It wasn’t that long ago that we featured CNN’s Daniel Dale popping out of a box of Tim Horton’s and fact-checking President Joe Biden, albeit meekly. But don’t fret. Now that there are Republicans on the dais, Dale is back to old form. Unfortunately, the old form in question is that of Regime Media fact-debater.
Watch Dale revert to old ways during CNN’s coverage of the 2024 Republican National Convention:
CNN Republican National Convention
7/15/2024
11:09:46 -11:11:53 PM
JAKE TAPPER: I wanna go to Daniel Dale right now. He's our resident fact-checker and there were many things that were said at the convention that were shall we say, contrary to the facts, fact-challenged. Daniel, just give us -- just give us a sampler because we don't have all night.
DANIEL DALE: Indeed. So Jake, two of the biggest lies came from former President Trump. He didn't speak live of course, but he gave pre-recorded video comments in which he repeated some of his usual election nonsense and talking about the 2020 election having been unfair, Democrats supposedly being serial election cheaters, just nonsense.
There’s also a smattering of false or misleading claims from others. The chairman of the Republican National Committee, Michael Whatley, claimed there was peace in the Middle East under President Trump four years ago, not even close to true. There were a whole bunch of ongoing wars, not to mention, of course, the unresolved Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
A pre-recorded video claimed that Trump signed the largest tax cut in history. He did not. Other pre-recorded videos talked about inflation being at a 40-year high, didn't explain that that high was actually hit two full years ago, June 2022, that inflation today is about a third of what it was then.
Same with gas prices. They had a video in which people complained that they have to deal with the national average of more than five bucks per gallon, didn't explain that that was the June 2022 average. It's now way down from that as well.
I also want to fact check a claim from Georgia Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. She was talking about the Biden era economy. Take a listen.
[Cut to video]
MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE: They claim that our economy is thriving, yet hundreds of thousands of American-born workers lost their jobs these past few years.
[Cut to live]
DALE: This claim is misleading at best, and I think I'm being generous. The data actually shows there’s been major job growth for American-born workers under President Biden. 4.7 million more American-born workers had jobs in June 2024, last month, than three years prior.
Now- I said misleading rather than false, because sure it’s possible hundreds of thousands of particular American porn [sic] workers lost their jobs under President Biden. But Greene certainly created the impression, I think Jake, that American born workers on the whole have lost jobs during this presidency and that's just wrong. This group has gained big on the whole. Jake?
TAPPER: Alright Daniel Dale, thanks.
After watching that “fact-check”, which is really little more than a debate monologue, I humbly ask you: has the rhetorical temperature been lowered to your satisfaction? It wasn’t that long ago that CNN’s own law enforcement analyst said that “media personalities need to tone it down”. Dale might be well served to follow that wise counsel.
Let’s face it: CNN lured Daniel Dale away from the Toronto Star, with promises of flat bacon and access to on-demand MRIs, for the sole purpose of fact-checking Republicans generally, and Donald Trump specifically. And it is broadly understood that the fact-checking industry is little more than a partisan hack operation performing comms and smearing the opposition.
In Dale’s case, he freely spits venom into the camera without citing sources. What is his baseline for saying “peace in the Middle East” is a lie? Did he search for new conflicts starting from 2017-2021? Did the signing of the Abraham Accords factor in? We don’t know.
The same applies to employment data. From where does Dale get his rebuttal data? We don’t know. What we do know is that CNN will feature Dale very heavily this week, and then put him back on the shelf.
When the media talk about “lowering the temperature”, they only mean conservatives. Business as usual for everyone else.
MRC Intern Sarah Butler contributed to the preparation of this report.
