Lie detector test of debate 'inconclusive'

A company that announced it would run a lie detector test during the 2012 president debate in Denver Wednesday night says the results are inconclusive – but that doesn't mean either candidate wasn't lying.

It just means they believe what they were saying, according to officials with Get Liberty.org.

A spokesman for the company today told WND that the data from the testing was inconsistent.

In a statement released on the organization's website, the company said, "The lie detector voice analysis tests of the presidential debate were found to be inconclusive by Voice Analysis Technology. The technology can detect a deception if the person knows they are deceiving, but if they believe what they are saying is true, even if it is not, it is not picked up. We are engaging in further review of these reports."

The assessment suggests something was at play when Barack Obama stated that Mitt Romney was proposing a $5 trillion tax cut and Romney stated that he was proposing no such thing.

Both likely believe what they were saying.

When Obama said the auto industry "has come roaring back and housing has begun to rise," he apparently believed that is accurate.

Apparently Romney also believed he was telling the truth when he said: "My plan has five basic parts: One, get us energy independent – North America energy independent. That creates about four million jobs. Number two, open up more trade, particularly in Latin America; crack down on China if and when they cheat. Number three, make sure our people have the skills they need to succeed and the best schools in the world – we are far away from that now. Number four, get us to a balanced budget. Number five, champion small business."

Among other statements that were believed to be true:

Romney: "I'm not looking for a $5 trillion tax cut. What I've said is, I won't put in place a tax cut that adds to the deficit. That's part one. So there's no economist who can say Mitt Romney's tax plan adds $5 trillion if I say I will not add to the deficit with my tax plan. "

Romney: "I will not reduce the share paid by high-income individuals. I know that you and your running mate keep saying that, and I know it's a popular thing to say with a lot of people, but it's just not the case. Look, I've got five boys. I'm used to people saying something that's not always true, but just keep on repeating it and ultimately hoping I'll believe it."

Obama: "Well, for 18 months, he's been running on this tax plan. And now, five weeks before the election, he's saying that his big, bold idea is 'never mind.'"

Obama: "I have said that for incomes over $250,000 a year that we should go back to the rates that we had when Bill Clinton was president, when we created 23 million new jobs, went from deficit to surplus, and created a whole lot of millionaires to boot."

Romney: "And we talk about evidence. Look at the evidence of the last four years. It's absolutely extraordinary. We've got 23 million people out of work or stopped looking for work in this country. It's just – we've got – when the president took office, 32 million people on food stamps; 47 million on food stamps today; economic growth this year slower than last year; and last year slower than the year before. Going forward with the status quo is not going to cut it for the American people who are struggling today."

Romney: "I think it's a moral issue. I think it's, frankly, not moral for my generation to keep spending massively more than we take in, knowing those burdens are going to passed on to the next generation, and they're going to be paying the interest and the principal all their lives. And the amount of debt we're adding, at a trillion a year, is simply not moral."

Obama: "When I walked into the Oval Office I had more than a trillion-dollar deficit greeting me, and we know where it came from: two wars that were paid for on a credit card, two tax cuts that were not paid for, and a whole bunch of programs that were not paid for, and then a massive economic crisis."

Romney: "You've been president four years. You said you'd cut the deficit in half. It's now four years later; we still have trillion-dollar deficits. The CBO says we'll have a trillion-dollar deficit each of the next four years. If you're reelected we'll get to a trillion-dollar debt. But you have said before you'd cut the deficit in half. And I love this idea of $4 trillion in cuts – you found $4 trillion of ways to reduce or to get closer to a balanced budget, except we still show trillion-dollar deficits every year. That doesn't get the job done."

Obama: "We've got to take a balanced, responsible approach. And by the way, this is not just when it comes to individual taxes. Let's talk about corporate taxes. Now, I've identified areas where we can right away make a change that I believe would actually help the economy. The oil industry gets $4 billion a year in corporate welfare. Basically, they get deductions that those small businesses that Governor Romney refers to, they don't get. Now, does anybody think that Exxon Mobil needs some extra money when they're making money every time you go to the pump?"

The voice analysis was supposed to measure the voice patterns of individuals to determine whether they are telling the truth. It also was to measure the level of stress the speaker is under.

Bill Wilson of Americans for Limited Government had hoped it would be a "break-through for the American people."

He said he hoped that, "For the first time, within a few hours of a political debate, the American people will know if the candidates are telling the truth, and better be able to judge what promises are real, and which ones are nothing more than political pandering."

He said the company, Voice Analysis Technology, already has served in a number of high profile criminal cases including the search for the killer of Natalie Holloway.

The technology is different from a traditional polygraph because that system uses a number of probes on a person's body; but voice analysis simply takes the words right out of the air.

ALG said it was continuing to analyze the results.