An independent experimental fact-checking site, exploring and advocating ways to make fact-checking better.
“The Affordable Care Act is bringing the cost of health care in our country down in both the public and private sector. And that is what is largely responsible for the deficit coming down.” —House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, May 13, 2013 Overview A logic deficit undermines Pelosi’s claim about the budget deficit. The Facts House Democratic Leader Nancy…
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“Federal spending under Obama has grown faster than inflation, but far more slowly than it did under President Bush.” —Annenberg Fact Check Summary We rate a second recent claim from FactCheck.org, stemming from the same “Obama’s Numbers” article that prompted our earlier fact check. Again, Annenberg Fact Check spins like a politician. The Facts The federal government substantially increased…
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“Now that we have figures for the full four years of Obama’s first term, a surprising fact emerges: The economy added more jobs during four years under Obama than it did in the entire eight years under Bush.” —Annenberg Fact Check Summary FactCheck.org closely imitates the methods of a typical misleading political campaign advertisement. The Facts We do not…
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“Sessions said that Obama “has allowed, each year he’s been here, the prosecutions of gun cases to go down. .. [sic] They’ve declined every year since President Bush left office.” That’s true — but the data covers only the first two years of Obama’s term, and it didn’t nosedive under Obama since it was already a tiny percentage under Bush.”…
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On April 10 we published a fact check of a House Democrat presentation of Social Security, claiming that Social Security has never added so much as a dime to the deficit. We found the claim false based on the Social Security Administration’s reports of revenue falling short of expenses. We’ve since surveyed the way various mainstream fact checkers treated similar…
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“Are bureaucrats, high taxation and trial lawyers keeping America from tackling Alzheimer’s disease? Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., said they are during a speech to CPAC, the annual conservative conference.” —PolitiFact, March 20, 2013 Overview PolitiFact sets a straw man ablaze. The Facts Rep. Michele Bachmann drew PolitiFact’s attention with her March 16 speech at an annual gathering sponsored by…
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“I know that this has been some of the conventional wisdom that’s been floating around Washington that somehow, even though most people agree that I’m being reasonable, that most people agree I’m presenting a fair deal, the fact that they don’t take it means that I should somehow do a Jedi mind-meld with these folks and convince them to do…
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“(Sen. Bill) Jackson said there were more people killed with hammers than shotguns and pistols and AK-47s. There were actually 12 times as many people killed with handguns in 2011 than with blunt objects like hammers. Jackson’s claim is way off.” –PolitiFact Georgia, from “Gun claim goes awry,” Feb. 21, 2013 Overview PolitiFact conducted its fact check under the…
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“The Violence Against Women Act — in the news this week following a U.S. Senate vote to reauthorize it — has been linked to reductions in domestic violence, according to several PolitiFact fact checks.” –Tom Kertscher, editor of PolitiFact Wisconsin Overview Kertscher’s right that PolitiFact has linked the Violence Against Women Act to reductions in domestic violence. Scant evidence…
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PolitiFact Texas: “Contrary to Gohmert’s characterization … Washington was not speaking about citizens arming themselves in case of government tyranny. Quite the opposite: The president and former general was calling for disciplined troops to fight on behalf of the government.” Overview PolitiFact Texas builds a dandy straw man in honor of Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas). The Facts The line from…
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