In tonight's Rewrite, Lawrence responded to PolitiFact's claim that one of his "Lean Forward" ads about the G.I. bill and welfare is "mostly false." Instead of delving into a long and thorough defense of the world "welfare," Lawrence left that to his esteemed colleague, Rachel Maddow.
On her show tonight, Rachel launched into a crippling take-down of PolitiFact — even saying that if the site doesn't correct the claim — they should be no more. You can watch that right here:
Of course this is not the first time Rachel has taken on PolitiFact — a site that says it's goal is to "sort out the truth in politics." Below are links to the rest of her critiques of the website. Enjoy these segments and on behalf of Lawrence and the Last Word team. We are very grateful to Rachel and her brilliance.
- February 14, 2012: Rachel takes on Politifact's for defending Rubio's claim that most Americans are conservative.
- January 26, 2012: PolitFact and their false claims concerning the 2012 State of The Union.
- February 25, 2011: Rachel says PolitiFact has no "mastery of fact."
— By David Spencer Seconi
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I can't imagine how Politifact reacts to these take downs. How do they justify in their heads. Do they enjoy the attention? Any publicity....
Politifact is simply a small tad pole to the larger issue of the 63 year old campaigning finance law that was over turned by republican activist judges. What recompense shall be taken? What dues must be paid for lies? What accountability exist for lying or getting it wrong? None. Exactly. Just as the super pacs are "free" from legal liability and scrutiny so to are the politifactuals as it were. Words may be twisted misrepresented, given an alternate or dual meaning but disingenuous as it is the ignorant in our culture eat it up. Why? Because they have been dumbed down to know no better. They have Fox news. To tell the what it means for them. ; ] This is why people such as Santorum hate public education and tea bagging republican extremist in general hate our children. They want your brain drenched in Fox and dead to knowledge. They will then except no unions low wages if any and what ever they are told.
Cheers
well said Thanks
Talk about nit picking.. I've stopped using PolitiFact as a reference.. they lost my respect with this sort of inaccuracy.
Try www.factcheck.org www.snopes.com
Shame on you again Politi fact ?
' Being on the ' dole' Means being on welfare ' get a clue guys
Man Lawrence....stupid man crush man....and Rachael......and the reason....you guys tell it like it is..and what we need to hear without the sugercoating...You straight told politifact to eat a fat **** with the erection pill....lmao on that on.....Thank goodness MSNBC did the same to Pat Buchanan....Still laughing at the way you did Bill O'Ragidy with assault papers.. ........That's how you B**** slap an ol' dog with no bark.....waayy to funny....keep up the good work guys....
The recent ease of error shown in the latest Politifact 'fact checks' really seems suspicious. PF editors currently have President Obama rated very well compared to the Republican congress. While that appears on its surface to be obviously true, it is something that would be called into question if they were to be completely disregarded. It is one thing to question the organization as a whole and pointing out the singular misunderstanding that 'dole' is a synonymy for 'welfare'.
I'm sure there's a baby somewhere in that bathwater, but dang if I could find it.
Politibull@!$%# is there new name pending the outcome of the vote for new name. I rate this TRUE!
I can't find anything wrong with Mr. Rubio's statement that "the majority of Americans are conservatives".
Gallup poll from 2011: 40% conservative, 35% moderate, 21% liberal
A majority can either be simple (= more than half) or relative (= highest figure of all figures). In this case, conservatives are in a relative majority.
Besides, your so-called "moderates" are considered conservatives by European/Canadian/Australian standards. So, actually three quarters of Americans are conservative. That's a huge majority.
I won't argue with your overall point. But what you call a "relative majority" is more accurately referred to as a "plurality." This is a math term.
In that sense, I can disagree with Rubio. Also, those moderates are moderates by American standards, and fall on both sides of our so-called political "center." The average of most polls here, in fact, comes out 40% left, 40% right, 20% "independent." Independents are the swing voters you need to win elections. I believe most of them, unfortunately, vote for the best-looking candidate or the one "who's most like me." OK, so I argued with your main point a little.
Germany In US Moderate does NOT mean conservative . Especially this ' new' breed of conservative Lots of cons do not even agree with them. However too many US voters are ill informed, gullible, and easily manipulated by so called right wing ' news media' and 800 hate filled radio talk shows across the US.
Wohl gesagt, Dorothea! From her perspective, yes, she's right, even though I'm very sure that Rubio wasn't thinking along those lines when he said that. And yes, she's right about our so-called "moderates": I heard Thom Hartmann a couple of weeks ago reporting on a visit to England. He was talking with one of the conservative members of Parliament about a proposed dismantling of their national health-care system; Thom was assuming that, as a conservative, this gentleman was in favor of privatizing the system. In so many words, the gentleman said to Thom, "Are you NUTS?!" That's what "conservative" means across the pond! (Just another testimonial to the fact that nobody, but NObody, wants anything to do with the kind of crooked, ineffective, healthcare cartel we're stuck with here, even WITH the so-called "Affordable Health Care Act". It's a little better than what we've had, but it's nowhere near what we need if we are to join the civilized world.)
Basic health care should be a right ! Families going broke and losing all because of serious illness is morally wrong. Many folks with health care still go bankrupt under catastrophic illness like cancer. I am not religious but I know that to be the only honorable thing to do.