Fact-checking last night’s debate

The Associated Press’s excellent continuing coverage of the fudges, half-truths, misrepresentations and flat-out falsehoods from the Democrats and Republicans is in this morning.

According to the story, “both candidates stretched facts, sometimes past the breaking point, as they addressed the financial crisis and misrepresented each other’s position on health care during their second presidential debate.”

Here’s an example of a half-truth, or at least an overstatement, by Obama last night concerning his documented plans for the budget, according the A.P. story:

OBAMA: “Actually I’m cutting more than I’m spending so that it will be a net spending cut.”

THE FACTS: The bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates Obama would increase spending by $425 billion over four years and reduce spending by $144 billion for a net increase in the deficit of $281 billion. Obama has said he’ll cut pork-barrel programs and the costs of the war in Iraq to pay for his programs — as well as raise taxes on the wealthy — but the specifics of his new spending plans outweigh the few spending cuts he’s identified.

And an example from McCain where rhetoric falls short of reality, on offshore drilling:

MCCAIN: “Oil drilling offshore now is vital so we can bridge the gap between imported oil … and it will reduce the price of a barrel of oil. … We’ve got to drill offshore and do it now.”

THE FACTS: The government estimates that opening the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and eastern Gulf of Mexico to drilling “will not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production or prices before 2030.” Even then, it would only increase domestic oil production by 3 percent.

The AP story cites five factual errors from McCain, four from Obama.