wrote:
Facts like Joe's real name is Sam? Facts like Joe only makes $42,000
a year? Facts like Joe doesn't have a license? Yes, they are all
facts,

Look up slaunder.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/slander

It has to be "false".

olddog

So when I say hypothetically.... olddog leads me to believe
that he mugs old ladies and takes lolly pops away from kids.
According to you this is not slander because I was able to make
a false claim by the use of the truth disclaimer "leads me to believe"
that makes the actual statement true.

It's still slander. The Intent is still there.

No, sorry. An "opinion" can never be slander or libel. Only when the
utterance is held out to be a fact (or perceived by a reasonable person to
be a fact), does the law of torts latch in (of course there ARE exceptions).
Further, an utterance can be slander even if the intent was to praise the
subject.