Posted on 01/26/2021 2:40:04 PM PST by Kaslin
This is so bad that I could probably present the quotes in this article without comment. The Washington Post’s top “fact-checker” decided to get into a back and forth with Stephen Miller (the other one) today. It did not go well for the former.
The topic of conversation was the fact that the Post is being very selective in what they even bother fact-checking when it comes to Biden, specifically on his pledge to not ban fracking during the campaign. Glenn Kessler chimes in to let it be known that they only fact-check “policy” and not general statements. That’s a standard I’m sure Donald Trump, who had his every utterance on Twitter lambasted, would be interested to know exists.
Let’s start with what Kessler said originally.
The best fact checks are pinned on a number, uttered by a politician. We then use that number to dig into policy issues. The last president was rather loquacious, speaking or tweeting without any prior fact checking, and much of it was not worth detailed fact checking….
— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) January 26, 2021
We also keep an eye on possible policy flip-flops and inconsistencies. Whether Biden succeeds in getting stimulus checks that amount to $2,000 is too soon to assess…
— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) January 26, 2021
Kessler also announced they won’t be keeping track of Biden’s lies the way they kept track of Trump’s “lies.”
Here’s what we did when Obama left office. https://t.co/AG5prdByDe
— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) January 26, 2021
Miller chimed in to point out the ridiculousness of all this. Kessler’s response is just amazing.
I repeat: headlines do not equal policies. But play your games if you want! Always amusing.
— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) January 26, 2021
There’s just one problem. That headline is an actual quote from Joe Biden that he gave during the campaign. He unequivocally said he would not ban fracking, period. There is no wiggle room there to say that he just meant private lands but that he always said he’d ban it on federal lands. He said “period” and should be held to his word. Kessler has no interest in that, though.
RedState’s Joe Cunningham spells it out succinctly.
Definitionally, Joe Biden has put a "ban" on fracking. It is not all fracking, but it is a "ban" nonetheless. That is true no matter what type of spin you try to put on it. You may not like that it's being called a lie, but I can't help you. He lied.
— Joe Cunningham (@JoePCunningham) January 26, 2021
Miller hit Kessler again because why not?
"I will not ban fracking, period." is not a headline. It's an exact quote from Joe Biden, or do Joe Biden's words not constitute Joe Biden's administration now? What are the rules here? Help.
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) January 26, 2021
For 8 years we were told by fact checkers that the reason they don't focus on claims by say governors and Senators is because they aren't the president.
Now that it's a Democrat president, they are fact checking Senators and saying they have no plans to fact check a President.
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) January 26, 2021None of this unexpected. Kessler has been a hack for as long as he’s been on the job. His publication is one of the most biased, dumpster fire news outlets in the business. Even still, it’s a bit jarring to see them be so upfront with their bias. You’d think Kessler would at least give a better excuse for why he’s not going to fact-check an obvious lie by Biden and Kamala Harris. Instead, he just pointedly proclaims they aren’t going to bother because Biden is like Obama or something. Seriously, in another interview, that was Kessler’s reasoning.
Laughably, even Kessler’s claim that they didn’t start keeping track of Trump’s “lies” until later in his presidency is false.
Random Twitter dudes are fact checking the WaPo fact checker lmfaooooooo (h/t @GoingKnightly ) pic.twitter.com/r2Nd3uhT1b— Branson Taylor (@Btaylor74) January 26, 2021
Hacks gonna hack, I suppose. The media made absolute fools of themselves during the Trump years. They appear intent on making matters even worse.
Washington Post Fact-Checker and fool are redundant.
Democracy Dies in Dumbness.
I hate reading tweets.
If a “fact” check fell in a forest and nobody heard it, did it actually check any “facts”?
I thought THE EDITOR was the final word on submitted pieces.
Especially formatted like this. Even worse is when the formatting causes every tweet to post twice.
p
or 4 to 5 times. Its like they don't even look at what they posted.
Someone should write a book on all the ways newspapers lie to their readers without 'outright' lying. I'd be a best seller...
We have been facked.
Eggs Actly!
Does anyone know the range of "Fact Checker" salaries?
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