Fact Checking the Sunday Shows - February 14, 2010

Fox News Sunday

CLAIM: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) falsely claimed "it makes no sense" to read Miranda rights to someone who "just tried to blow up the airplane."

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM: It makes no sense to get a guy off an airplane who just tried to blow up the airplane and read him is rights within fifty minutes.

FACT: The Bush administration read Miranda rights to the "shoe bomber" FOUR TIMES in TWO DAYS after he tried to blow up a plane in 2001:

According to POLITICO:

Republicans may have a hard time keeping up their talking point about how reading Miranda rights to the Christmas Day bomber represented a dangerous new direction under President Barack Obama.

It turns out that that back in December 2001, Richard Reid - the "shoe bomber" - was read or reminded of his Miranda rights four times in two days, beginning five minutes after being taken into custody.

Furthermore, the Bush administration specifically rejected the idea of a military tribunal - another step that Republicans have argued should have been taken in the case of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who tried to bring down Northwest Flight 253 over Detroit on Christmas Day and was read his rights after 50 minutes of FBI questioning. [POLITICO, 2/2/10; emphasis added]

CLAIM: Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said "it makes no sense" to prosecute Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in civilian court in New York City.

Continuing his "it makes no sense" tirade, Sen. Lindsey Graham said:

Putting Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of 9/11, in the middle of New York City in civilian court criminalizes the war, and if he's not an enemy combatant worthy of military trial, who would be?

FACT: First, the trial was moved away from New York City. Second, even the Bush administration praised the effectiveness of America's civilian court system.

The Justice Department is reviewing trial sites outside of New York City. As first reported by the New York Daily News:

The White House ordered the Justice Department Thursday night to consider other places to try the 9/11 terror suspects after a wave of opposition to holding the trial in lower Manhattan.

The dramatic turnabout came hours after Mayor Bloomberg said he would "prefer that they did it elsewhere" and then spoke to Attorney General Eric Holder. [New York Daily News, 1/28/10]

The Bush Administration Praised The Effectiveness America's Civilian Court System In Handling Terrorism Cases. As reported by the Huffington Post:

As Republicans take full aim at the Obama administration's decision to let the Department of Justice oversee the prosecution of terrorism cases, it is worth recounting that this is largely a continuation of its predecessor's policies.

[...]

A document from John Ashcroft's Department of Justice in 2005 praises the work done by criminal prosecutors to put terrorists behind bars.

"Altogether, the Department has brought charges against 375 individuals in terrorism-related investigations, and has convicted 195 to date," the 24-page memo reads. "While every component within the Justice family has contributed to the fight against terror, the men and women of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Criminal Division, the U.S. Attorney's Offices, and the Office of Intelligence Policy and Review have led the Department's work to protect America from terror." [Huffington Post, 2/10/10]

CLAIM: Liz Cheney falsely claimed clean energy legislation would damage America's economy.

LIZ CHENEY: I think the real problem, real term, for us is that the Obama administration continues to insist that that science is true. And attempts to put policy in place, cap-and-trade and others, that will have a very damaging impact on our economy, that will really impose new taxes, new regulations on the businesses that we need to be growing to create jobs.

FACT: Investing in clean energy would boost GDP by up to $111 billion and create up to 1.9 million American jobs.

Clean Energy Legislation Would Boost GDP By Up To $111 Billion.  According to the University of California-Berkeley: "Comprehensive clean energy and climate protection legislation, like the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) that was passed by the House of Representatives in June, would strengthen the U.S. economy by establishing pollution limits and incentives that together will drive large-scale investments in clean energy and energy efficiency...New analysis by the University of California shows conclusively that climate policy will strengthen the U.S. economy as a whole. Full adoption of the ACES package of pollution reduction and energy efficiency measures would ... boost GDP by $39 billion-$111 billion. These economic gains are over and above the growth the U.S. would see in the absence of such a bill." [UC Berkeley, accessed 1/22/10]

Investment In Clean Energy Technology Would Create Up To 1.9 Million American Jobs.  According to the University of California-Berkeley, "new analysis by the University of California shows conclusively that climate policy will strengthen the U.S. economy as a whole. Full adoption of the ACES package of pollution reduction and energy efficiency measures would create between 918,000 and 1.9 million new jobs." [UC Berkeley, accessed 1/22/10]

This Week

CLAIM: Former Vice President Dick Cheney falsely claimed that after 9/11 the Bush administration ceased treating terrorist attempts as criminal acts, and instead viewed them all as "unlawful enemy combatants."

