Speaking of fibbery, our discussion of South Dakota’s Congressional delegation’s willingness to profit from deceit got me looking into Politifact’s ratings for various politicos. Politifact has no articles on Rep. Kristi Noem or Senator Mike Rounds; they have just two on Senator John Thune:
Thune’s boss, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, has a mixed record on truth:
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid is similarly mixed up:
President Barack Obama leans toward getting things right:
What about the folks who want President Obama’s job?
I clip ratings for just the top five candidates as scored by Real Clear Politics’ poll aggregator. The sample sizes are small, so let’s not generalize too much. But notice that Donald Trump and Ben Carson, the buzziest among our arch-conservative and Tea-flavored voters, also appear to be the least reliable for factual statements. And none of the Republicans have a lower falsehood percentage (Mostly False + False + Pants on Fire) than President Obama’s 26%.
So Carson and T-Rump are big, fat, liars and Thune is trying to close the gap.
While I appreciate your point, Politifact’s hacktacular record with these ratings is problematic, to say the least. Their analysis is closer to Humpty Dumpty than to clear-eyed objectivity: When they issue a rating, it means just what they choose it to mean. No more, no less.
In other words, Politifact’s sorry credibility is rated Pants On Fire. (And, for the record, I am not defending the redoubtable congressional delegation from Our Fair State.)
More scientific evidence that wingnuts are racing towards the bottom that doesn’t exist. Pretty soon they’ll pop up in China and we’ll have another unnecessary wingnut provoked war on our hands.
Tehran John, along with NOem should be asked if they support Jeb Bush’s plan of phasing out Medicare. Exactly where do they stand regarding Medicare and Social Security for that matter. Anyone know? Any republicans want to declare on this one?
Tehran John good one,
Third ranking Rep. in the Senate and this is all they could find? Really productive, Johnboy! Now, if it were a ranking of most photographed while standing in the background, our man would come in very close to the top, I am sure!
I’m trying to decide what surprises me most:
1) That they couldn’t find any pants on fire statements by Mitch McConnell; or
2) That they could only find 2 pants on fire statements by Hillary.
Man, every time I see Scott Walker I think I’m looking at Nicholas Cage. And I have a hard time taking Nicholas Cage seriously. I can’t get past it.
How does Politifact rate statements by the next president – Joe Biden?