COLUMN: Facts in presidential debate are debatable

As the third and final presidential debate nears, many on campus seem to be paying attention. OK, maybe not. For the few that are, I’d bet it’s an assignment from their professors to watch the debate. But for the rest of us social recluses, we’re actually looking forward to the event.

It’s tough to tell what we’ll get this time. Sen. John Kerry will undoubtedly declare once again he has some mystery plan for everything. In the meantime, President George W. Bush looks to unleash his latest “strategery,” no doubt involving something “nucular.”

Hopefully, the debate won’t get too personal this time.

I got so distraught after the last debate that I had to go out and rent the old Jimmy Stewart film “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” After a tear or two, I felt like Mr. Smith had once again restored my political idealism.

Maybe part of the problem with this whole campaign process is that each candidate seems to be packing around his own set of facts. I love the quote by Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, gracing the Web page, factcheck.org, a non-for-profit organization dedicated to verifying the credibility of the claims of both presidential campaigns.

“Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts,” it says.

True story. It’s like one candidate says one thing with supporting evidence, then the other says something completely different, but yet he can pull out some fact that would make you think he’s right too.

Kerry’s favorite little, white lie is that the Bush Administration has lost 1.6 million jobs during its administration. The real number, all jobs considered, is last reported at 585,000 (factcheck.org). Still, that’s not exactly the most comforting figure, but you get the point.

Among other things, Bush enjoys blasting Kerry’s health care plan which according to one of his latest commercials would put “big government in charge. Not you. Not your doctor.” That claim, however, is refuted by most neutral experts saying that nearly all Americans, the latest figure being near 97 percent (factcheck.org), would keep their same health care plan under Kerry’s system.

I don’t know if we should have these candidates submit a bibliography before the debate begins or what, but something ought to be done.

That’s why this factcheck.org thing sort of intrigues me. Just the fact that it ends in .org gives me that warm, fuzzy feeling that I’m in safe hands.

But even then, it’s hard to sift through the lies and distortions.

It’s just hard to know who to believe. It’s like all those kids that told you that with that star on your tootsie pop wrapper, you could get a free sucker. Ya, fat chance. I’d like to meet someone who’s actually got a free sucker from that deal. And if so, I want your sucker. I’m hungry.

Accountability is the issue at stake here. If politicians can’t be held accountable for the facts they cite, how can they ever be held accountable for the promises they make?

The pessimists in the crowd would argue that such is politics.

Lies. Lies. Lies.

But, sometimes, I wonder if it has to be that way. Granted, I don’t want to sound like Jimmy Carter or anything on this one, but I think there’s still hope. I think there are a few good guys out there, and maybe if the rest of us would start paying better attention, the Mr. Smiths would be our candidates for president and not the Mr. Kerrys and Bushes of the world.

Jon Cox is a junior majoring in print journalism. Comments can be sent to jcox@cc.usu.edu.