Sarah Palin's speech to the Tea Party convention in Nashville brought praise from right, criticism from the left, and it sparked an unusual controversy over the talking points she apparently had written in the palm of her hand. * In her speech, Palin criticized the Obama administration for using stimulus money to promote how stimulus money was spent. "One state even spent a million bucks to put up signs that advertise that they were spending on the federal stimulus projects," she said. We rated that Half True. * In an interview, she criticized Obama's lack of experience and said that ... >>More

The Truth-o-Meter says: Half-True | Medina says executive spending went up 13.5% in quarter

For the next governor of Texas, one task will overshadow all the others on the to-do list: closing a state budget shortfall that some projections put as high as $15 billion.During the second Republican gubernatorial debate Jan. 29, candidates were asked to detail what programs they would cut or taxes they would raise to balance the budget. Debra Medina, who is in the three-way race for the GOP nomination with Gov. Rick Perry and U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, took the opportunity to criticize the incumbent’s fiscal record."You know, it’s unfortunate that the governor’s not taking ...

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The Truth-o-Meter says: Barely True | Perry says the HPV vaccine he mandated would have been optional

When Gov. Rick Perry issued an executive order in 2007 requiring all Texas girls to receive a vaccine against the human papillomavirus before entering the sixth grade, lawmakers balked and blocked it. Critics said the vaccine, Merck & Co.'s Gardasil, was too new to declare safe. Some said too that Perry's order would infringe on parental rights or give girls a false sense of security, leading them to be sexually active too young.Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, one of Perry's opponents in the GOP gubernatorial primary, frequently slams Perry's stilled order. Perry has stood ...

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