NewsBusters has documented extensively over the past year Politifact's blatant bias and selective fact-checking of liberals, but the divide kicked into high gear on Sunday night in the second presidential debate as, using previous posts, it examined only six statements by Democrat Hillary Clinton versus 15 statements by Republican Donald Trump.
Not surprisingly, Politifact ruled that, of the five Clinton statements, all five were either “true,” “mostly true” or “half true” with a sixth about coal and her energy policy given no review but instead directed readers to a post about her thoughts on coal “in context.”
As for Trump, they looked at 15 claims and deemed one “full flop,” seven “false” or “mostly false” (with a ninth all but labeled so), one “half true,” two “mostly true,” one “true,” and two not given a ruling.
Going back to the lunacy of allowing Clinton to go almost completely unchallenged, Clinton claims on ISIS using Trump as a recruiting tool and Trump’s tax plan hurting the middle class were judged true with the “mostly true” ratings coming on the CHIP health insurance program and the “Trump Effect” of more bullying in schools.
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Meanwhile, the “half-true” claim concerned a treaty reducing nuclear weapons in Russia and the final statement that wasn’t rendered a rating revolved around Clinton’s beliefs about coal. Politifact merely chose to do nothing more than direct readers to a blog post that promised to put them “in context.”
Diligent readers would notice that there was nothing examined about what Clinton said concerning her e-mail scandal, Wall Street speeches, or Trump supporters being a “basket of deplorables,” but then again, this is Politifact we’re dealing with.
Moving to Trump, the litany of statement Politifact sprinted to debunk was, to say the least, long and extensive.
For his “false” claims, Politifact doled those out for Trump statements on Clinton directly starting the birther movement, a neighbor of the San Bernardino terrorists not reporting them, refugees not being vetted, opposing the Iraq War, and an implied “false” concerning his denial that he told Twitter followers to check out Alicia Machado’s sex tape.
Politifact didn’t use it’s “pants on fire” rating but trotted out a “full flop” for Trump arguing that he doesn’t know Russian President Vladimir Putin despite him heaping praise on him in the past.
The Trump bashing was also flaunted in the other categories with three rather absurd “mostly false” ratings that Clinton attacked husband Bill’s accusers of sexual misconduct, Clinton wanting to go to single-payer health care, and that the U.S. is one of the countries with the highest tax rates.
Other statements on health care premiums, job losses in upstate New York, Clinton’s e-mail server being hacked, Syrian refugee levels, and President Obama’s red line were either not given a rating or concluded to be true to some degree, but there was one that showcased Politifact’s true bias.
On Trump blasting Clinton for flip-flopping on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal being the “gold standard” (from 2012), Politifact somehow had the gall to only deem it “mostly true” because, supposedly, Clinton was only speaking to her aspirations for the deal and not where it stands currently.
In one tweet that didn’t offer an examination or judgement, the site posted an article explaining the carried interest loophole and the financial plans offered by both candidates.
One can make the argument that Trump may say more things that are factually inaccurate, but a fact-checking site claiming to be dedicated to holding both sites accountable proved on Sunday night that they are either incapable of doing so or don’t care to.
