PolitiFact: Fact-checking claims about Benghazi attacks

House Republicans held hearings last week on the 2012 attacks on a diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya. That has renewed a war of words between members of Congress and President Barack Obama.

Here's the history: Diplomatic workers staffed a temporary residential outpost in the Libyan city after the death of dictator Moammar Gadhafi. On a night the U.S. ambassador was visiting from the capital in Tripoli, armed Islamic terrorists attacked, setting a toxic diesel-fueled fire that killed the ambassador and a colleague. Americans then drove, chased by attackers, to a nearby annex, where a mortar attack in the morning killed two security contractors. By noon, hasty scrambling by the American and Libyan governments got U.S. workers to safety in Tripoli, along with their four dead comrades....

Politifact: Medicare does have nine codes for turkey contacts

The statement

Says new Medicare billing guidelines "have nine codes for (injuries by) turkeys."

U.S. Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, on Fox Business Network

The ruling

Doctors' offices, already burdened by federal billing bureaucracy, will soon find themselves pecked to death by new rules, Texas congressman Ted Poe says.

New diagnosis codes required for reimbursement are so specific, he told Fox Business Network host John Stossel, there are a set of them just for injuries caused by turkeys....

PolitiFact: Chicago seizes more guns than New York, Los Angeles

The statement

Says in Chicago, "we take more guns off the streets than New York or L.A."

Rahm Emanuel, mayor of Chicago, in a CNN interview

The ruling

We talked with Bill McCaffrey, a spokesman in Emanuel's office. He said the city uses the comparison with New York and Los Angeles to demonstrate that Chicago's strict gun control rules won't work by themselves....

PolitiFact: On Dick Cheney, Margaret Thatcher and 'wobbly' George H.W. Bush

The statement

Says it's "an old wives' story" that Margaret Thatcher told George H.W. Bush not to go wobbly.

Dick Cheney, in an interview on Fox News

The ruling

It's one of Margaret Thatcher's most memorable quotes, spoken to President George H.W. Bush after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait: "Remember, George, this is no time to go wobbly."

Dick Cheney, the defense secretary who would become vice president, recently called it "an old wives' story."...

No tax money will fund Air Force's fantasy football league

The statement

The Air Force wants taxpayers to fund a fantasy football league.

Bloggers, in Web posts

The ruling

On blogs and on Twitter last week, people buzzed that the Air Force was preparing to spend precious taxpayer funds as it faces sequester-driven budget cuts on a fantasy football league.

"What sequester? Air Force wants taxpayers to fund fantasy football league," read a headline at WashingtonExaminer.com....

PolitiFact: Majority support Obama's mixed approach to deficit

The statement

Says a majority of Americans — and Republicans — support his approach for deficit reduction.

President Barack Obama, Friday in a press briefing

The ruling

The best evidence in Obama's favor is a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center and USA Today, as the sequester loomed, with 1,504 adults across the country from Feb. 13-18....

PolitiFact's oddest fact-checks of 2012

If you want fact-checks on the weighty, wonky issues of the day, you turn to PolitiFact.

But the Truth-O-Meter also has a sense of humor, so we occasionally do light-hearted or downright odd fact-checks.

Here is a look at some of the more unusual fact-checks we did in 2012.

• • •

Was Bane, the villain in the most recent Batman movie, a sneaky attempt to smear Mitt Romney?...

PolitiFact: Bill Clinton gives Mostly True summary of student loan law

The statement

Says President Barack Obama "gives students the right to repay (federal) loans as a clear, fixed, low percentage of their income for up to 20 years."

Bill Clinton, in a speech at the Democratic National Convention

The ruling

Former President Bill Clinton got down into details in his speech to nominate President Barack Obama for a second term, telling delegates there was an Obama policy they needed to share with "every voter."...

The PolitiFact guide to Medicare attack lines

A vote for Republicans or Democrats in November is a vote for politicians who plan to limit growth in Medicare spending.

Both sides agree Medicare's soaring expense must be slowed as medical costs rise and baby boomers retire. Each side abuses the truth when they say the other side's method abandons seniors.

The reality is both sides risk eroding seniors' benefits as they seek savings. But the risks aren't equivalent. If efforts to trim spending fail, Republicans are more likely than Democrats to let beneficiaries, rather than taxpayers and care providers, take the hit....

PolitiFact: The facts on the health care law, birth control and the Catholic Church

Is President Barack Obama's administration requiring the Catholic Church to provide birth control coverage to nuns?

As rhetoric rises in a clash between Catholic leaders and the federal government over a rule requiring copay-free coverage of contraceptives in most health plans, here's a guide.

What the rule says

The newly final rule stems from the Affordable Care Act of 2010 — what Republican presidential candidates call "Obamacare." It affects the health plans employers offer their employees. Among its requirements is that most plans include birth control coverage without out-of-pocket costs. But it's part of a broader push to provide preventive care without extra fees....

PolitiFact Florida: Rick Scott jobs promise strays from campaign rhetoric

More Floridians are working since Rick Scott, the self-anointed "jobs governor," took office a year ago.

And yet, today, PolitiFact Florida rates Scott's central campaign promise of 700,000 new jobs Stalled.

Why?

The promise Scott made as an outsider businessman isn't the one he's keeping from his desk in the state Capitol.

PolitiFact Florida is tracking 57 of Scott's campaign promises, and one year in, we find Scott has had more successes than failures. But in the case of the jobs promise, he has much more work to do....

PolitiFact Florida: Florida Republican is close on jobless figures but blame misplaced

U. S. Rep. Steve Southerland sent direct mail to his Florida constituents this month with a multiple-choice survey, telling them: "Make your voice heard in Washington."

The mailer also offered a snapshot of the Panama City Republican's priorities: Create jobs. Lower taxes. Cut government spending.

In a note on the back, Southerland explained how those ideas fit together. He begins:

"Dear Neighbor,...

PolitiFact: Florida Democrats say Mitt Romney called middle-class tax cuts 'little Band-Aids'

 The Florida Democratic Party recently called out Republicans who opposed extending President Barack Obama's payroll tax cut.

"With Republicans like Mitt Romney belittling middle class tax cuts as nothing more than 'little Band-Aids,' the Republican Party is sending a clear signal to the American people: they are willing to raise taxes on middle-class Americans just to pay for more tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires and big oil," executive director Scott Arceneaux said in a Dec. 1 news release....