Sunday night’s Democratic debate was, as with every debate (including Republican debates), fraught with lies, half-truths and misrepresentations. Some were blatant while others were more nuanced.
Predictably, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was merciless in her truth bashing, and proved 1) why people don’t trust her, and 2) why people don’t trust politicians in general. In some of her answers, she distorted Vermont Sen. Sanders’ voting record — leaving out key context — to make him seem less liberal than she. Here are a few of Clinton’s most egregious lies and distortions during Sunday night’s debate.
Claiming healthcare costs are “the lowest they’ve been in 50 years”
This is blatantly false. Healthcare costs are increasing, and have been despite President Obama’s claims that Obamacare would reduce them. Yet, in 2012, healthcare costs had the smallest increase in 50 years.
And Clinton’s attempts to tie the smaller increase to Obamacare falls flat. As the Washington Post’s fact checkers point out, increases in healthcare costs began slowing during the 2008 recession. And health policy experts believe costs are soon going to begin increasing by larger amounts.
Claiming she’s ‘documented every way that I’m going to pay for what I’m doing’
This was a whopper, and one easily disproved. Clinton told the audience to go to her website and see for themselves how she would pay for all of her policy proposals. Doing so contradicts her claims and implication that she would have a detailed explanation for how she would pay for her various proposals.
On energy and climate change, Clinton proposes installing “half a billion solar panels” across the country and generating “enough renewable energy to power every home in America within 10 years of Hillary taking office.” Neither of these ideas seem plausible without government spending or incentives, yet they are missing from her website.
On college, Clinton says her $350 billion plan “will be fully paid for by limiting certain tax expenditures for high-income taxpayers.” Which expenditures? She’s going to have to limit quite a few to get to $350 billion, and lobbyists aren’t going to make her job easy.
On early childhood education, Clinton offers no explanation of how she will pay for expanded access to preschools or investments in early childhood programs.
There are only a few issues on Clinton’s website that include any kind of “paid for” language. For her infrastructure proposal, Clinton says it will be fully paid for “through business tax reform.” Again, that’s vague, far from documenting “every way” she will pay for the plan.
And on paid leave, Clinton says the plan will be paid for “by a combination of tax reforms impacting the most fortunate.”
So, to recap, the few times Clinton has explained how she will pay for something, it amounts to “raise taxes on the wealthy.” That’s the favored approach of Democrats when it comes to paying for things. But taxes on the wealthy can’t be raised enough to cover the trillions in new spending Democrats seek, which means the middle class will eventually feel the squeeze.
Claiming 1 in 3 young black men will go to jail in their lifetime
This statistic is based on outdated data from 2001, and they describe what would happen to black men born in 2001 “if current incarceration rates remain unchanged.” But the incarceration rate for black men has been declining since 2001. It’s still likely too high, but according to 2014 data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the incarceration rate for black males was 2,724 per 100,000, or 2.7 percent. That’s a decrease from 2001, when the rate was 3,535 per 100,000, or 3.5 percent.
To be clear, neither of those numbers stated that fully one-third of young black men had been in jail during their lifetime. The reports merely suggested that would be the case if trends continued, which they didn’t.
Pretty much everything she said about Sanders’ gun control positions
In a lot of her claims about Sanders’ position on gun control, Clinton distorted the truth to make Sanders look worse, but she didn’t outright lie.
For instance, Clinton claimed that Sanders “voted to let guns go onto the Amtrak,” as if Sanders voted for every passenger sitting on a train to be stroking their guns and twirling their evil, bushy mustaches just waiting to shoot each other. In reality, Sanders voted for an amendment that removed a prohibition on Amtrak passengers from carrying guns in checked baggage. Passengers would be able to check firearms if they gave advance notice that they would be checking a gun and that the gun would have to be stored in a protective container.
Small amounts of ammunition could also be transported if properly stored in specified containers. Only Amtrak employees would have access to the checked baggage area.
Clinton also claimed Sanders “voted for immunity [for] gun makers and sellers,” which gave them a “total pass” when it comes to injuries.
