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Compare Politifact Ratings for Thune, Obama, and Top Presidential Candidates

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:

ThunePolitifact

Thune’s boss, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, has a mixed record on truth:

McConnellPolitifact

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid is similarly mixed up:

ReidPolitifact

President Barack Obama leans toward getting things right:

ObamaPolitifact

What about the folks who want President Obama’s job?

Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton
Bernie Sanders
Bernie Sanders
Donald Trump
Donald Trump
Jeb Bush
Jeb Bush
Marco Rubio
Marco Rubio
Scott Walker
Scott Walker
Ben Carson
Ben Carson

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%.

9 Comments

  1. Deb Geelsdottir 2015-07-23 17:32

    So Carson and T-Rump are big, fat, liars and Thune is trying to close the gap.

  2. Chris S. 2015-07-23 17:47

    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.)

  3. mike from iowa 2015-07-23 18:04

    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.

  4. jerry 2015-07-23 22:09

    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?

  5. MOSES 2015-07-23 23:15

    Tehran John good one,

  6. Loren 2015-07-24 09:05

    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!

  7. Rorschach 2015-07-24 09:21

    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.

  8. Rorschach 2015-07-24 11:29

    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.

  9. Rorschach 2015-07-24 22:20

    How does Politifact rate statements by the next president – Joe Biden?

Comments are closed.