An independent experimental fact-checking site, exploring and advocating ways to make fact-checking better.
“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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“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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“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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PolitiFact Florida: “Marco Rubio tweets that GOP didn’t support Social Security changes” Overview Fact checker commits fallacy of equivocation in posting false headline. The Facts Marco Rubio’s tweet from 1:16 p.m. on Dec. 20, 2012: Report that #GOP insisting on changes to social security as part of #fiscalcliff false.BTW those changes are supported by @barackobama. PolitiFact reports…
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Editor’s note: A different version of this post was originally published on Oct. 31 but was subsequently lost. The Romney ad about Chrysler building Jeeps in China is apparently the fact check topic of the week. Here’s the ad: The ad makes a number of claims. GM lost 15,000 workers. China gained 15,000 workers through GM. And…
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We have an example from yesterday of a fact checker doing something a fact checker should not do. PolitiFact, the popular fact checking site associated with the Tampa Bay Times newspaper, cherry-picked a definition and ruled on a politician’s statement based on that cherry picking. PolitiFact’s mistake occurs as it checks a claim from Republican senate candidate Linda McMahon. McMahon’s…
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Our fact check of Paul Ryan’s charge that the Obama administration called Syrian ruler Bashar Assad a “reformer” nearly carried a bonus critique of PolitiFact’s reporting of the context. The problem? The mainstream press appears to downplay the force of the Syrian crackdown prior to Clinton’s infamous statement on “Meet the Press.” The Tennessean provides perhaps the best example so…
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Paul Ryan: “We should not have called Bashar Assad a reformer when he was turning his Russian-provided guns on his own people.” Overview During his debate with Vice President Biden, Republican candidate for vice president Paul Ryan claimed the Obama administration referred to Syrian leader Bashar Assad as a reformer. Though PolitiFact rated the claim “Mostly False,” we’ll find…
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