Who's Lying in this Presidential Campaign?

Did you know that U.S. General John Pershing shot 49 terrorists with bullets covered in pig’s blood? No? But presidential candidate Donald Trump told that story to at least 2,000 people at a campaign rally recently. The story is nothing more than Internet rumor, according to Snopes.com. It found “nothing that documents” Trump’s story about General John Pershing in the Philippines more than 100 years ago. Snopes.com examines the truth of Internet rumors. Trump’s story on General Pershing is one of a large number of untrue or unconfirmed statements from the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Is this an unusual campaign season? Trump, a billionaire businessman and front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, is making the most false statements, according to Brendan Nyhan. He is a political science professor at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. Nyhan said there is “no scientific way” to determine if more lies are being told in this campaign than any other. However, “With that said, I think it is fair to say Donald Trump is” going beyond “norms for inaccuracy among top presidential contenders.” FactCheck.org checked the facts when Trump denied that he called female critics “fat pigs, dogs, slobs and disgusting animals.” “He used all of those terms,” Factcheck.org said. PolitiFact.com, another fact checker, looked at 93 statements by Trump. It found 77 percent either mostly false, false or “Pants on Fire" false. Nineteen percent were in the “Pants on Fire” category. That is a listing for statements not only false, but ridiculous, PolitiFact said. One explanation for the phrase centers on a child who took his father’s cigar. He lit up the cigar, and when his father appeared, he put it in his pocket in an attempt to hide the theft. Following Trump among the leading candidates for falsehoods is Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican. PolitiFact found 59 percent of his statements false, though only 7 percent were in the “Pants on Fire” category. Lou Jacobson, a senior correspondent for PolitiFact, said some voters are concerned about the truthfulness of their candidates. Other voters, however, “do not always trust or believe” reports that “their candidate” is not telling the truth, he said. Telling a lie is not new to American politics. Even the 16th president, Abraham Lincoln, known as “Honest Abe,” did not always tell the truth. He did not tell members of Congress about negotiations to end the Civil War in 1865, according to a 2014 James Conroy book on Lincoln. It is called, “Our One Common Country: Abraham Lincoln and The Hampton Roads Peace Conference Of 1865.” A newspaper backing John Adams for president in 1800 said that if his opponent, Thomas Jefferson, was elected, terrible things would happen. “Murder, robbery, rape, adultery and incest will be openly taught and practiced,” the newspaper said. That information comes from the Miller Center at the University of Virginia. Newspapers and TV stations in the United States began grading campaign ads for truth in the late 1980s, according to Bill Adair, director of Duke University’s Reporters’ Lab. Factcheck.org started a formal rating system in 2003 and PolitiFact followed in 2007. Adair said fact-checking groups now operate in 37 nations. Trump has led the pack of candidates in bending the truth. Among his “Pants on Fire” claims was when he said the U.S. government was not reporting the national unemployment rate correctly. It was not 5 percent, as reported by the government, Trump said. It was “28, 29, as high as 35 [percent]. In fact, I even heard recently 42 percent.” Not true. Trump rejects PolitiFact’s criticism. He said the group is a “left-wing group” and treats him unfairly. PolitiFact says it holds conservatives and liberals to the same fact-checking standards. The Democratic candidates for president did better in “fact-checking” by PolitiFact. PolitiFact examined 150 statements by former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton dating back to 2008. It found 72 percent true, mostly true, or half true, and 28 percent mostly false, false or “Pants on Fire” false. Two were listed as “Pants on Fire,” both from her unsuccessful 2008 presidential campaign. PolitiFact looked at 64 statements by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. PolitiFact said 69 percent were true, mostly true, or half true and that 32 percent were either mostly false or false. None were “Pants on Fire” false. On the Republican side, Senator Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, is seen as the most likely challenger to front-runners Trump and Cruz. PolitiFact checked 135 Rubio statements. It found 57 percent true, mostly true or half true, and 43 percent mostly false, false or “Pants on Fire” false. Clinton, during a CBS interview February 18, was asked about former President Jimmy Carter promising the American people, “I will not lie to you." The reporter asked Clinton if she ever lied. “You’re asking me to say, ‘Have I ever?’ I don't believe I ever have,” Clinton said. “I don't believe I ever have. I don't believe I ever will.” Trump is not only delivering more false statements than his top competitors for president. He has been a victim of a few, as well. FactCheck.org said this about a Ted Cruz advertisement saying Trump bulldozed the home of an elderly widow to build a parking lot for his New Jersey casino: “The ad leaves the false impression that the widow lost her home, and she didn’t,” FactCheck said. What did happen was that a government agency, acting on behalf of Trump, tried to obtain the home. But they were blocked by the courts, according to FactCheck. I'm Bruce Alpert.   Bruce Alpert reported on this story for VOA Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor. We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or our Facebook Page. Share your views on what is being said in the U.S. presidential campaign. What do you think is untrue?   Words in This Story   rumor -- n. information or a story that is passed from person to person but has not been proven to be true inaccuracy – adj. not correct contender – n. a candidate for office slob – n. a person who is lazy and dirty or messy disgusting – adj. so unpleasant to see, smell, taste, consider, etc., that you feel slightly sick ridiculous – adj. extremely silly or unreasonable adultery – n. sex between a married person and someone who is not that person's wife or husband incest – n. sexual intercourse between people who are very closely related bulldoze – v. knock down widow – n. a woman whose husband has died

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