FMR VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY:  Up until 9/11, all terrorist attacks were criminal acts. After 9/11 we made the decision that these were acts of war, that these were strategic threats to the United States. Once you make that judgment, then you can make a much broader range of tools, in terms of going after your adversary.  You go after those who provide 'em with safe harbor and sanctuary, you go after those who finance 'em, those who provide weapons for them, those who train them.  And you treat them as unlawful enemy combatants.

FACT: The Bush administration relied heavily on civilian courts to prosecute terror suspects, which Cheney himself discussed minutes earlier

Minutes before claiming, "up until 9/11, all terrorist attacks were criminal acts. After 9/11 we made the decision that these were acts of war," Cheney discussed the Bush administration's decision to prosecute the Richard Reid, the shoe bomber, in civilian court.

JONATHAN KARL, HOST: So was it a mistake, when your administration took on the Richard Reid case, this is very similar.  This is somebody that was trying to blow up an airliner with a shoe bomb.  And he was within five minutes of getting taken off that plane read his Miranda rights. Four times, in fact, in 48 hours, and tried in through the civilian system.  Was that a mistake?

CHENEY: Well, first of all, I believe, he was not tried, he pled guilty. They never did end up having a trial. Secondly, when this came up, as I recall, it was December of '01, just a couple of months after 9/11.  We were not yet operational with the military commissions. We hadn't had all the Supreme Court decisions handed down about what we could and couldn't do with the commissions.

KARL: You still had an option to put him into military custody.

CHENEY: Well, we could have put him into military custody, I don't question that.  Um, point is, in this particular case, all of that was never worked out, primarily because he pled guilty.

The Bush Administration Praised The Effectiveness America's Civilian Court System In Handling Terrorism Cases. As reported by the Huffington Post:

As Republicans take full aim at the Obama administration's decision to let the Department of Justice oversee the prosecution of terrorism cases, it is worth recounting that this is largely a continuation of its predecessor's policies.

[...]

A document from John Ashcroft's Department of Justice in 2005 praises the work done by criminal prosecutors to put terrorists behind bars.

"Altogether, the Department has brought charges against 375 individuals in terrorism-related investigations, and has convicted 195 to date," the 24-page memo reads. "While every component within the Justice family has contributed to the fight against terror, the men and women of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Criminal Division, the U.S. Attorney's Offices, and the Office of Intelligence Policy and Review have led the Department's work to protect America from terror." [Huffington Post, 2/10/10]

CLAIM: Former Vice President Dick Cheney falsely implied Richard Reid was not taken into custody because the administration didn't have sufficient time before Reid pled guilty.

KARL: You still had an option to put ["shoe bomber" Richard Reid] into military custody.

CHENEY: Well, we could have put him into military custody, I don't question that.  Um, point is, in this particular case, all of that was never worked out, primarily because he pled guilty.

FACT: Richard Reid pled guilty in 2003, more than a year after being arrested.  This casts doubt on Cheney's implication that taking Reid into military custody was "was never worked out, primarily because he pled guilty." The administration had more than enough time to pursue another route had it so chosen.

