Facts. Facts. We Don't Need No Stinking Facts.

Big fan of PolitiFact. Tonight I will share some of their recent findings on some of the more current issues. They give a lot of politicians a "half true" rating and I won't address any of those. If something is half true then we all know one side will see the truth and the other side will see the false.

"When the Republicans were in charge, they actually expanded government health care with the prescription drug program." ~ Ron Paul -- TRUE

Paul made this statement when talking about Republicans trying to repeal Obamacare. He went on to add, "when we did have the chance, when the Republicans were in charge, they actually expanded government health care..."

"Most countries have no debt ceiling." ~ Arianna Huffington -- MOSTLY TRUE

In a report published last February, the Government Accountability Office, the oversight arm of Congress, described the U.S. system as fairly unusual, since the U.S. debt ceiling process moves independently of the general budgeting process.

Says Ronald Reagan "repeatedly talked about how irresponsible it would be to allow the full faith and credit of the United States to be impaired in any kind of way." ~ President Obama -- MOSTLY TRUE

"Unfortunately, Congress consistently brings the government to the edge of default before facing its responsibility. This brinkmanship threatens the holders of government bonds and those who rely on Social Security and veterans benefits. Interest rates would skyrocket, instability would occur in financial markets, and the federal deficit would soar. The United States has a special responsibility to itself and the world to meet its obligations. It means we have a well-earned reputation for reliability and credibility -- two things that set us apart from much of the world." ~ Ronald Reagan

"Federal law requires that hospitals treat people whether or not they can pay. So someone (who) doesn’t have health insurance --  they can go to the hospital and get free care." ~ Mitt Romney -- BARELY TRUE

 He implies that hospitals are required to provide more free care than is actually mandated. In fact, the law just requires stabilizing treatment in an emergency. We rate his claim Barely True.

"Every time we've cut the capital gains tax, the economy has grown. Whenever we raise the capital gains tax, it's been damaged." ~ Grover Norquist -- FALSE

"The best tax policy would not have a difference as between capital gains and ordinary income because there is no compelling reason for any such distinction, and it enormously complicates the Internal Revenue Code. We had such a best policy, briefly, following passage of the Tax Reform Act of 1986, in Reagan's second term. Everything was taxed at a top rate of 28 percent (with a few minor deviations). Does Norquist think that was so bad? For heaven's sake, why? And we have had extraordinarily low rates on capital gains since the first years of the Bush II Administartion (and still have them today). Does Norquist think the economy has done splendidly during the ensuing years? What have I missed?" ~ David Rosenbloom, a tax law professor at New York University

"The clear majority of Republican voters think that any deficit reduction package should have a balanced approach and should include some revenues." ~ Obama -- BARELY TRUE

In conclusion, we don't find that "poll after poll" showed a "clear majority" of Republicans supporting tax increases. We found one recent poll that supported Obama's statement and two other polls that showed a much more evenly divided picture. We rate it Barely True. 

"Eighty percent of the American people support an approach (to federal budget problems) that includes revenues and includes cuts." ~ Obama -- MOSTLY TRUE

Even the best poll doesn't show support quite that high -- he would more accurately have accounted for the small numbers that support only tax increases or were unsure, putting the number at 70 percent. But his overall point is correct that polls show most Americans support a balanced approach when given a choice between cutting spending or raising taxes. So we rate his statement Mostly True.

Says scientists are "in dispute" over whether being gay is a choice. ~ Tim Pawlenty -- FALSE

Pawlenty said that scientists are "in dispute" about whether being gay is a choice or not. We think most people would interpret that to mean sexual orientation -- that is, attractions and impulses -- rather than sexual behavior. And on that question, it seems that the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the Human Rights Campaign and even the Family Research Council are in agreement. So we rate Pawlenty’s statement False.

"There are actually half a million fewer government employees now than there were when (President Barack) Obama took office." ~ Paul Krugman -- TRUE

The decline in government workers has certainly had an impact on the overall employment picture. Since the recession officially ended in June 2009, private payrolls have increased by more than 1 million workers, but government payrolls have declined by 493,000 -- cutting the number of jobs created almost in half.

"Fifty-one percent -- that is, a majority of American households -- paid no income tax in 2009. Zero. Zip. Nada." ~ Paul Cornyn -- TRUE

A full understanding of U.S. tax policy requires a lot of additional context that Cornyn didn’t supply. Still, at PolitiFact, words matter, and on the specific point Cornyn was making -- that a majority of American households paid no income tax in 2009 -- he not only accurately cited a credible study but also took care to cite a specific year and to explain that he only meant to refer to federal income taxes. So we rate Cornyn’s statement True.

"My husband and I have never gotten a penny of money from the farm." ~ Michele Bachmann -- FALSE

Unless or until Bachmann steps forward to explain the discrepancy between her financial disclosure statements and her public pronouncements, we have to rely on the disclosures, which say she received at least $32,501 in income. So we rate her claim as False.

"We've got more revenue than we ever have." ~ Jim DeMint -- FALSE

DeMint was wrong using either standard. He was off by a few years using raw dollar figures. And when you use tax revenue as a share of gross domestic product -- which is a better yardstick for this sort of comparison -- he was off by six decades. So we rate DeMint’s statement False.

Then-Sen. Barack Obama "refused to raise the debt ceiling because he said President Bush had failed in leadership." ~ Michele Bachmann -- TRUE

Obama said that.

"We're going to be looking at $8 billion a day that we're going to be pouring into foreign countries in order to import that make-up fuel that we're going to need to take the place of what we could have gotten out of the gulf." ~ Sarah Palin -- LIAR, LIAR PANTS ON FIRE

Hey, it's math, what did you expect?