Fact-checking Ron Paul’s first debate
By Bill Adair
Published on Friday, May 6th, 2011 at 5:09 p.m.
Related rulings:
"Prices are going up. Unemployment is continuing to go up."
Ron Paul, Thursday, May 5th, 2011.
Ruling: Half-True | Details
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The Associated Press did not take photographs at Thursday's Republican debate to protest restrictions by the Fox News Channel. So we're providing this artist's rendering of the debate.
Thursday night's presidential debate — the first for the 2012 campaign — had the feel of a Spring Training game. Only half the squad was there and they weren't throwing very hard.
Conservative activist Herman Cain of Georgia, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Gary Johnson, former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas all participated. We’re teaming up with PolitiFact National to fact-check several statements from the debate, including some claims by the gentleman from Texas.
Recently, we reviewed his PolitiFact report card (and you can find all Paul's Truth-O-Meter ratings here). Today’s fact-checks will be our first since he announced his plans to form his committee to explore a 2012 presidential run, and we’ll update this story as we finish them.
For our first item, we checked Paul's claim that "prices are going up" and "unemployment is continuing to go up." We rated that Half True — prices have been increasing, but until today, when the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the unemployment rate edged up to 9 percent, the rate was actually decreasing.
Sources:
See Truth-O-Meter items
Researchers: Bill Adair
Names in this article: Herman Cain, Ron Paul, Tim Pawlenty, Rick Santorum
We want to hear your suggestions and comments. Email the Texas Truth-O-Meter with feedback and with claims you'd like to see checked. If you send us a comment, we'll assume you don't mind us publishing it unless you tell us otherwise.
