Pants On Fire At PolitHack

Angie Drobonic Holan of Politfact provides comfort food to Times readers with reassurance that Republicans lie more than Democrats:

All Politicians Lie. Some Lie More Than Others.

Yeah, yeah. She provides a helpful chart highlighting those lying righties, summarized by a few stats:

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, for example, has ratings of Mostly False, False and Pants on Fire at the 40 percent mark (out of a sizable 117 statements checked). The former Florida governor Jeb Bush’s negative ratings are at 32 percent out of 71 statements checked, a percentage matched by two other Republican contenders, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey and Senator Rand Paul.

In the Democratic race, Senator Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are evenly matched at 28 percent (based on 43 checks of Mr. Sanders and 140 checks of Mrs. Clinton).

...

The president has the distinction of being the most fact-checked person by PolitiFact — by a wide margin, with a whopping 569 statements checked. We’ve rated nine of those Pants on Fire.

But in comparison to Rubio and Clinton, Obama has 26% "False and Worse", slightly less plausible better than Hillarity!

Naturally, we wonder how this can be. So in an utterly unscientific survey I took the last couple of Barack Obama claims that earned a "Half True" to see just what it took to avoid being judged some shade of false. Non-spoiler alert - the results are what you expect, but sillier:

First:

Do the fish swim in the streets of Miami at high tide, as Barack Obama said in Paris?

Huh? This came up in Paris as Obama exhorted the world on the importance of climate change. I'll skip the analysis and get to the ruling:

Our ruling

Obama said, "You go down to Miami and when it's flooding at high tide on a sunny day, fish are swimming through the middle of the streets."

This reminds us of the fishing stories you might hear from your uncle. 

Fish have been seen (and videotaped) on the streets.

But that’s been in the low-lying areas that surround Miami, not on the streets in the city proper. And the sightings were during the more dramatic king tides, when high tides are at their highest, not during average daily high tides.

Overall, we rate his statement Half True.

Half true? I honestly believe that if I wrote to them with sufficient passion and conviction I could persuade them to change that to "True". Miami exists, it has streets, it is famously sunny, the tides change predictably, there must be fish around somewhere - I mean, ocean! C'mon, true is true.

Of course, over there in Realityville you might be thinking that if these fish are in the streets only at the semi-annual "king tides" and the streets in question aren't actually in Miami, well, some climate change advocates who hoped to combine some sun, fun and fish-watching on their trip to Miami are likely to feel, well, lied to. Seeing as how Miami generally has sunshine and high tides are a twice daily event, twice a year will be quite a let-down.

So let's see, it's mostly not true six days a year during king tides, when you have to hit the Miami burbs to see some fish in the street. It is totally false the rest of the year, sunshine and high tides notwithstanding.

So yeah, on a real scale this would be at best "mostly false".

But let's give Obama and his raters a second choice. The previous "Half True" was from June:

Barack Obama says U.S. today 'is the most respected country on Earth'

...

Our ruling

Obama said that today, "the United States is the most respected country on Earth."

International polling by Gallup has found that, in a reversal from the Bush era, the United States now finishes first compared to a limited group of countries -- Germany, China, Russia and the European Union. But a BBC poll that tested a broader group found the United States finishing in the middle of the pack, behind Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, the European Union and Brazil.

We rate Obama’s claim Half True.

Again, do words have meaning? We are more respected than some important countries and less respected than others. Half True? Why even show up sober?

Let's see how Marco Rubio fares with his most recent evaluation:

Rubio says he prevented a $2.5 billion taxpayer bailout for Obamacare

...

Our ruling

Rubio said, "Last year, I stopped an Obamacare bailout and saved taxpayers $2.5 billion."

He’s referring to a provision in the Affordable Care Act called risk corridors, which faced a $2.5 billion shortfall for 2014. Rubio, whose efforts to repeal risk corridors have so far failed, helped persuade Congress last year to prevent Health and Human Services from being able to cover the difference with money from its own budget.

But experts said calling the program a bailout is not accurate. They also noted CMS has said they want the risk corridors to pay for themselves through fees from insurers.

Most importantly, experts also said Rubio did not necessarily save that money in the long run. His best argument is he temporarily limited one way CMS could have tried to pay for insurance companies' losses. The program has two more years to cover its expenses. If any bills are due after that time, CMS or Congress will have to find a way to pay them because they are obligated to do so. 

Rubio oversimplified a complex process that is still largely unresolved. We rate his statement Mostly False.

In other words, its complicated, it may play out differently, too soon to tell, so false. Does something smell fishy here, or am I back on the streets of Miami at at high tide?

Here is the NY Times take:

Marco Rubio Quietly Undermines Affordable Care Act

WASHINGTON — A little-noticed health care provision that Senator Marco Rubio of Florida slipped into a giant spending law last year has tangled up the Obama administration, sent tremors through health insurance markets and rattled confidence in the durability of President Obama’s signature health law.

So for all the Republican talk about dismantling the Affordable Care Act, one Republican presidential hopeful has actually done something toward achieving that goal.

...

Mr. Rubio says he “saved taxpayers $2.5 billion” — the difference between those two amounts — because his measure prevented the government from using other sources of money for the risk corridor payments.

The administration has repeatedly told insurers that it will explore other funding sources to keep its commitment to companies losing money in the exchanges, but Mr. Rubio effectively tied the hands of federal health officials this year.

Uhh, "Mostly False"? How is that not "Half True" if Obama's stories are? Why ask why.

So basically, PolitFact leans toward topics that might help their agenda and then puts their thumb on the scale when doing their DNC talking points assessment. Got it.

 

Comments

[Threadkiller]

The ratings system is even worse when you add in that they never checked, as far as I could tell, things like his conception taking place on the streets of Selma.

[Jack is Back! (On Alert!)]

When the Emperor has no clothes it is the business of the tallors (media) to assemble as quickly as possible a cover up.

[henry]

I rate politifact mostly false... they do throw a bone now and again to maintain the pretense of "nonpartisan"

[maryd]

JiB, I hope Frederick and you have a wonderful time tomorrow! Go Navy!

[Threadkiller]

Ig, I won't be around so much tomorrow so I would like to wish you well on your birthday.

Happy day before your Birthday!!

[Jack is Back! (On Alert!)]

Ik ook, Iggy. Happy Birthday tomorrow.

maryd, thanks for those kind words. Yes, this is one of the great father-son bonding experiences and we are looking forward to it.

buckeye,

That is on our agenda but for Sunday before we venture back to The Hamptons. May have to miss the games but they are not as special as paying our respects to the founding fathers and their handiwork.

[Jack is Back! (On Alert!)]

Finally, NYPD is going to do something about this outrageous assault on our values.

http://gothamist.com/2015/12/11/nypd_warns_bad_santas_will_be_arres.php

[pagar a bacon, ham and sausage supporter]

How to win voters over--sorry that should be NOT!

http://www.weeklystandard.com/video-hillary-2-hours-late-to-rally-audience-groans/article/2000207/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=20151211_TWS-blog-hillary-late-audience-groan-2_facebook.com&utm_content=TWS

[Chicago Way? Is that a street or a business?]

You all know the two weeks/one week joke but have you heard the one about the fella from the airport who asked the cabbie for Betsy Ross's house only to be told that all those places had been closed down with the new mayor.

It's antique, with a brand spankin' new patina, that one.

[clarice]

Whew--in all the noise I almost missed this post. Very funny..