Presidential Debate 2012: Fact or Fiction? Checking Romney and Obama, Who Told the Truth?

President Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney met for the third and final time in their debate on Monday night at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla.

While the tone was more reserved than the fiery second presidential debate, neither candidate held back on their attacks. The topic was ostensibly foreign policy, but the candidates segued often to domestic issues, throwing out accusations and citing figures in a frenzy of assertions and finger-pointing.

How accurate were their statements?

Military Spending
Romney claimed Obama is planning to cut a trillion dollars from the Armed Forces. "We need a strong economy. We need to have as well a strong military. Our military is second to none in the world. We're blessed with terrific soldiers and extraordinary technology and intelligence. But the idea of a trillion dollars in cuts through sequestration and budget cuts to the military would change that."

In fact, the sequestration Romney mentions is a bipartisan shot clock-the threat of massive cuts to a range of programs that kick in automatically if Congress can't agree on a budget.

In addition, the "budget cuts" are Romney's term for a military budget that won't increase, and as Obama has said many times, the Pentagon has not asked for an increase.

Romney also chided the president on the size of the Navy fleet. "Our Navy is older - excuse me - our Navy is smaller now than any time since 1917. The Navy said they needed 313 ships to carry out their mission. We're now down to 285. We're headed down to the low 200s if we go through with sequestration. That's unacceptable to me. I want to make sure that we have the ships that are required by our Navy."

The Navy actually had only 278 ships under George W. Bush. The current Navy also has aircraft carriers and nuclear-equipped ships. The tally in 1917 included small gunboats and monitors.

Obama got in his best line of the night refuting this attack. "You mentioned the Navy, for example, and that we have fewer ships than we did in 1916. Well, governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets, because the nature of our military's changed. We have these things called aircraft carriers, where planes land on them. We have these ships that go underwater, nuclear submarines."

Budget Woes
The candidates also had a fight over the budget. Romney said he would repeal the Affordable Care Act to fund military spending. Obama said he would end the war in Afghanistan and use the funds for nation-building at home.

Neither plan is feasible. First, repealing the Affordable Care Act will increase the deficit, because the act includes cost-saving measures. Second, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq weren't paid for in the budget; they were funded through increased borrowing, so there will be no extra funds to use.

Foreign Policy
Romney claims Obama took an "apology tour" of the Middle East and Europe after taking office, an assertion fact-checkers have disputed every time he says it.

Obama did take a diplomatic tour after taking office, but he never uttered the words "apology," "apologize" or "sorry."

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