Rove: Fact Checking Organizations Can’t Be Trusted
Early 21st century America has been noted for a trend: increasingly, fact-based journalism is under fire from partisans who demonize and try to discredit reporting and reporters who dare to run material that doesn’t advance their party’s agenda or vigorously challenges their party’s attack lines.
And now this is heading towards its most (il)logical conclusion: fact CHECKING has now been blasted by none other than Republican political maven Karl Rove who says you can’t trust the fact checkiing organziations.
PREDICTION: This theme will now be picked up by friendly talk radio show hosts and friendly new media in particular. Because if a fact checking organization lists how a charge or assertion is inaccurate or full of baloney by demonizing and discrediting the organization it allows new license. Not only are the longtime info gate keepers the press under fire as biased partisans with agendas but the fact checkers are said to be sloppy or in league with certain candidates.
SECOND PREDICTION: A fact checking organization will be blasted but then cited to as credible if it defends Mr. Rove’s side. This is the same attitude displayed by partisans who talk about how the methodology of a polling organization is flawed — unless the poll shows their side ahead and then the methodology is just fine.
Life would be easier if the new and old media from now on rely on that reliable beacon of fact accuracy, Karl Rove. But idn’t John McCain himself believe that Rove himself wasn’t factual with some of the material spread about McCain in South Carolina in 2000? Should those charges just have been allowed to stay out there and not be checked by fact-based journalists and fact checking organizations?
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To be fair, the fact-checking organization sometimes differ with one another. And they define “deception” differently. But you can't go around citing factcheck.org in one ad and dismissing factcheck.org as unreliable in another.
What's next? Truth as a passe trend? Voters can't trust the facts themselves? This is just another blatant attempt by the master manipulator to alter reality. Why do otherwise rational people buy this stuff?
If you listen to Rush Limbaugh, he constantly tells his dittoheads that he is a trustworthy purveyor of information concerning current and political events. The liberal MSM, of course is not to be believed. He serves as the filter for his large audience so that they can be “educated”. Hannitized listeners are likewise propagandized.
The right doesn't want anyone looking too carefully at the pesky facts which in themselves envelope many of their office holders in a cloud of corruption, cronyism and policy failure. Anyone who is reminded of the Republicans' record in office might not be prone to elect them again. Only by totally disregarding reality and trusting the Roves and Limbaughs will Americans be willing to vote GOP.
It's beyond laughable to have Karl Rove telling anyone what or what isn't true, or who and who isn't telling the truth.
I think one area we can all agree on is how much better off we would all be if Karl Rove was adopted as the final arbiter of truth. Maybe he can be the next GOP candidate and we won't have all this confusion and doubt. And Chris? Please stop hating America.
I just joined the Alaska Independence Party… I want to meet Todd Palin!
Just make sure you wear your flag pin, and try not to talk up the Constitution or anythng.
To be perfectly honest, I don't consider every utterance provided by fact check organizations as absolute gospel. Occasionally they do generalize too much or get a detail wrong. But it doesn't appear to me it happens in a partisan way.
But there are two things that are funny about this incident. One is that if you're inclined to believe Rove about this, then why shouldn't you believe what he said about Tim Kaine's fitness to be VP? The other is, during the VP debate in 2004 none other than Dick Cheney recommended people check out the facts on factcheck.org. Of course, there are two more things funny about that: (1) Cheney actually said “factcheck.com”, which redirected people to georgesoros.com. LOL!! (2) The “facts” Cheney wanted people to check were either not mentioned on factcheck.org or did more to support Edward's charges than refute them.
To be interested in facts, you have to be interested in the truth and being fair to your opponent. That's in short supply today, but I buy it at any price.
I still say that if you can maintain that fact checking organizations can't be trusted– and sure I'll grant they're not 100% correct— all we have is our Dear Leader's word for what is true and untrue. How many trusted Bush/Cheney/Rove (before they totally jumped the shark) because they believed good “Christians” wouldn't lie to them??
and we're to take karl rove's word for this?
aaahahahahaha
I find that http://www.factcheck.org and http://www.politifact.com are pretty good in their analysis. Both post their sources Are they perfect, no, but no human endeavor ever is perfect but I do believe they both try to be non-partisan and for that I'm grateful they are around to keep both sides honest.
Kritt: “What's next? Truth as a passe trend?”
Of course, the GOP gave up truth in campaigns years ago. Tell a half-truth, or lie, loud-emough and long-enough people are bound to start to believe it. Look how long it took to get some people to realize that Iraq and/or Saddam wasn't behind 9/11. Even though Palin was just making that clam last week!
This administration and its talking heads never fail to remind me of George Orwell's 1984.
Anyone for the Ministry Of Truth? It's right here, right now..
Rambie— Yeh- even George Bush doesn't believe it anymore (I think he always knew Saddam had nothing to do with 9/11) The morning of 9/12 Rummy brought up the idea of going into Baghdad and removing Hussein.
Whatever happened to truth, justice and the American way??? Two out of three are down for the count!
Republicans used to be boring, reliable but basically honest— now they are snakes in the grass– who make a concerted effort at mass deception through media campaigns that are thoroughly dishonest, and that lack accountability. Look at how many in the Bush administration had their reputations destroyed after they tried to come clean with the American people.
I would say queue the Twilight Zone theme music but I really feel the Outer Limits is more appropriate when discussing the McCain campaign this year and especially the last couple of weeks.