In Miami, safety in numbers
SUMMARY: The Democrats toss around lots of numbers in the Univision debate. They’re right about health insurance and the border fence, but miss the mark on NAFTA.
The Univision debate in Miami on Sept. 9, 2007 wasn’t so much a debate as it was a celebration of statistics.
Rather than attacking each other, the Democratic candidates rattled off numbers to show they understood Hispanic voters.
The numbers came fast and furious:
34 percent of Hispanics don’t have any health insurance…Congress only funded 1/2 of the wall…we’re spending $1.6-billion for all of Latin America.
We found some claims accurate, although Rep. Dennis Kucinich overstated the impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement on immigration.
Our findings:
* Kucinich overstated the impact of NAFTA on the increase of immigrants coming into the United States from Mexico. We gave that a
Half True.
* We found Kucinich was correct when he said that 34 percent of Hispanics lack health insurance. We rated that a
True.
* We gave Bill Richardson a
Mostly True
for his claim that the wall between the U.S. and Mexico is half-funded. Although that’s technically correct, Congress and the White House have earmarked most of the money for the remainder of the wall.
