So before we get to the several checkable facts from yesterday’s Meet the Press, we just wanted to apologize for the first lull in this campaign, which was the result of the being in the midst of the final two weeks of school and having a lot less bandwidth to do NBC’s job for them. Luckily Mr. Gregory seemed to understand this and somehow provided us with a show this week in which there very few important facts to check.
We might be buried, but that won’t keep us down. We have some ideas on ways to both escalate and sharpen the campaign which we will be rolling out over the next few weeks. And as soon as school is done, we will be going full bore again. We really appreciate your patience.
Onto the facts: please help us research them and post the results of your research in the comment thread below. Please feel free to do so anonymously if you prefer. Make sure you include all relevant links. If you do use your name, we will credit you with helping on the facts you contributed work to.
Checkable Facts from 5/9/2010 Meet the Press (transcript)
DAVID GREGORY | Is racial profiling illegal or not?
MR. GREGORY: When, in this context, when is racial profiling illegal?,
MR. HOLDER: Well, I’m not sure–I don’t even talk about whether or not racial profiling is legal, I just don’t think racial profiling is a particularly good law enforcement tool.
DAVID GREGORY + A.G. ERIC HOLDER | Did racial profiling play a role in the investigation of Faisal Shahzad? CHECKED: No it did not. Holder’s response was MOSTLY TRUE
MR. GREGORY: Wasn’t it racial profiling that led us to ultimately get the most important piece of information from this guy, which was a telephone number that he uses in the plot because he was held aside from for a second screening earlier this year?
MR. HOLDER: No. What led us to him was good normal law enforcement. Looking at what people did tracking down that car, where did that car come from, who owned that car, who sold that car? Doing all the kinds of things that we do in traditional law enforcement without any resort to, to racial profiling.
So Mr. Gregory is asserting it was racial profiling that made border agents stop Mr. Shahzad the first time on a trip home from Pakistan. Mr. Holder is asserting that racial profiling played no role. Who is right and why?
A.G. ERIC HOLDER | Did Mr. Holder say that “failure was not an option” regarding the conviction of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed? CHECKED: TRUE
MR. HOLDER: Well, there are other charges that are–that could be brought against him in addition to those he would stand accused of with regard to the 9/11 plot. There are a variety of other things that he could be tried for. And I think we can provide him with fairness and with justice in the systems that we now have in place.
MR. GREGORY: But you said, with regard to any KSM trial, failure is not an option
KATTY KAY (BBC) | Did Pres. Bush try hundreds of terror suspects in civilian courts? Was this criticized? CHECKED: TRUE
MS. KAY: …some of, some of this is intensely political. Look, President Bush tried hundreds of terror suspects in civilian courts. He tried Zacarias Moussaoui, he tried Richard Reid in civilian courts. Nobody ever criticized his administration, either from the left or the right, for using civilian courts. Now here’s President Obama who, perhaps because Democrats are–always seem to be softer on terror, and that is a very big issue in this country, can–is even being criticized by Democrats for using civilian courts. It’s a double standard.
DAVID BROOKS (NYT) | Was TARP good for the economy?
MR. BROOKS:Â And we’re in a much better economic place because of the TARP.
