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When you’re in a debate you’re bound get a few things wrong. Sometimes it’s an honest mistake. Other times you’re hoping to slip one through. I’m not sure what the case was last night for Biden but he made several comments that were absolutely wrong. Palin got a few wrong herself but for a man that has been a Washington insider since ‘72 you might think he’d get it right. We are talking about the man that was on the McCain wagon before he got picked up as VP. That’s another story.

McCain voted against troop funding bill because it had a troop withdrawal time table in it.

Simply false. While McCain was clearly opposed to the bill because of the timetable for surrender but he didn’t vote against the bill. In fact he didn’t vote for the bill at all. Sure, this allows McCain to disprove of the bill and also claim that he didn’t vote against it but Biden should have stated the actual details. When the funding bill came around without the withdrawal Obama voted against it.

Obama did not support increasing taxes for families making $42,000 a year

This is one of those deals that Biden would have been better off explaining then completely denying. The measure that Palin was referring to did raise taxes on people making just $42,000 a year. The important part to note is that approximately $15 is the amount that would be raised. Obama supported raising the amount of people that fall into the 25 percent tax bracket to 28 percent. That would lead to a person making as low at $32,000 in taxable income to have their taxes raised. Very little, but still raised.

McCain would not meet with Spain

This is a confusing one because I’m not sure where Biden got this idea. What is true is that McCain did not make any future plans for meeting with Spain’s President Zapatero. He never said no to a meeting. This is a case of Biden filling in the gaps for McCain and assuming what is convenient. We know what happens when you assume things.

“I would be willing to meet with those leaders who are our friends and want to work with us in a cooperative fashion.”

That is McCain’s reply when asked about Zapater. Now, how is that supposed to interpreted as him saying no?

Biden claims to never have said no to clean coal plants in America

During a campaign stop a woman asked Biden about his support for clean coal.

“No coal plants here in America,” Biden, a Democratic senator from Delaware, told the woman. “Build them, if they’re going to build them over there (in China), make them clean because they’re killing you.”

No way to get around it. Biden said no to coal plants in America.

McCain’s tax plan would give oil companies a “$4 billion tax cut.”

The plan that Biden is talking about does not include just oil companies. McCain’s plan would cut the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent - for ALL corporations, not just oil companies. It is convenient for Biden to attack the fact that oil companies are included but it simply not correct. The plan would help corporations on a wide margin and is not specifically for oil companies.

Iraq has an $80 billion surplus.

Another stretch of the truth from Biden. Obama himself has been touting around this figure and it is simply wrong. Iraq was once projected to have as much as $79 on hand but a more accurate figure is $29 billion. The figure was knocked down because of a recently passed  $21 billion supplemental spending bill in August. Maybe Biden should have gotten a little update? It’s completely incorrect to claim that Iraq is not stating to take care of it self.

McCain voted 20 times against funding alternative energy.

Yet another distortion of the truth, Biden laid claim four times that McCain has voted repeatedly against alternative energy. The truth is that McCain has voted against alternative energy being mandatory. McCain also voted in favor of allowing exemptions for the mandates. When it comes to alternative energy and climate change McCain is at odds with some Republicans and it is foolish to claim he is against funding either.

Health Care Deregulation?

Biden said that McCain wrote in a magazine article that he wanted to do for the health care industry what deregulation had done for Wall Street. That’s taking McCain’s words out of context. Biden is referring to a phrase from a journal article under McCain’s name that said he would reduce regulation of health insurance “as we have done over the last decade in banking.” But the full context shows McCain was talking specifically about a proposal to allow the sale and purchase of health insurance across state lines.

It seems to me like Joe needs to brush up on some of these facts before running wild with them again. People were assuming that Palin would do a horrible job at the debate but in reality she came out victorious. The difference between any mistakes Palin made and that Biden made is that Palin can’t be expected to be an expert within such a short period time. Biden on the other hand should have things straight. I mean, how many more years does he need?

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Tags:  Debate Joe Biden Sarah Palin