Forum Post: all of politifact's debate #3 false & pants on fire

Romney claimed, "The president said by now we'd be a 5.4 percent unemployment." We've rated a similar claim in a TV ad from American Crossroads, that "this is what President Obama said the jobless rate would be if we passed the stimulus: 5.6 percent." But we found that's a stretch. In the evidence the group provided, Obama didn’t mention that statistic. Rather, he introduced "projections" that included a chart showing the jobless rate falling to about 5.6 percent under a recovery plan. The report highlighted the estimates’ "significant margins of error" and high uncertainty due to a recession that was "unusual both in its fundamental causes and its severity." The economy was, in fact, much worse than economists knew. The chart is now infamous, but it was never pitched as a promise.
We rated the ad's statement Mostly False.

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Romney said he would invest in the military, noting that "our Navy is smaller now than at any time since 1917," and "our Air Force is older and smaller than at any time since it was founded in 1947." He's previously made a similar claim about the Navy and Air Force, but added that the nation was at risk of losing its military superiority as a result. Judging by the numbers alone, Romney was close to accurate. In recent years, the number of Navy and Air Force assets has sunk to levels not seen in decades, although the number of ships has risen slightly under Obama. However, a wide range of experts told us it’s wrong to assume that a decline in the number of ships or aircraft automatically means a weaker military. Quite the contrary: The United States is the world’s unquestioned military leader today, not just because of the number of ships and aircraft in its arsenal but also because each is stocked with top-of-the-line technology and highly trained personnel.
When we evaluated Romney's earlier statement that included a claim about the military's strength, we rated it Pants on Fire.

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Romney also claimed, "the president began what I have called an apology tour, of going to various nations in the Middle East and criticizing America." We've repeatedly rated versions of this claim from Romney, including at the Oct. 16 presidential debate. A review of Obama’s foreign travels and remarks during his early presidency showed no evidence to support such a blunt and disparaging claim. (In later years, we found two formal apologies, but they were not at the start of his presidency and not part of a tour.) While Obama's speeches contained some criticisms of past U.S. actions, he typically combined those passages with praise for the United States and its ideals, and he frequently mentioned how other countries had erred as well. We found not a single, full-throated apology in the bunch. Calling those remarks "an apology tour" is a ridiculous charge. We rated his statement Pants on Fire.

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