Fact Check Gets It Wrong

There's a value in having fact-checking organizations like FactCheck, Snopes, PolitiFact, etc.  It's good to have a somewhat neutral organization attempt to evaluate claims objectively.

Which is why it's so exasperating when they bend over backwards or rely on arcane details to "prove" something that isn't so.  Case in point:  "Obama's Trillion Dollar Exaggeration".

Let's go to details.  Eugene Kiely is looking at some stump speeches by President Obama regarding President Bush's "temporary" tax cuts (which has been extended already).  January 24, he said "Right now, we’re poised to spend nearly $1 trillion more on what was supposed to be a temporary tax break for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans."  In another speech cited by FactCheck on Feb 13, he used the word "scheduled."

For those of you not familiar with the effects of President Bush's tax cuts, it was a massive revenue cut that sent us spiraling from a surplus into seemingly endless deficit spending.  As noted earlier, Congress already extended it using the logic it'd hurt the economy if it was allowed to expire.  And why does it expire?  It was an accounting trick the Republicans in power used to avoid needing a certain threshold of votes to pass it. The extension was for two years.

FactCheck's position is that since the tax cuts are scheduled to automatically expire, it cannot be true that we're "scheduled" or "poised" to spend money.

While it's true that President Obama shouldn't have used the words "scheduled to spend", "poised to spend" IS accurate.  Does anyone doubt that Congress will move mountains to attempt to extend the Bush tax cuts again? 

FactCheck used an example:

But saving money is not the same thing as spending money if the payments are automatically scheduled to stop. By the president’s logic, a car owner is scheduled to spend $36,000 in car payments over the next 10 years, even though the $300 monthly car payments are due to end on Dec. 31, 2012. Unless, of course, the car owner goes out and buys a new car. Likewise, the only way the tax cut can be extended beyond 2012 is if Obama signs a law extending it, or if Congress overrides his veto — or if Obama loses reelection and the next president retroactively reinstates the tax cut.

That's actually a good example.  But the car owner (many in Congress) is doing research on the new cars, and taking cars out on test drives.  The owner's talking about models, options, and accessories.  Wouldn't you say the owner is "poised" to spend the money?