Posted on Dec 14, 2015
COL Ted Mc
8.7K
74
69
8
8
0
From the "NY Times"

All Politicians Lie. Some Lie More Than Others.

Washington — I’m a political fact-checker, which is usually an automatic conversation starter at parties. These days, I get two questions repeatedly: “Is it worse than it’s ever been?” and “What’s up with Donald Trump?”

I’ve been fact-checking since 2007, when The Tampa Bay Times founded PolitiFact as a new way to cover elections. We don’t check absolutely everything a candidate says, but focus on what catches our eye as significant, newsworthy or potentially influential. Our ratings are also not intended to be statistically representative but to show trends over time.

Donald J. Trump’s record on truth and accuracy is astonishingly poor. So far, we’ve fact-checked more than 70 Trump statements and rated fully three-quarters of them as Mostly False, False or “Pants on Fire” (we reserve this last designation for a claim that is not only inaccurate but also ridiculous). We haven’t checked the former neurosurgeon Ben Carson as often as Mr. Trump, but by the percentages Mr. Carson actually fares worse.

Carly Fiorina, another candidate in the Republican race who’s never held elective office, does slightly better on the Truth-O-Meter (which I sometimes feel the need to remind people is not an actual scientific instrument): Half of the statements we’ve checked have proved Mostly False or worse.

Most of the professional politicians we fact-check ...

EDITORIAL COMMENT:- Of course it's from the NY Times so it all has to be lies - right?

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/13/opinion/campaign-stops/all-politicians-lie-some-lie-more-than-others.html?_r=0
Posted in these groups: 6262122778 997339a086 z Politics
Avatar feed
Responses: 25
MSG Brad Sand
12
12
0
Edited 9 y ago
I think someone needs to be checking the checkers? Lately, it seem the checkers are bigger liars than the 'facts' they are checking. It is amazing to me how the fact checkers can be so moved by bias. Facts should be facts, and this has not been the case but this does not really surprise me with politicians and the current batch of reporters.
(12)
Comment
(0)
MSgt James Mullis
MSgt James Mullis
9 y
The problem comes when the "fact checkers" view everything through their own political bias and opinion. When making graphs like with percentages like the one in the editorial it's easy to come up with any data set you want by simply choosing what statements to "fact check" for each politician.
(1)
Reply
(0)
Avatar small
CPT Jack Durish
7
7
0
This report should win some sort of an award. I have never seen bias so accurately charted before.

Take, for example, the fact that Bill Clinton leads in truthfulness. Really? This is the President who had to surrender his license to practice law as a condition of his admission of perjury.

Many have fallen into the trap of ranking truthfulness using the criteria of their ideological bias. Most famous among these is Snopes.com. The truth is that most "truths" are subjective and the author of this report exposes their criteria for determining truth based on their own ideology. (Did you notice how all of the democrats are gathered together in the ranks of the More/Most honest. What does that tell you?)

The "truth" is that most politician's lies are misstatements of fact based on ignorance. Almost all make promises to get elected, promises that will not be deliverable even if they are elected. In other words, they don't have a clue as to the duties and responsibilities of the office which they seek. (This is why fledgling members of Congress are offered a course in legislation before they are sworn in) Statements of intent are then interpreted as lies when the politician fails to deliver.

However, when you come right down to it, "What difference does it make?" (So says the person currently under investigation for lying and ranked among the most truthful in this report)

Need I say more?
(7)
Comment
(0)
CPT Jack Durish
CPT Jack Durish
9 y
COL Ted Mc - I am no fan of Donald Trump. Indeed, I fear that like Ross Perot he will likely insure that someone truly vile will end up in the White House (and I don't mean him although he would likely also be vile as President). I don't know why I have to lead with that comment inasmuch as my original response in no way defended Donald Trump. I attacked the article as biased for very good reasons (already stated and no needing repetition here). I merely want others to not me misled by your response into thinking that I was in any way defending Trump. That would detract from the import of my message.
(1)
Reply
(0)
COL Ted Mc
COL Ted Mc
9 y
CPT Jack Durish - Captain; "Any man who wants to be president is either an egomaniac or crazy." - Dwight D. Eisenhower

President Eisenhower was probably the last of the "Executive Presidents" (as opposed to "Political Presidents") that the US is likely to see for a long time.

That whirring sound that you hear is the Founding Fathers spinning in their graves.
(1)
Reply
(0)
CPT Jack Durish
CPT Jack Durish
9 y
COL Ted Mc - ...which is why I have often quipped that the only person I want as President is the one We the People have to drag kicking and screaming to the White House and lock him inside.
(1)
Reply
(0)
COL Ted Mc
COL Ted Mc
9 y
CPT Jack Durish - Captain; The only people that you actually want as President simply won't run for the job because they don't need the personal grief that the other side's campaign will inject into their lives.
(0)
Reply
(0)
Avatar small
SGT Kristin Wiley
6
6
0
This article is either biased towards the left, or fails to account for the signicance of the lies, especially regarding Hillary Clinton.
(6)
Comment
(0)
MSG Brad Sand
MSG Brad Sand
9 y
SGT Kristin Wiley

You think? A bit troubling considering it is a story about truthfulness?
(1)
Reply
(0)
PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
9 y
Yes please cite the Lie Hillary said and cite your source of your "Fact" I am always ready to be swayed by Facts.
(1)
Reply
(0)
Col Joseph Lenertz
Col Joseph Lenertz
9 y
She claimed she landed under sniper fire in Bosnia. Only when proven false by video did she retract her statement.
(1)
Reply
(0)
Avatar small

Join nearly 2 million former and current members of the US military, just like you.

close