Our wildest and wackiest claims of 2009

By Bill Adair
Published on Thursday, December 31st, 2009 at 12:35 p.m.

Related rulings:

A data-storing microchip "would be implanted in the majority of people who opt to become covered by the public health care option."

Chain e-mail, Monday, November 23rd, 2009.

Ruling: Pants on Fire! | Details

The Senate health care bill is longer than Tolstoy's 'War and Peace.'

Orrin Hatch, Thursday, November 19th, 2009.

Ruling: Barely True | Details

"In the health care bill, we're now offering insurance for dogs."

Glenn Beck, Thursday, November 12th, 2009.

Ruling: Pants on Fire! | Details

You must list all your guns on your 2010 tax return.

Chain e-mail, Sunday, November 1st, 2009.

Ruling: Pants on Fire! | Details

When it comes to aid, "the United States is still about half as what European countries give as a percentage."

Bono, Friday, October 23rd, 2009.

Ruling: Half-True | Details

The U.S. ranks 37th in the world for health care.

Paul Hipp, Wednesday, September 9th, 2009.

Ruling: Mostly True | Details

Photo of "tea party" protests shows crowd sprawling from Capitol to Washington Monument

Bloggers, Saturday, September 12th, 2009.

Ruling: Pants on Fire! | Details

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No, dogs will not be covered under the Democrats' health care plan.

To conclude our year-end coverage, we asked PolitiFact staffers to choose the silliest and most unusual Truth-O-Meter items of 2009. Their choices show how the political discourse got downright wacky in the past year:

Aaaaah-choooo! Vice President Biden said that when one passenger sneezes on a plane , "It goes all the way through the aircraft."

Will they transmit back to KAOS headquarters? A chain e-mail claimed people who opt for the public option in the Democrats' health care plan will have microchips implanted in their bodies .

Below the belt: Rush Limbaugh claimed that President Barack Obama wants to mandate circumcision .
 
Sarcasm you can dance to : Singer Paul Hipp used World Health Organization figures in a song mocking U.S. health care .

History repeats itself: Facing criticism that his policies will lead to socialism, President Barack Obama said President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was called a socialist, too .

Picture not-quite-perfect : Bloggers said an aerial photo showed more than 1 million people attended the tea party rally in September, but the photo was taken at a 1997 Promise Keepers rally.

An epic work, but it lacks character development: Sen. Orrin Hatch claimed that the Senate health care bill is longer than Tolstoy's War and Peace .

Line 17, Guns. Include total from Schedule G, handgun and automatic weapons, if required : A chain e-mail claimed that you must list all your guns on your 2010 tax return.

Check your math : President Barack Obama claimed the United States was one of the world's largest Muslim countries .

He still hasn't found what he's looking for: U2 lead singer Bono mixed up figures about AIDS relief and foreign aid .

Woof woof! Glenn Beck claimed that the Democratic plan offered health insurance for dogs .