McCain’s big night
SUMMARY: At the Republican National Convention, John McCain accepts the Republican nomination. We check his facts.
Invoking his time as a prisoner of war in Vietnam and his family’s long tradition of military service, Sen. John McCain accepted the Republican nomination for president and vowed to “fight for what’s right for our country.”
In a speech interrupted several times by protesters, McCain said, “With hard work, strong faith and a little courage, great things are always within our reach. Fight with me! Fight with me!”
We checked these claims from his speech:
• McCain said he would cut taxes, but that his opponent, Barack Obama, would raise them. We found that
Half True.
• McCain said Obama “thinks we can achieve energy independence without more drilling and without more nuclear power.” We found that
Half True.
We also checked these other statements from the past few days at the Republican convention:
• We found McCain was wrong when he claimed that running mate Sarah Palin got executive experience as a member of the PTA. We gave that one a
False.
• We found Rudy Giuliani was exaggerating when he claimed the Democrats were afraid to mention “Islamic terrorism” at their convention. We gave that one a
Barely True.
• Mike Huckabee was way off with his claim that Sarah Palin won more votes as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, than Joe Biden won in the presidential primary. Huckabee was so far off that he earned a
Pants on Fire.