Richard Reid Pled Guilty In January 2003, Not Immediately After He Was Arrested In 2001. As reported by CNN on January 22, 2003: "A federal court judge on Friday accepted the guilty plea of Richard Reid, the man charged with trying to blow up a trans-Atlantic flight last December with explosives in his shoe. U.S. District Court Judge William Young also denied Reid's request that language saying he was trained by al Qaeda be removed from the indictment. At a hearing Friday morning, Reid pleaded guilty to all eight counts against him -- including attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, attempted homicide, and placing an explosive device on an aircraft." [CNN, 1/22/03]

POLITICO: "The Bush Administration Specifically Rejected The Idea Of A Military Tribunal" For Reid.  According to POLITICO:

[T]he Bush administration specifically rejected the idea of a military tribunal - another step that Republicans have argued should have been taken in the case of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who tried to bring down Northwest Flight 253 over Detroit on Christmas Day and was read his rights after 50 minutes of FBI questioning. [POLITICO, 2/2/10]

Meet the Press

CLAIM: Rep. Aaron Schock (R-IL) falsely claimed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act did not contain simulative tax cuts for working Americans.

REP. AARON SCHOCK: One of the reasons why [the Recovery Act] didn't create long-term growth is it didn't have simulative tax cuts in it, but rather a lot of pork and spending. 

FACT: The Recovery Act cut taxes for 95% of working Americans & has created up to 2.4 million jobs.

The Recovery Act Cut Takes For 95% Of Working Americans.  According to PolitiFact:

Obama's claim is based on a tax cut intended to offset payroll taxes. Under the stimulus bill, single workers got $400, and working couples got $800. The Internal Revenue Service issued new guidelines to reduce withholdings for income tax, so many workers saw a small increase in their checks in April 2009.

The tax cut was part of Obama's campaign promises. During the campaign, Obama said he wanted $500 for each worker and $1,000 for working couples. Since the final number was a bit less than he promised, we rated his promise a Compromise on our Obameter, where we rate Obama's campaign promises for fulfillment.

During the campaign, the independent Tax Policy Center researched how Obama's tax proposals would affect workers. It concluded 94.3 percent of workers would receive a tax cut under Obama's plan based on the tax credit to offset payroll taxes. According to the analysis, the people who wouldn't get a tax cut are those who make more than $250,000 for couples or $200,000 for a single person. Obama said he intended to raise taxes on those high earners, a promise he reiterated during the State of the Union, and that revenue would offset the stimulus tax cut.

Because the stimulus act did give that broad-based tax cut to workers, we rate Obama's statement True. [PolitiFact, 1/28/10]

CBO: The American Recovery And Reinvestment Act Has Created Up To 2.4 Million American Jobs. According to CNN: "The Congressional Budget Office attributes between 800,000 to 2.4 million jobs and 1.2 to 3.1 percentage points of economic growth to stimulus." [CNN, 1/13/10]

CLAIM: Rep. Aaron Schock (R-IL) falsely claimed President Obama was unwilling to work with Republicans.

REP. AARON SCHOCK: For the good part of [last] year, the president spent his time only working with Democratic members.  And it wasn't until the losses in New Jersey and Virginia and subsequently the Scott Brown election in Massachusetts that it forced them to the table to talk about truly wanting to work with us. 

FACT: President Obama and Congressional Democrats have routinely amended legislation to include Republican ideas.

Rep. Schock's House Republican Colleague Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) Conceded Obama Has "Repeatedly" Put GOP Ideas In His Proposals.  During an interview with WJR's Paul Smith, Rep. Thaddeus McCotter conceded President Obama has repeatedly incorporated Republican ideas into legislative proposals:

PAUL SMITH: [Obama] said to you that he is not an ideologue and that he has repeatedly incorporated your party's ideas into his initiatives.  Is that a -- do you accept that as a true statement?

MCCOTTER: Well, I accept the statement that the president has taken parts of what Republicans have put out and put in his legislation. But again, like with cap-and-trade, he will put it in with something that is a far larger bill.  And so as legislators what we always have to look at, because we don't have the power to do whatever we want, thankfully, is you have to make a determination; does the bill overall help the country, help your constituents, or does it overall hurt your constituents and hurt the country even though there are some things in there you might like? And so while the president may say, "well we took this, this, and this," the reality is the sum total of the bills are not helpful and take the country in the wrong direction.  [Media Matters Action Network, 2/2/10]