In his newsletter on Monday night, former CNN producer Steve Krakauer criticized the obvious tilt of fact-checkers. For example, "CNN's Daniel Dale, who made a career out of fact-checking President Trump, hasn't turned his sights onto President Biden in more than six weeks."
Instead, Dale is fact-checking claims from Republican politicians who were trying to make a point about voter ID that you actually don't need a photo ID to "buy milk" in D.C. This is "false," Dale argued! No, you just need to show a photo ID in D.C. to go to "restaurants, bars, food halls and food courts, nightclubs, breweries, entertainment venues, exercise facilities and meeting facilities." Grocery shopping, that's different. That's a "necessity," apparently.
In other words, Dale shows up at the scene of a complete liberal Democrat disconnect -- no "Jim Crow 2.0" for requiring ID here -- and tried to spin it away by saying "you're exaggerating."
Krakauer concluded: "Fact-checks have become a fetish for many in the media, and their superfans on Twitter. But these fact-check fails undermine their very purpose - and make the audience more distrustful of the press."
A look at Daniel Dale's actual TV appearances on CNN also show a dramatic tilt. In the last three months of Nexis searching, there hasn't been a Biden check since November 4. But you could find FIVE Daniel Dale segments delving into the January 6 riot around CNN's favorite anniversary, three of them pointing out that Sen. Ted Cruz called it a "terrorist" event, which upset Tucker Carlson. Take this appearance on January 8:
PHIL MATTINGLY: Daniel, Cruz blames sloppy wording for his comment. But this is not even close to the first time Cruz has described the insurrection as a terrorist act, is that right?
DANIEL DALE: You're right, not even close. I did some research after he made that sloppy claim. This was actually the 18th time or at least the 18th time that Senator Cruz had described the capital riot as a terrorist attack or broadly described rioters as terrorists. So again, 17 previous occasions on which he used the language that he claimed was sloppy when he used it at least the 18th time.
When it came to fact-checking Biden, Dale could get incredibly loosey-goosey about what's factual. On October 22, after the last Biden "town hall" on CNN, Dale said
The Washington Post reported today that the motorcade traveled along the border for -- quote -- "a few minutes." So does that count as having been to the border, as Biden said? I guess it's up for people to decide. But I think certainly the president could have been clearer that if this kind of fleeting moment was what he was talking about, he could have told that to the American public.
PS: David Rutz at Fox News is also reporting on Daniel Dale's curious lack of Biden checking.
