In the past couple of years, "Fact Checking" has become a cottage industry for the MSM. Naturally, they always conclude that Republican candidates are darned near "fact free", and left wing candidates "occasionally make honest mistakes". Shocking I know.
Five standard left wing "facts" that are COMMONLY used are debunked here:
- 1 in 5 college coeds have been raped.
- Abuse of wives peaks during the Super Bowl (heard that one on MPR a couple months ago)
- 50% of marriages end in divorce
- 19% of the population is gay
- 97% of scientists agree on global warming
I'd put #5 at #1 ... it is so ridiculous and SO commonly used that it deserves that spot. A good number of Republican "lies" / non-factual statements, etc come from them disagreeing on global warming. The left "declares it settled", so any Republican that disagrees is "lying" -- a tidy advantage of owning the media, the universities and the entire government bureaucracy!
Since most of the media is left wing, the vast majority of the "fact checkers" are left wing as well, and unsurprisingly, they choose which statements ought to be "checked" and they "check" them with their biases firmly in place. Unsuprisingly, it certainly looks to THEM that Republicans are pretty much "liars", and Democrats are basically speakers of gospel! What a shocking surprise --- but of course if you dig just a tiny bit, who really needs to be checked are the "fact checkers".
Since most of the media is left wing, the vast majority of the "fact checkers" are left wing as well, and unsurprisingly, they choose which statements ought to be "checked" and they "check" them with their biases firmly in place. Unsuprisingly, it certainly looks to THEM that Republicans are pretty much "liars", and Democrats are basically speakers of gospel! What a shocking surprise --- but of course if you dig just a tiny bit, who really needs to be checked are the "fact checkers".
There is a "truth gap" in Washington, but it doesn't exist along the lines the fact checkers would have you think. It was Obama who said you could keep the health care you had if you liked it, even if Obamacare became law. It was Obama who said the Citizens United decision would open the floodgates of foreign money into U.S. campaigns. It was Obama who said Benghazi happened because of a YouTube video. It was Obama's IRS that denied conservative political groups had been singled out for special scrutiny. And it was Obama who promised that taxes would not go up for any American making less than $250,000 per year.
All of these statements and plenty more are demonstrably false, though some people still pretend there is truth in them. As the Lichter study demonstrates, it's not so much fact checkers that are needed as it is fact checkers to check the facts being checked.
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