How you get a “mostly true”

Standard

President Obama at the DNC 2012: “After all, you don’t call Russia our No. 1 enemy — not Al-Qaida, Russia — unless you’re still stuck in a Cold War mind warp,”

Foe:

  1. one who has personal enmity for another

Geopolitical: relating to geographical and political elements.

Politifact’s “Mostly True”:

In his convention speech, Obama claimed threat Romney called Russia “our No. 1 enemy.” Romney didn’t use those exact words, but he did refer to Russia as “without question our No. 1 geopolitical foe.” He said the Russians “fight for every cause for the world’s worst actors” in a CNN interview. In a later interview, however, Romney softened his language, this time calling Russia our “No. 1 adversary” in terms of UN votes and emphasized it’s not an enemy of the kind launching missiles at American shores. That’s an important clarification, but it’s worth noting that five months passed before Romney walked back his earlier remarks. Obama’s statement lacked that context but was still largely accurate about Romney’s original description of Russia. We rate the statement Mostly True.

Obama’s statement is not completely true because Romney said foe/adversary instead of enemy. Even though they mean exactly the same thing.