Wednesday, October 24th, 2012
Barack Obama and Mitt Romney shake hands at the final presidential debate. Moderator Bob Schieffer looks on.

Barack Obama and Mitt Romney shake hands at the final presidential debate. Moderator Bob Schieffer looks on.

Fact-checking the third presidential debate

We continue to post new fact-checking reports from the debate between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney on Monday night. The topic was foreign policy.

Did you hear something you would like fact-checked? Suggest ideas by tagging tweets with #PolitiFactThis. You can also email us at truthometer@politifact.com.

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The Latest from PolitiFact

A scorecard separating fact from fiction

"The sequester is not something that I've proposed. It is something that Congress has proposed."

Says Mitt Romney wants to add $2 trillion to defense budget that the military hasn’t asked for.

Says Romney said "we should ask Pakistan for permission" to take a shot at Osama bin Laden.

Says Barack Obama was silent on Iran "when the students took to the streets in Tehran and the people there protested, (and) the Green Revolution occurred."

"Pakistan has 100 nuclear warheads and they’re rushing to build a lot more. They’ll have more than Great Britain sometime in the relatively near future."

Says Mitt Romney "just gave a speech a few weeks ago" and said "we should still have troops in Iraq."

"Latin America’s economy is almost as big as the economy of China."

Says Mitt Romney was clear that he "would not provide government assistance to the U.S. auto companies, even if they went through bankruptcy."

"Veterans’ unemployment is actually now lower than (the) general population. It was higher when I came into office."

"I went to the Olympics that was out of balance, and we got it on balance."

"The president said he was going to create daylight between ourselves and Israel."

"A few months ago when you were asked what's the biggest geopolitical threat facing America, you said Russia."

Says a university survey concluded his Massachusetts administration "had more women in senior leadership positions than any other state in America."

Promise: Institute electronic record-keeping for the Veterans Benefits Administration

Update: Benefit claims are going digital, slowly

"There are more oil rigs in operation in the United States than the rest of the world combined."

Says Mitt Romney and George Allen "would overturn Roe v. Wade and allow states to end safe, legal abortion even in cases of rape, incest or when a woman's life is at risk."

"George Bush never suggested that we eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood."

As a Member of Congress, Chris Murphy "was raking in $1 million in salary."

"Regulations have quadrupled. The rate of regulations quadrupled under this president."

Says Barack Obama has pension investments that include Chinese firms, and "investments through a Caymans trust."

Inside the Meter

Daily Disclosure tracks campaign ads

We are getting help with our coverage of campaign ads from the Center for Public Integrity's Daily Disclosure, a digest of new ads that ...
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Tracking our corrections and updates

We've created a new page so you can see Truth-O-Meter items that have a correction or update. The page will include articles or Truth-O-Meter ...
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'There's a fair chance PolitiFact spoke to other experts' -- yes, 13 others

We've gotten some criticism today about the Pants on Fire we gave to Mitt Romney for his claim that the size of the U ...
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See more Inside the Meter posts

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PolitiFact is a project of the Tampa Bay Times to help you find the truth in American politics. Reporters and editors from the Times fact-check statements by members of Congress, the White House, lobbyists and interest groups and rate them on our Truth-O-Meter:

TRUE – The statement is accurate and there’s nothing significant missing.

MOSTLY TRUE – The statement is accurate but needs clarification or additional information.

HALF TRUE – The statement is partially accurate but leaves out important details or takes things out of context.

MOSTLY FALSE – The statement contains an element of truth but ignores critical facts that would give a different impression.

FALSE – The statement is not accurate.

PANTS ON FIRE – The statement is not accurate and makes a ridiculous claim.

For more details, see the Principles of PolitiFact and the Truth-O-Meter.

We’re also tracking campaign promises of President Barack Obama and Republicans in Congress. You can track the progress on our Obameter and our GOP Pledge-O-Meter.

To find out more about PolitiFact and the Times, see Who Pays for PolitiFact.

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PolitiFact is tracking and rating the campaign promises of the Republican leadership and President Barack Obama.

The GOP Pledge-O-Meter follows dozens of promises made in 2010 by Republican leaders in their speeches and in the Pledge to America, their blueprint for the 112th Congress.

The Obameter follows more than 500 promises made by Obama in the 2008 presidential campaign.

Rating their promises

Campaign promises of GOP leaders

Campaign promises of Barack Obama

12 (%)
Promise Kept
192 (%)
Promise Kept
5 (%)
Compromise
77 (%)
Compromise
86 (%)
Promise Broken
11 (%)
Promise Broken
3 (%)
Stalled
45 (%)
Stalled
10 (%)
In the Works
106 (%)
In the Works
2 (%)
Not yet rated
16 (%)
Not yet rated

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