CNN's American Morning Transcript
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CHETRY: All right. So, let's go through some of them. One of the things that we've been talking about right now is the Iranian protests. We've seen them take to the streets. We've the video that's come to us via cell phone as well as other medium. And we've been having a chance to take a look at this.
Now, some supporters of President Obama say that it was his address to the Muslim world in Cairo that perhaps sparked some of this momentum for change. But there have been conservative critics, on the other hand, that have been really quick to criticize him for that speech.
Ann Coulter, in an op-ed in "Human Events" said he went too far in praising Muslims. And here's what she wrote. This is what you ran through your -- you guys ran through your Truth-O-Meter.
"President Obama was wrong about Muslims' historical contributions to mankind such as algebra - actually, that was the ancient Babylonians -- the compass, that was the Chinese, pens, the Chinese again, and medical discoveries."
Coulter says the president is inaccurate about the historical contributions of the Muslim world. So, how did you rate what Ann Coulter said?
ADAIR: We gave that one a "Barely True" on the Truth-O-Meter. Sort of specifically if you break it down. She's wrong about algebra. The Muslims really did have a hand in creating it. She's right, though, about the compass and navigation. She's wrong about pens. It's kind of a mixed bag on medicine. So, overall, that one gets a "Barely True" on our Truth-O-Meter. CHETRY: All right. And also with the issue of Guantanamo Bay. We'll talk about this. It's another one of the topics certainly making news. The Obama administration, when talking about Guantanamo Bay, said that, you know, finding a place for these detainees that are there, they're not sure if they're going to be charged with anything. It has been quite a challenge. It's an issue that Republicans have seized upon.
And in responding to GOP criticism, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer held a press conference in which he stated some 500 detainees were released from Guantanamo during the Bush administration, and it's a figure that we haven't heard a lot. So, how truthful is that claim?
ADAIR: We gave that one a "Mostly True" on our Truth-O-Meter. And that one surprised us. I think we're all very aware that there have been many detainees that have left Guantanamo. But we were surprised to find that, indeed, it was more than 500 under the Bush administration.
Our quibble with Congressman Hoyer's statement, though, was he said released. And actually the Pentagon defines it in two ways -- released, meaning they can just walk away and go wherever they want. But most detainees are transferred to another country where the country agrees to either incarcerate them or provide some kind of monitoring or travel restrictions. So, Hoyer gets a "Mostly True" on the Truth-O-Meter.
CHETRY: All right. Let's get to the Obameter, and what we talked about as being the Obameter. As a candidate, Barack Obama pledged many different things. He made more than 500 promises. And you guys have sort of been breaking down the promises made and the progress. One of them was to, quote, "double the Peace Corps to 16,000 by its fiftieth anniversary in 2011 and to push Congress to fully fund this expansion."
Because you can you call on doubling it, but if you don't have money to pay for it, it doesn't really work. So in recent weeks, there have been dozens of Peace Corps volunteers. My mother was one of them, by the way. So, there is a slight personal connection. She knows how wonderful the Peace Corps organization has been in helping people around the world. But they've rallied Congress and the Obama administration to try to fulfill that promise. And you've done some checking into this. Tell us where he stands on that?
ADAIR: We did. We rated this one "Stalled" on the Obameter. And the reason is that in the president's budget he did not provide the funding that was needed to double the Peace Corps. To double it to 16,000, they really got to start making some serious investments, and his budget doesn't envision that. It only envisions about 9,000 Peace Corps employees.
Now, there's some movement in Congress. It's going to be interesting to watch because I think a lot of former Peace Corps volunteers have gotten very active and are pushing Congress to do what the president hasn't done and that's moving along. But for now, we've got it rated "Stalled" on our Obameter. CHETRY: And you talked about also Congress playing a role in this. How much would it be to fulfill that promise in terms of cost to double the size and the funding?
ADAIR: I'm thinking the number is up around $900 million, something like that. But what's fascinating here is the power of a grassroots movement, that the former Peace Corps volunteers have really gotten together and are pushing this hard. They've had rallies. They have been contacting members of Congress. And so it's interesting that it may actually be the former Peace Corps volunteers that make the president keep his own promise more than the president himself.
CHETRY: Yes, it certainly is fascinating. They're passionate about their volunteerism, for sure. Bill Adair, founder and editor of PolitiFact.com, always great to see you every Monday morning here on the program. Thanks so much.
ADAIR: Thanks, Kiran.
ROBERTS: We've been talking for the last week or so about the effect that Twitter has had on the reform movement in Iran. The demonstrators, of course, are using it to get the word out. What's interesting is that -- in this crazy kind of twist, the Ayatollah Khamenei even sent out a Twitter message in the last couple of days. But the big question everybody has is, is it enough to change a nation? We'll get the view from the Pentagon coming up with Barbara Starr in just a moment.
Thirty-eight minutes now after the hour.
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