fact came only minutes into the debate during this exchange between Senator Kerry and the president about the war on terror and Osama bin Laden.

(Soundbite from presidential debate)

Senator JOHN KERRY (Democratic Presidential Nominee): This president was asked, where's Osama bin Laden? He said, `I don't know. I don't really think about him very much. I'm not that concerned.' We need a president who stays deadly focused on the real war on terror.

Mr. BOB SCHIEFFER (Moderator): Mr. President.

President GEORGE W. BUSH: Gosh, I don't think I ever said I'm not worried about Osama bin Laden. It's kind of one of those exaggerations.

YDSTIE: But it turns out, Mr. Bush was the one who was mistaken. Senator Kerry had quoted almost verbatim this comment the president made during a news conference from March of 2002.

(Soundbite from a 2002 news conference)

President GEORGE W. BUSH: So I don't know where he is, nor--you know, I just don't spend that much time on him.

YDSTIE: Moments later in that news conference, Mr. Bush added this.

(Soundbite from a 2002 news conference)

President GEORGE W. BUSH: I repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him. I know he is on the run. I was concerned about him when he had taken over a country.

YDSTIE: That was President Bush in 2002. Also during Senator Kerry's criticism of the president's handling of the war on terror, the senator repeated this less-than-complete statement about containers coming into the nation's ports.

(Soundbite from presidential debate)

Senator JOHN KERRY (Democratic Presidential Nominee): Ninety-five percent come in today uninspected. That's not good enough.

YDSTIE: Actually, manifests listing the contents of all containers are screened before they arrive at US ports. High-risk cargo is identified, and those containers, about 5 percent of the total, are opened and inspected.

On health care, both candidates made claims that were not factual. Mr. Kerry said his health plan would cover all Americans. In fact, it would likely reduce the ranks of the uninsured by about 25 million, leaving about 20 million without coverage. The president's claim last night that the Kerry health plan would cost $5 trillion is also dodgy, says NPR health policy correspondent Julie Rovner.

JULIE ROVNER reporting:

That's certainly a number that's much higher than we've seen. I think what the president was referring to was the $7,700 per person it cost to put people on the health plan that covers the members of Congress and federal workers. I think he was multiplying that 7,700 times the 45 million people who don't have insurance, and that's how he got to the $5 trillion. In fact, most of the people who would be covered under Senator Kerry's plan will go on the Medicaid program or the state Children's Health Insurance Program.

YDSTIE: The president also said that Senator Kerry had no record on health care. Is that true?

ROVNER: Senator Kerry doesn't have a long record on health care. I think the main reason is because the other senator from Massachusetts, Senator Kennedy, has long been a leader in health care. So if you're John Kerry and you come to the Senate in 1985, health care is not really the issue you're going to take up.

YDSTIE: On the subject of the flu vaccine shortage, Mr. Bush made this claim about the reason only a limited number of companies produce the vaccine. It also served as a jab at Kerry's running mate, former trial lawyer John Edwards.

(Soundbite from presidential debate)

President GEORGE W. BUSH: We have a problem with litigation in the United States of America. Vaccine manufacturers are worried about getting sued, and so therefore, they have backed off from providing this kind of vaccine.

YDSTIE: Julie Rovner says that's only a small part of the story.

ROVNER: The vaccine is only good for one year. If you don't sell all your vaccine, which doesn't sell for very much per dose, you have to throw it away. It's not a particularly economically viable business.

YDSTIE: Both candidates also tossed around numbers concerning Mr. Kerry's Senate record on tax votes. Mr. Bush repeated his claim that the senator had voted to raise taxes 98 times. Senator Kerry responded with this.

(Soundbite from presidential debate)

Senator JOHN KERRY (Democratic Presidential Nominee): Bob, anybody can play with these votes. Everybody knows that. I have supported or voted for tax cuts over 600 times.

YDSTIE: NPR congressional reporter Andrea Seabrook says that the numbers from both sides really don't have much meaning.

ANDREA SEABROOK reporting:

Especially when you're counting up 1,000 little teeny votes on amendments that don't actually mean anything. Neither of them are really counting actual votes on big tax cuts or tax-raising bills.

YDSTIE: Last night, Senator Kerry also repeated a misstatement about job losses during the Bush administration.

(Soundbite from presidential debate)

Senator JOHN KERRY (Democratic Presidential Nominee): He's also the only president in 72 years to lose jobs, 1.6 million jobs lost.

YDSTIE: NPR's Jim Zarroli has been following that story.

JIM ZARROLI reporting:

It is only accurate if you're talking about private-sector jobs. If you add in government jobs, the net number of jobs lost is much less. It's about 600,000. However, it is true that, as Senator Kerry often says, President Bush appears likely to be the first president since Herbert Hoover to see a net loss of jobs during his administration.

YDSTIE: Finally, President Bush made this claim about the distribution of his big tax cuts.

(Soundbite from presidential debate)

President GEORGE W. BUSH: Most of the tax cuts went to low- and middle-income Americans, and now the tax code is more fair.

Mr. BROOKS JACKSON (Director, FactCheck.org): I don't know what it is. I don't know where he's getting that.

YDSTIE: That's Brooks Jackson, director of FactCheck.org, a Web site that's been holding the candidates' feet to the fire throughout the campaign.

Mr. JACKSON: The non-partisan Tax Policy Center calculates nearly 53 percent of the tax cuts went to the top 10 percent of US households.

YDSTIE: And, says Jackson, low- and middle-income Americans, the bottom 60 percent, got only 14 percent of the tax cuts.

Last night was the final presidential debate. But with 19 days before the election, it was certainly not the last chance for the candidates to get their facts wrong.

John Ydstie, NPR News, Washington.