DENVER —  Barack Obama added detail and context to his policies Thursday. Some of his criticism of John McCain could have used some, too.

Here are some examples:

OBAMA: "Why else would he define middle-class as someone making under $5 million a year?"

THE FACTS: The reference is to McCain's interview with megachurch pastor Rick Warren earlier this month. When Warren asked McCain to define the word "rich," McCain said, "Some of the richest people I've ever known in my life are the most unhappy." He said being rich should be defined by having a home and a prosperous and safe world. "I don't want to take any money from the rich. I want everybody to get rich," McCain said. When pushed on an exact number, he joked: "If you're just talking about income, how about $5 million?" He added, "I'm sure that comment will be distorted."

OBAMA: "When John McCain said we could just 'muddle through' in Afghanistan, I argued for more resources and more troops to finish the fight against the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11, and made clear that we must take out Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants if we have them in our sights."

THE FACTS: McCain use the phrase "muddle through" in answering a question in November 2003 before the Council on Foreign Relations. Obama was still an Illinois state senator. In his answer, captured in a video clip, McCain said: "Afghanistan is dicey. I think there are certain areas of the country, particularly along the Pakistani border that are clearly not under the control of either Pakistan or the Afghan government."

McCain added: "I am concerned about it, but I'm not as concerned as I am about Iraq today obviously, or I would be talking about Afghanistan, but I believe if (President Hamid) Karzai can make the progress that he is making that in the long term we may muddle through it in Afghanistan."

OBAMA: "And when one of his chief advisers _ the man who wrote his economic plan _ was talking about the anxiety Americans are feeling, he said that we were just suffering from a 'mental recession,' and that we've become, and I quote, 'a nation of whiners.'"

THE FACTS: Obama was referring to former Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas, who made the remarks to The Washington Times in July. Gramm later said he was talking about the nation's leaders not the American people. Obama did not mention that McCain promptly repudiated the remarks and that Gramm resigned as McCain's campaign co-chairman within days. "I strongly disagree" with Phil Gramm's remarks, McCain said at the time. "Phil Gramm does not speak for me. I speak for me."

OBAMA: "How else could he offer ... a plan that would privatize Social Security and gamble your retirement?"

THE FACTS: The Republican-sponsored plans McCain has supported over the years would privatize part of Social Security by letting workers invest some of their payroll taxes into private retirement accounts. In the past, McCain has proposed that up to 20 percent of payroll taxes be funneled into private retirement accounts for younger workers. He recently said all solutions for the funding crisis facing Social Security "are on the table."

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Associated Press Writer Calvin Woodward in Washington contributed to this report.

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