On Sunday shows, reruns
By Bill Adair, Angie Drobnic Holan
Published on Sunday, September 20th, 2009 at 6:53 p.m.
On the Sunday talk shows, President Barack Obama did the political equivalent of hitting for the cycle, appearing on shows on four English-language networks, plus Spanish-language Univision.
Each was taped separately with a different host, but Obama managed to hit virtually the same talking points on each show. You could choose any show and have a pretty good idea of what he said on the others — health care premiums were up 5.5 percent last year, the health care bills are about 80 percent of the way toward meeting his goals, but "that last 20 percent is tough" (ABC) and "we've really got to work on that next 20 percent" (CNN). And so on.
We checked two facts from the interviews:
* He said the average family pays $900 in extra costs every year to pay for the uninsured. There's some dispute about that number, and we rated it Half True.
* He claimed that his beloved White Sox could still make the playoffs. Mathematically, that's at least possible and he earned a True.
Sources:
See Truth-O-Meter items.
Researchers: Bill Adair, Angie Drobnic Holan
Names in this story: Barack Obama
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