Here are the statements to fact-check from the June 13, 2010 episode of Meet the Press.
Transcript | Video
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Statements are listed in chronological order
TONY HAYWARD (BP) | (from ad) Thousands of BP employees live near the Gulf of Mexico.
MR. TONY HAYWARD: To those affected in your families, I’m deeply sorry. The Gulf is home for thousands of BP employees
DAVID AXELROD | Obama administration insisted BP drill two relief wells instead of one.
MR. AXELROD: They wanted to drill one relief well, which is ultimately the answer to, to shutting down that well completely. We said, “No, you’re going to drill two,” because if one didn’t work we want to make sure there was a back, a backstop.
DAVID AXELROD | Obama administration has brought in outside experts that have developed more effective methods for capturing the oil spilled from the Deepwater Horizon leak.
MR. AXELROD:Â And understand, when the president says he’s talking to experts, we’ve assembled under the, under the chairmanship of our secretary of energy a group of, of the best minds in an out of government, and they’ve been guiding a lot of what’s happened a lot–this effort to capture the oil is largely working better now because of theories that were developed by this outside group.
DAVID AXELROD
In response to the Deepwater Horizon oil leak, relief efforts have included the addition of 26,000 personnel.
In response to the Deepwater Horizon oil leak, relief efforts have included the placing of 5 million feet of boom.
In response to the Deepwater Horizon oil leak, relief efforts have included the mobilization of 5,500 vessels.
In response to the Deepwater Horizon oil leak, relief efforts have included 200 oil burns.
MR. AXELROD: We’ve got–we’ve put 26,000 personnel on the ground, we’ve put down five million feet of boom, we’ve mobilized 5,500 vessels into the Gulf to deal with this. We’ve [had] 200 burns of oil.
(ED NOTE: DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ & DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN ALSO CITE STATS FOR THIS SUBJECT IN THIS SHOW)
DAVID AXELROD
When Obama took office, the US economy was losing 750,000 jobs a month
When Obama took office, the US economy was losing 6.4% [unclear what Axelrod meant]
MR. AXELROD:Â when he took office, the day he walked in the door, we were losing 750,000 jobs a month, we were losing 6.4 percent in our economy.
DAVID AXELROD | In the past three months the US economy has gained [we assume he meant gain] 140,000 new jobs per month
MR. AXELROD:Â Now the economy is growing, now in the last three months we’ve averaged 140,000 jobs a month
DAVID AXELROD | Without additional assistance from the federal government, hundreds of thousands of school teachers will lose their jobs. [though he seems to walk back this assertion in his next comment]
MR. AXELROD: But it’s clear we’re not out of the woods and we have to keep working at this; and that, and that’s certainly the prospect–the state governments are lagging behind. The prospect that hundreds of thousands of school teachers, for example, are going to be laid off because of this…
DAVID GREGORY (NBC)
The US economy’s job growth last month included 41,000 private sector jobs.
US companies are hoarding cash, not spending it in the private sector.
Consumers have been cutting back on their retail spending.
MR. GREGORY: Because you had, you had private sector job growth of 41,000 jobs last month, that was all. You have companies that are hoarding cash, not spending it in the private sector. You have consumers who are cutting down on their retail spending.
DAVID AXELROD
The currency situation in Greece and Europe negatively effected US consumer confidence.
On Friday, (June 11, 2010) the Consumer Confidence Index was up to a two-year high.
MR. AXELROD: Well, David, you and I both know that there have been intervening events such as the crisis in Greece and the European currency situation. So that has had an impact on confidence as well. We were in a pretty good skein there. But there are mixed signals. On Friday the Consumer Confidence Index was up to a two-year high. I mean, there are, there are mixed signals…
DAVID AXELROD
One of the mistakes made by Japan in dealing with their economic problems in the 1990’s was that they pulled out of their stimulative effort too quickly.
One of the mistakes made by the US in dealing with their economic problems in the 1930’s was that they pulled out of their stimulative effort too quickly.
MR. AXELROD: …and that’s what generally happens in recovery. But we don’t take anything for granted. We have to keep pushing forward, and we should not be careless about pulling out of our, out of our stimulative effort too quickly. That, that mistake was made in Japan in the ’90s, and… [Gregory comment] …and they had a decade of deflation. That was–mistake was made in the ’30s in the United States. We’re not going to make the same mistake.
DAVID AXELROD
In 1994 the Republican Party had a nearly 60% favorability rating.
Today, the Republican Party is at an all time low in favorability.
MR. AXELROD: Look, the Republican Party–everybody says, “Is this 1994?” In 1994 the Republican Party was nearly at 60 percent in favorability. Today, they’re at an all-time low.
