Lies, and More Lies -- PolitiFact's Lie of the Year 2009-2020

ThatOwlWoman

ThatOwlWoman

Leftist Vermin
This one brings back memories. I recall ppl here engaging in this scurrilous slander.

"2018: Online smear machine tries to take down Parkland students

"After 17 people were viciously gunned down at a Florida high school, lies about the students started when they advocated for action against gun violence. Students were called "crisis actors" and worse. During a time of little bipartisanship, the attacks on the Parkland students set off a shared outrage in nearly all political corners."

https://www.politifact.com/article/2020/dec/16/look-back-lie-year-2009-2019
 
#LOSER45 definitely had a few home-runs in this category as well.

"2019: Donald Trump’s claim that whistleblower got Ukraine call 'almost completely wrong'

"President Donald Trump worked hard to discredit a whistleblower complaint about a July 2019 phone call he had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The whistleblower raised the concern that Trump’s actions leading up to and on that phone call amount to interference in the 2020 presidential election. Trump smeared the whistleblower as "partisan" and insisted more than 80 times that the whistleblower’s account was incorrect, "total fiction" and "almost completely wrong."

"Despite Trump’s claims, the whistleblower got the call "almost completely" right. The whistleblower’s account was validated by the very record of the call as released by the White House, plus testimony under oath from career diplomats and other officials. Also, Trump and his allies told reporters that Trump urged Zelensky to investigate political rival Joe Biden — that’s the point raised in the whistleblower’s complaint."
 
ThatOwlWoman said:
This one brings back memories. I recall ppl here engaging in this scurrilous slander.

"2018: Online smear machine tries to take down Parkland students

"After 17 people were viciously gunned down at a Florida high school, lies about the students started when they advocated for action against gun violence. Students were called "crisis actors" and worse. During a time of little bipartisanship, the attacks on the Parkland students set off a shared outrage in nearly all political corners."

https://www.politifact.com/article/2020/dec/16/look-back-lie-year-2009-2019
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yes, people were sued for lying about it
 
ThatOwlWoman said:
#LOSER45 definitely had a few home-runs in this category as well.

"2019: Donald Trump’s claim that whistleblower got Ukraine call 'almost completely wrong'

"President Donald Trump worked hard to discredit a whistleblower complaint about a July 2019 phone call he had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The whistleblower raised the concern that Trump’s actions leading up to and on that phone call amount to interference in the 2020 presidential election. Trump smeared the whistleblower as "partisan" and insisted more than 80 times that the whistleblower’s account was incorrect, "total fiction" and "almost completely wrong."

"Despite Trump’s claims, the whistleblower got the call "almost completely" right. The whistleblower’s account was validated by the very record of the call as released by the White House, plus testimony under oath from career diplomats and other officials. Also, Trump and his allies told reporters that Trump urged Zelensky to investigate political rival Joe Biden — that’s the point raised in the whistleblower’s complaint."
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And that person had to go into hiding.
 
ThatOwlWoman said:
This one brings back memories. I recall ppl here engaging in this scurrilous slander.

"2018: Online smear machine tries to take down Parkland students

"After 17 people were viciously gunned down at a Florida high school, lies about the students started when they advocated for action against gun violence. Students were called "crisis actors" and worse. During a time of little bipartisanship, the attacks on the Parkland students set off a shared outrage in nearly all political corners."

https://www.politifact.com/article/2020/dec/16/look-back-lie-year-2009-2019
Click to expand...

2013 was one of my favorites: "Lie of the Year: 'If you like your health care plan, you can keep it'"

About half of them involve Trump. Politifact should give Trump a special prize for that accomplishment.
 
ThatOwlWoman said:
Lie of the Year 2020 -- The lies about the pandemic:

https://www.politifact.com/article/2020/dec/16/lie-year-coronavirus-downplay-and-denial/

The readers' choice went to #LOSER45's lies about winning the election:

https://www.politifact.com/article/2020/dec/17/2020-lie-year-readers-choice-poll-results
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I read both Politifact articles you present.

The first one is the usual Politifact playing fast and loose with what constitutes a "lie." It shows their usual bias against anyone or thing that doesn't agree with their own mindset.

The second is a logical fallacy in that it's an Appeal to popularity. "The lie of the Year" should have at least a modicum of statistical and rational support showing how egregious it really is. Instead, we are treated to some vague generalities and a popular vote by the site's readers. Hardly any sort of objective measure there. What makes this worse, is that Politifact tries to present itself as purveyors of facts and object truth. They end up doing neither.

Politifact is, in fact, nothing but another op ed site that foists its opinions off on you and me. They are no more truthful or accurate than say, Brietbart. Maybe that should be presented as Politifact's Lie of the Year...
 