Again, Clinton misstated what the bill, the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, did. The bill gives the gun industry similar protections that are granted to vaccine manufacturers to ensure they aren’t liable if a vaccine causes an injury. This was done to encourage vaccine makers to create more vaccines without fear of being sued, because the public health benefits outweighed the potential harm. The Washington Post notes that similar protections were granted to the airline industry to protect them from lawsuits related to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The key difference for the gun industry, however, is that there is a way for victims to receive money in damages related to injury from a vaccine or a plane crash due to terrorism. But the gun industry also has exceptions, such as liability if a gun is knowingly transferred to someone for nefarious deeds or if someone is injured by a defective product.
She also distorted what Sanders voted for when she said he voted for the “Charleston loophole.” This is a new name anti-gun activists have given to the three-day waiting period for obtaining a gun. During those three days, a background check is conducted, and Charleston shooter Dylan Roof passed because the FBI examiner made a mistake and didn’t obtain the correct information about a criminal case pending against him.
Sanders voted for a bill that was aimed at instant background checks — a technology that did not exist when the bill was voted on. The bill originally had a seven-day waiting period, but the amendment Sanders voted for reduced that waiting period to three days. The Post asks if an extra four days would have given the FBI examiner enough time to realize or rectify his mistake and keep Roof from obtaining a gun. Maybe, it’s possible, but it also might not have stopped someone intent on killing from illegally obtaining a gun or finding another way to kill.
Condemning Sanders for Wall Street bill her husband signed into law
Clinton called out Sanders for supporting the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, which deregulated certain aspects of Wall Street. The thing is, President Bill Clinton signed that bill into law, and it doesn’t appear Hillary Clinton did anything to stop him from doing so.
Claiming “most commentators” support her Wall Street plan over Sanders’
Clinton claimed that “most commentators have said [her Wall Street plan] is tougher, more comprehensive, more effective” than Sanders’.
This is not true. Paul Krugman and former Congressman Barney Frank endorsed her plans, but Frank helped her write it, so he’s definitely biased. And a Post review of experts provided by Clinton and Sanders was a mixed bag. Clinton has gotten support from experts, but there are at least 60 (and counting) who have backed Sanders’ plan over hers.
Claiming Sanders “publicly sought someone to run in a primary” against Obama
Sanders did in 2011 make a couple comments about primary opposition to Obama. During a radio interview, Sanders said Obama has moved to the right because “there is no primary opposition to him” and that it would “do this country a good deal of service” if someone began contrasting Obama’s agenda. But Sanders never provided a name or any evidence that he was actively seeking someone to oppose Obama.
Claiming she would ensure women receive “equal pay for women’s work”
This is a myth that just won’t die. The implication Clinton gives is that women are discriminated against in the workplace and being paid less simply because of their sex. This is not true. Women’s median salaries are lower than mens’ mainly because women tend to go into lower paying careers and work fewer hours. Studies that have controlled for the different choices men and women make in their careers finds the pay gap virtually vanishes. And the remaining gap can’t be conclusively linked to discrimination.
Claiming 19 million more Americans have health insurance due to Obamacare
In reality, 17.6 million more Americans have health insurance under Obamacare. I usually hate when fact checkers are so picky. 17.6 million is close to 19 million and could very well be a mistake on Clinton’s part. It’s not like she tried to claim 30 million more people have insurance. But CNN knocked her for this claim and suggested she may have inadvertently referred to a 2015 Congressional Budget Office report that claimed 19 million Americans would lose their coverage if Obamacare were repealed.
And since Republicans typically get this type of nitpicky treatment, so should Clinton.
Taking responsibility for Michigan governor’s actions in Flint
During the debate Clinton claimed that after she appeared on a TV program chastising Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder for not doing enough to help Flint families deal with the contaminated water crisis, the governor changed his tune.
“And I saw that Gov. Snyder turned around within two hours and finally asked for the help that he should have asked for some weeks ago,” Clinton said.
Except, Snyder had already called for federal help from FEMA several days earlier, and according to his spokesman, wasn’t “watching political talk shows.”
Clinton also claimed she sent one or two top aides (depending on when she made the claim) to meet with the mayor of Flint about the crisis, implying she was being proactive about the situation. Her aides were actually already in the state to attend the Detroit auto show.
Clinton essentially tried to take credit for something she had nothing to do with.
This post has been updated with additional information.
Ashe Schow is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