DAVID AXELROD | In the past 16 months half of al-Qaeda’s leadership [assuming he means in the Afghanistan/Pakistan region] have been killed.
MR. AXELROD:Â In the last 16 months, we have, we have damaged al-Qaeda in a way that hasn’t occurred since the beginning. Half their–of their top 20 leadership has been killed or captured because we’ve got cooperation on the Pakistan side of the border from Pakistan and because of our operations in Afghanistan.
CARLY FIORINA
There are reports of 13 separate federal agencies working on the Deepwater Horizon relief effort.
There are reports those agencies are not well coordinated.
There are reports of potentially useful cleanup equipment going unused in warehouses.
There are reports of local officials not getting the assistance they are requesting.
MS. FIORINA:Â When we hear that there are 13 separate federal government agencies running around in confusion down there, when we hear that there is equipment that could be used to help clean up the Gulf sitting in warehouses, when we hear that there is assistance that is being pleaded for by local officials and that assistance is not coming,
CARLY FIORINA | Ken Salazar brought in the leader of the MMS, and he said it was to reform the agency.
MS. FIORINA:Â despite the fact that the leader of MMS had been brought in by Ken Salazar in a move to reform the agency, according to him?
REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FL)
The Republican party allowed the [oil] industry and the private sector [of the oil industry] to regulate themselves. [assume she means during the Bush administration]
When the Repulican party presided over the MMS [assume she means during the Bush administration]:
MMS regulators went on trips/vactions with oil industry executives.
MMS regulators had sex with oil industry executives.
REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FL):Â Where, where were the regulators? This from a party who has singlehandedly allowed industry and the private sector to regulate themselves, who presided over a, an agency in MMS that was so cozy with regulators–was so cozy with the oil industry executives that they were going on trips with them, taking vacations, even sleeping with them?
REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FL) | Relief efforts for the Deepwater Horizon oil leak have included the authorization by President Obama of 17,500 members of the National Guard.
REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FL):Â President Obama has commanded over 5,000 vessels in the region to make sure that they are involved in the cleanup, 26,000 federal employees involved in the cleanup down there, mobilized and authorized up to 17,500 members of the National Guard, and is on his way down to the Gulf region for the fourth time.
CARLY FIORINA | The last head of the MMS (who recently resigned) came from the oil industry.
MS. FIORINA:Â And may I just say, it was Ken Salazar who put in place the secretary or the head of MMS who just recently resigned and who came from the industry.
REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FL) | The last MMS head (who recently resigned) came from the U.S. House of Representatives.
REP. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: The head of MMS was from the House of Representatives. Liz Birnbaum came from the U.S. House of Representatives. She was an employee for many years, and then she moved from the House of Representatives to MMS.
CARLY FIORINA | The last head of the MMS resigned because she failed to reform the department.
MS. FIORINA:Â And she was forced to resign because of her failure to reform the department as she promised to.
DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN
Women now make up 60% of college graduates.
Women now make up 68% of master’s degree graduates.
Women now make up almost 42% of MBA graduates.
MS. GOODWIN: But I think something is different here. I think what’s different is underneath, there’s a social revolution that’s gone on in the last 20 years. Women are now 60 percent college graduates, 68 percent master degree graduates. More PhDs, more–almost 42 percent MBAs.
REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FL) | The NRCC has put out a list of 104 “young guns” races, of which seven are for women candidates.
REP. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: We have 104 members that the NRCC–a 104 races that the NRCC has put on their “young guns” watch list. Of those–and they had a much ballyhooed aggressive attempt to recruit top female candidates–they have seven women out of 104 on that list
ROGER SIMON (POLITICO) | In this election season only two of 217 house members lost their primaries.
MR. SIMON:Â That may be true, but it’s important to keep in mind that all but two of the 217 House members who ran for re-election won their primaries
CARLY FIORINA | Since the institution of the stimulus package, unemployment numbers have gone up substantially. [because of the context of her larger statement, an assumption can be made that she meant “because of the stimulus” as well]
MS. FIORINA:Â Since the institution of the stimulus package, our unemployment picture has deteriorated substantially.
REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FL)
Carly Fiorina is “pro-gun” [what does that mean?].
Carly Fiorina is pro-life.
Carly Fiorina supports expanded offshore drilling as a solution to our energy problems.
REP. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Craig***(as spoken)***you’ll note, you’ll note that Carly didn’t mention anything that she disagrees with the Republican Party because she essentially doesn’t. She’s pro-gun, she’s anti-choice, she supports expanded offshore oil drilling as a solution to our energy problems.
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