T. A. Gardner said:
I read both Politifact articles you present.

The first one is the usual Politifact playing fast and loose with what constitutes a "lie." It shows their usual bias against anyone or thing that doesn't agree with their own mindset.

The second is a logical fallacy in that it's an Appeal to popularity. "The lie of the Year" should have at least a modicum of statistical and rational support showing how egregious it really is. Instead, we are treated to some vague generalities and a popular vote by the site's readers. Hardly any sort of objective measure there. What makes this worse, is that Politifact tries to present itself as purveyors of facts and object truth. They end up doing neither.

Politifact is, in fact, nothing but another op ed site that foists its opinions off on you and me. They are no more truthful or accurate than say, Brietbart. Maybe that should be presented as Politifact's Lie of the Year...
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Okay then, Bubba, keep that head down in the sand. There, there. The bad, bad facts can't harm you anymore.
 
ThatOwlWoman said:
Okay then, Bubba, keep that head down in the sand. There, there. The bad, bad facts can't harm you anymore.
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I don't have a problem with Politifact foisting its opinion on me or anyone else. I have a problem with Politifact trying to claim that they are objective and accurate in their assessment of said facts presenting themselves as "fact checkers" when they are anything but. That's the lie in what Politifact does.

948316cb609b7b69c0c5875fe545f681.jpg
 
T. A. Gardner said:
I don't have a problem with Politifact foisting its opinion on me or anyone else. I have a problem with Politifact trying to claim that they are objective and accurate in their assessment of said facts presenting themselves as "fact checkers" when they are anything but. That's the lie in what Politifact does.

948316cb609b7b69c0c5875fe545f681.jpg
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Do you have a specific example of where you think they are in error? Do you think Fox News, OANN or NewsMax are more accurate, fair and balanced?
 
Dutch Uncle said:
Do you have a specific example of where you think they are in error? Do you think Fox News, OANN or NewsMax are more accurate, fair and balanced?
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Man... I usually just ding Politifact when they are used as a source by somebody. What I think is that Fox, OANN, NewsMax, CNN, etc., don't present their stuff with a claim to being accurately able to tell you it's the truth or a lie using something like Politifact's "Truth meter." The fact checking sites do, and there are a number that all do this. But it is really just their opinion like any other op ed outlet. They just add a layer of BS on claiming they are somehow purveyors of truth while those they supposedly fact check are lesser beings.

When you have website like Politifact that has other sites that spend their entire effort demolishing Politifact, there's probably a problem with Politifact...

https://www.politifactbias.com/
https://www.politifactbias.com/p/about-politifact-bias.html

Or this less biased review

https://www.allsides.com/news-source/politifact
https://winteryknight.com/2018/10/1...ct-checkers-is-politifact-reliable-or-biased/

They rightly point out that Politifact is simply the Tampa Bay Times editorial staff making reviews and judgements about what they rate on that site. It is just an op ed site with a different slant.

Probably one of the most egregious Politifact lies was they rated as "True" Obama's "You can keep your doctor, you can keep your plan" claims in the run up to passage of Obamacare. Both were and are blatant, repeated, lies of the most egregious sort and provably so.

Politifact is nothing more than one more opinion piece website run by journalists. They have no singular credibility on judging the truth or falsehood of anything.
 
T. A. Gardner said:
Man... I usually just ding Politifact when they are used as a source by somebody. What I think is that Fox, OANN, NewsMax, CNN, etc., don't present their stuff with a claim to being accurately able to tell you it's the truth or a lie using something like Politifact's "Truth meter." The fact checking sites do, and there are a number that all do this. But it is really just their opinion like any other op ed outlet. They just add a layer of BS on claiming they are somehow purveyors of truth while those they supposedly fact check are lesser beings.

When you have website like Politifact that has other sites that spend their entire effort demolishing Politifact, there's probably a problem with Politifact...

https://www.politifactbias.com/
https://www.politifactbias.com/p/about-politifact-bias.html

Or this less biased review

https://www.allsides.com/news-source/politifact
https://winteryknight.com/2018/10/1...ct-checkers-is-politifact-reliable-or-biased/

They rightly point out that Politifact is simply the Tampa Bay Times editorial staff making reviews and judgements about what they rate on that site. It is just an op ed site with a different slant.

Probably one of the most egregious Politifact lies was they rated as "True" Obama's "You can keep your doctor, you can keep your plan" claims in the run up to passage of Obamacare. Both were and are blatant, repeated, lies of the most egregious sort and provably so.

Politifact is nothing more than one more opinion piece website run by journalists. They have no singular credibility on judging the truth or falsehood of anything.
Click to expand...

That's a lot of words and no single example.
 
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