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Romney, Obama and fact-checking the town-hall debate

Texas

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney (left) and President Barack Obama (right) mix it up during the Oct. 16, 2012, debate in New York.

Becky Bowers

By Becky Bowers October 17, 2012

PolitiFact in Washington checked the second preidential debate of 2012. This one was a town hall format at Hofstra University in New York.

How did things turn out? Go ahead and click here to view the updated PolitiFact story.

Debate No. 3 between the two occurs on Oct. 22, 2012, with a focus on foreign affairs.

See updated story at PolitiFact.com.

stated on October 15, 2013 in an email and social media posts:

Congressional lawmakers earn their salaries "FOR LIFE," which for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi would add up to "$803,700 Dollars a year for LIFE including FREE medical."

pants-fire

pants-fire

Louise Slaughter

stated on October 9, 2013 in an interview on MSNBC:

"Eighty percent of the antibiotics in this country are fed to livestock."

mostly-true

mostly-true

stated on September 27, 2013 in blog posts:

"Obama Declares November National Muslim Appreciation Month."

pants-fire

pants-fire

stated on September 22, 2013 in a roundtable on ABC’s “This Week”:

Under economic sanctions, "now Iran is suffering 30 percent inflation, 20 percent unemployment."

mostly-true

mostly-true

Betsy McCaughey

stated on September 15, 2013 in the New York Post:

"Obamacare will question your sex life."

pants-fire

pants-fire

stated on September 13, 2013 in a discussion on CNN's "Crossfire":

"The CDC issued a report commissioned by President Obama just earlier this year, and it found some very inconvenient facts. Armed citizens are less likely harmed by attackers. Effectiveness of gun control laws is mixed. Gun buybacks don't work."

half-true

half-true

stated on September 13, 2013 in posts on the Internet:

Warren Buffett recently said "Scrap Obamacare and Start All Over."

pants-fire

pants-fire

stated on September 5, 2013 in an interview on MSNBC’s “All In”:

Says he "opposed the president’s decision to go into Iraq" in 2003.

barely-true

barely-true

stated on September 4, 2013 in an interview on Fox Business Network:

Chemical weapons have been used "probably 20 times" since the Persian Gulf War.

barely-true

barely-true

Debbie Wasserman Schultz

stated on September 2, 2013 in a CNN interview:

Says there's a "100-year-old international norm not to use chemical weapons."

mostly-true

mostly-true

stated on August 15, 2013 in blog posts:

Obamacare provision will allow "forced home inspections" by government agents.

pants-fire

pants-fire

stated on August 10, 2013 in a speech to the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa:

Says "President Obama just granted all of Congress an exception" to Obamacare.

false

false

stated on August 1, 2013 in a letter with other Florida lawmakers to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius:

Says Florida refused to allow the insurance commissioner to "negotiate lower rates with companies or refuse rates that are too high" under Obamacare.

true

true

stated on July 30, 2013 in an MSNBC interview:

Says about NSA data collection: "Every member in both parties who served on the Intelligence Committee voted in favor of this."

mostly-true

mostly-true

stated on July 25, 2013 in a FoxNews.com op-ed:

Under Obamacare, "75 percent of small businesses now say they are going to be forced to either fire workers or cut their hours."

pants-fire

pants-fire

Instagram posts
stated on August 27, 2024 in an Instagram post:

California S.B. 1174 eliminates the requirement for voter ID at polling places.

By Sofia Ahmed • August 30, 2024
X posts
stated on August 29, 2024 in X posts:

President Joe Biden “did a campaign ad at the graves in Arlington in 2020.”

By Loreben Tuquero • August 30, 2024
X posts
stated on August 16, 2024 in a video:

Video shows “Kamala Harris describing how she can ruin lives with the 'swipe of a pen.’"

By Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu • August 30, 2024
Facebook posts
stated on August 25, 2024 in a post:

Kamala Harris’ “plan to tax unrecognized Capital Gains mean(s) if your house goes up in value you will have to pay that Tax Even if you don’t sell your House!”

By Sara Swann • August 30, 2024
Facebook posts
stated on August 25, 2024 in a Facebook post:

“There’s no such thing as menopause.”

By Madison Czopek • August 30, 2024
Instagram posts
stated on August 27, 2024 in an Instagram post:

“Hollywood actor Kurt Russell just said: ‘It is now proven, beyond a shadow of a doubt that Kamala Harris and Joe Biden CHEATED in the 2020 election with mail-in ballots.’”

By Caleb McCullough • August 30, 2024
Kamala Harris
stated on August 22, 2024 in her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention:

Former President Donald Trump "intends to enact what, in effect, is a national sales tax ... that would raise prices on middle-class families by almost $4,000 a year."

By Louis Jacobson • August 30, 2024
Viral image
stated on August 27, 2024 in a Facebook post:

“Kurt Russell forms a new non-woke actors alliance with Roseanne Barr and Tim Allen.”

By Ciara O'Rourke • August 30, 2024
Viral image
stated on August 23, 2024 in an X post:

Photo of former President Donald Trump after an assassination attempt was generated by artificial intelligence.

By Ciara O'Rourke • August 30, 2024
X posts
stated on August 28, 2024 in an X post:

C-SPAN captions for a JD Vance speech said, “Single person clapping.”

By Ciara O'Rourke • August 30, 2024