An independent experimental fact-checking site, exploring and advocating ways to make fact-checking better.
“Myth: Obamacare is a government takeover of the health care system.” —The Democratic National Committee on its “Your Republican Uncle” website, Nov. 25, 2013 Overview The DNC says it’s a myth that the ACA represents a government takeover of the health care system. The DNC’s case unwittingly undermines itself. The Facts We continue our series of ratings for claims…
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On Feb. 20, 2014, PolitiFact Oregon posted a new rating relating to the gender wage gap. PolitiFact Oregon rated it “Mostly True” that women in Oregon make 79 cents on the dollar compared to men for the same work. It was a notable rating, since other PolitiFact ratings on the gender wage gap, while not exactly a model of consistency,…
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“Myth: Obamacare hurts businesses.” —The Democratic National Committee on its “Your Republican Uncle” website, Nov. 25, 2013 Overview The DNC’s attempt to turn truth into myth creates a distortion of a distortion. The Facts In late 2013, the Democratic National Committee created a website it says gives Democrats answers to Republican myths. We continue our fact check series of…
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“Myth: The website doesn’t work so people can’t sign up for health care even if they wanted to.” —The Democratic National Committee, December 2013 on the “Your Republican Uncle” website Overview The federal exchange site will cause some users to miss deadlines for obtaining insurance. The DNC holds back details it ought to know well. The Facts This myth-busting…
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A critical review of Lying in Politics: Evidence from the US, a working paper by Alessandro Bucciol and Luca Zarri Researchers Alessandro Bucciol (assistant professor of econometrics) and Luca Zarri (associate professor of economics), both of the University of Verona, wanted to examine the tendency of politicians to lie. But they were confronted the problem of objectively assessing whether and…
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“Barack Obama, in State of the Union, says women make 77 cents for every dollar a man earns … We rate the claim Mostly True.” —PolitiFact, from a Jan. 28 fact check of President Obama’s 2014 State of the Union speech Overview If the presidential State of the Union address is the Super Bowl for fact checkers then PolitiFact…
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