TRUTH SQUAD

Candidates both twist facts in debate

By Laura Meckler, Associated Press, 10/03/00

WASHINGTON -- Right from the first question, truthfulness was at issue as Al Gore and George W. Bush squared off in their first debate.

Moderator Jim Lehrer asked Gore what he meant when he questioned whether Bush has the experience needed to be president.

"I have actually not questioned Bush's experience. I have questioned his proposals," Gore said Tuesday night.

But in an April 13 interview with The New York Times, Gore said Bush's call for a large tax cut "raises the question, 'Does he have the experience to be president?"'

During an extended back-and-forth over adding a prescription drug plan to Medicare, Gore argued that Bush's plan would not help middle-class seniors during its first few years. Bush responded that Gore was manipulating the numbers: "It's fuzzy math," he said.

But the fact is unless someone's drug costs reach $6,000, Bush's plan only helps low-income seniors during its first four years.

Bush also repeatedly said that Gore had his chance to fix the programs of Medicare but failed. The Clinton administration was out front in proposing that drugs be added to Medicare, but was unable to reach agreement with the Republican Congress.

Other times, the candidates left out essential information or stretched the facts:

  • Talking about his tax plan, Bush said that no American would pay more than a third of his or income in federal taxes. He didn't say that virtually no one pays that much now.

  • Bush said he would accept the Food and Drug Administration's recent decision to approve RU-486, the abortion pill. But last week, Bush's campaign said that he would order a probe to see if the agency's review was affected by politics.

  • Both candidates used hyperbole in discussing rising oil prices. Gore said Bush wanted to "destroy precious parts of America's environment" by allowing exploration of oil in Alaska. But such exploration wouldn't automatically destroy Alaska's resources.

    Likewise, Bush declared that "the only way to become less dependent on foreign sources of crude oil is to explore at home." In fact, conservation could help reduce American demand for foreign oil.

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