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PolitiFact riles fed-up conservatives with shady fact-checks of late that include VP Harris ‘equity’ remark

October 9, 2022 | | Print Article

Frustration with fact-checkers is growing by the day with PolitiFact leading the way, defending Dems’ stolen election claims as well as Vice President Harris’ pandering for hurricane relief “equity.”

(Video Credit: Fox News)

Within the span of a week, PolitiFact put out a number of dubious articles that smacked of partisanship. They were hammered by media critics and conservatives on Twitter.

PolitiFact has published four fact-checks since October 1 that have been widely contested by critics, according to Fox News. The allegations give rise to the accusation that fact-checkers are actually acting as shills for the Democratic Party, attempting to manipulate the messaging in their favor.

PolitiFact’s Warren Fiske rated an assertion made by Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA), who alleged that Democrats “suggested that the [2016] election was stolen,” as “Half True.”

“People have concerns about the election process and oh, by the way, it’s not just Republicans; it’s Democrats. Let’s just remind ourselves that in 2016 Democrats suggested that the election was stolen,” Youngkin reportedly stated.

Fiske claimed that Democrats did not question the “actual counting” of ballots in 2016, or that Trump had won the election. Many certainly do not remember it that way.

He admitted that a number of powerful Democrats, including Hillary Clinton, questioned whether Trump actually won or not. Then he engaged in word manipulation himself, asserting that such statements are not the same as claiming the election was “stolen.”

Fox News reported that PolitiFact has written in the past that Democrats have asserted that elections were stolen in 2001, 2005, 2016, and 2017, but that those claims were “mostly symbolic.”

“They routinely ‘fact check’ in bad faith, purposefully taking comments either out of context to make a point or willfully misinterpret comments so that they can rate them false. It’s also about their choices on what to fact-check. They will take a meaningless comment from a Democrat to fact-check (Joe Biden said his favorite ice cream flavor is vanilla when it’s really vanilla bean, so we rate this somewhat false) so they can claim they hold both sides to account,” conservative KTTH radio host Jason Rantz told Fox News Digital.

Rantz fearlessly pointed out that PolitiFact is one of the most “transparently partisan” websites out there. The leftist media frequently quotes them in an effort to spread political propaganda according to the conservative radio host.

On October 5, PolitiFact stepped in it once again with two articles that ticked off readers.

Ohio Republican Senate nominee JD Vance’s campaign was incensed at PolitiFact for giving its opinion on a campaign ad tying his opponent Tim Ryan to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rating it only “Half True.” The Vance team branded the fact-check a “humiliating display of partisanship.”

“PolitiFact is basically a Democrat SuperPac masquerading as below-average journalism. It is obvious that it exists to label as false those claims that are damaging and inconvenient to the left-wing cause. A false rating tends to mean ‘True, but said by a Republican,’” Fox News contributor Mollie Hemingway said in an interview.

She also asserted their track record was “abysmal” and no one takes them seriously anymore.

The second article on Oct. 5 had to do with claiming that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was wrong when he said that Lee County was not inside Hurricane Ian’s forecast cone. PolitiFact called it “Mostly False” because of a single barrier island, Cayo Costa, belonging to the county inside the storm’s path. Twitter users informed the fact-checkers that Cayo Costa has less than 20 private residences on it.

“There is an element of truth in that most of Lee County was not in the forecasted center of the storm 72 hours of landfall, but one of the county’s barrier islands was, and focusing on the cone itself downplays the impacts of a storm as large as Ian. We rate his claim “Mostly False,” PolitiFact declared.

On October 4, Fox News notes that PolitiFact defended Kamala Harris after she reportedly suggested that the disbursement of hurricane relief should be based on “equity.”

“It is our lowest income communities, and our communities of color that are most impacted by these extreme conditions,” Harris proclaimed. “[A]nd so we have to address this in a way that’s about giving resources based on equity, understanding we fight for equality, but we also need to find for equity.”

PolitiFact charged that Harris had been taken “out-of-context” in clips on social media by conservatives. The fact-checker specifically took aim at Florida Sen. Rick Scott’s claim that Harris had said “if you have a different skin color, you’re going to get relief faster.”

“Harris said no such thing in a response to a question that touched on several topics, including Hurricane Ian, climate change policy, and disparities in who is most harmed by climate change and extreme weather,” PolitiFact claimed.

According to Media Research Center’s NewsBusters, in President Biden’s first 20 months in office, there were 58 pieces published by PolitiFact fact-checking the president compared to a whopping 338 pieces that fact-checked Biden critics.

“Overall, there were 5.8 fact-checks of Biden critics for every one of the president,” NewsBusters executive editor Tim Graham reported.

“Over his first year and a half, Biden landed on the ‘Mostly False’ or worse side in 28 of 58 fact checks (48 percent). But the ‘Fact Checks About Joe Biden’ were overwhelmingly negative – 298 out of 338 were ‘Mostly False’ or worse (88 percent). There were only three that were ‘True,’ six that were ‘Mostly True’ — making 9 out of 338 (2.6 percent). Another 31 were ‘Half True,’” Graham continued. “There were zero ‘Pants on Fire’ rulings about President Biden in his first 20 months. By contrast, Donald Trump has 10 in that time span.”

The Poynter Institute created PolitiFact. Its website utilizes a “Truth-O-Meter” to determine if claims are “True,” “Mostly True,” “Half True,” “Mostly False,” “False” or the dreaded “Pants on Fire.” The site contends that “fact-checking journalism is the heart of PolitiFact,” and claims its “core principles are independence, transparency, fairness, thorough reporting and clear writing.”

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Terresa Monroe-Hamilton
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