Truthspeakers and Falsehoodmongers
Not long ago, one of my friends linked me to the site Politifact.com, a project of the St. Petersburg Times in Florida which investigates the claims by various political entities and rates them as to how true that claim was. They have six levels of, for lack of a better term, truthhood: True, Mostly True, Half True, Barely True, False, and Pants on Fire. After keeping up with this site for several weeks, I decided to make a very stripped-down, simplistic list of who among the political elite are mostly telling the truth, and who are not.
In order to do this, first of all I am approaching it from a completely non-partisan point of view. I am not mentioning my own political beliefs, except to say that they are philosophically and diametrically opposite from the friend who recommended the site to me, and we both (apparently) subscribe to the non-partisan quality of Politifact. I am choosing people to investigate based on whether I recognize their name, and limiting it to people who have had at least ten claims investigated. Because I would rather focus on individuals, I am avoiding organizations. All numbers are as of today, April 5, 2011.
My system is that I will compare the truth - claims ranked True or Mostly True - with the falsehoods - claims marked False of Pants on Fire. The two extremes count double, and the Half Trues and Barely Trues don't count at all. If someone has twice as many truths as falsehoods, I will declare them a Truthspeaker (a Super-Truthspeaker if they are 4:1 or higher); if the opposite (0.5:1 or less), they are a Falsehoodmonger. If you want to see for yourself what they spoke the truth on, and what they didn't, just go to www.politifact.com, and search for whoever it is.
No falsehoods:
Washington Post columnist George Will - 16:0.
Senior Presidential Adviser David Axelrod (D) - 9:0.
Super-Truthspeakers:
Senator Dennis Kucinich (D-Oh.) - 7.5:1.
Secretary of State Hilary Clinton (D) - 6:1.
Former Senator Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) - 4.33:1.
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (R) - 4.1:1.
Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) - 4:1.
Truthspeakers:
President Barack Obama (D) - 3.88:1.
Former Senator John Edwards (D-N.C.) - 3:1.
Former Florida Governor Charlie Crist (R) - 2.9:1.
Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) - 2.67:1.
Filmmaker Michael Moore - 2.67:1.
Vice President Joe Biden (D) - 2.56:1.
Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Oh.) - 2.21:1.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) - 2:1.
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee (R) - 2:1.
Middleroaders:
Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) - 1.83:1.
Florida Governor Rick Scott (R) - 1.69:1.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) - 1.67:1.
Former President Bill Clinton (D) - 1.33:1.
Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (R) - 1.3:1.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) - 1:1.
Talk show host Rachel Maddow - 1:1.
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R) - 0.91:1.
Falsehoodmongers:
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) - 0.28:1.
Talk show host Glenn Beck - 0.19:1.
Talk show host Rush Limbaugh - 0.11:1.
No truths:
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) - 0:22.
I was disappointed that there weren't enough claims against Sharron Angle, Julian Assange, Haley Barbour, George W. Bush, James Carville, Dick Cheney, Stephen Colbert, Anderson Cooper, Ann Coulter, Rahm Emanuel, Barney Frank, Newt Gingrich, Sean Hannity, Steny Hoyer, Ariana Huffington, Joe Lieberman, Bill Maher, Ralph Nader, Janet Napolitano, Lawrence O'Donnell, Christine O'Donnell, Bill O'Reilly, Michelle Obama, Keith Olbermann, Rand Paul, Tim Pawlenty, Reince Priebus, Ed Rendell, Karl Rove, Paul Ryan, Rick Santorum, Ed Schultz, Michael Steele, Jon Stewart, Donald Trump, or Meg Whitman to be statistically reliable. If, as I read this site, any of them climb over the ten-claims mark (as I'm reasonably sure some will), I will update this post.
The conclusions: Politicians and George Will mostly speak the truth, but don't put as much stock in talk show hosts or Michele Bachmann. Also, the people who have a lot of vocal critics more often than not deserve that criticism.
In order to do this, first of all I am approaching it from a completely non-partisan point of view. I am not mentioning my own political beliefs, except to say that they are philosophically and diametrically opposite from the friend who recommended the site to me, and we both (apparently) subscribe to the non-partisan quality of Politifact. I am choosing people to investigate based on whether I recognize their name, and limiting it to people who have had at least ten claims investigated. Because I would rather focus on individuals, I am avoiding organizations. All numbers are as of today, April 5, 2011.
My system is that I will compare the truth - claims ranked True or Mostly True - with the falsehoods - claims marked False of Pants on Fire. The two extremes count double, and the Half Trues and Barely Trues don't count at all. If someone has twice as many truths as falsehoods, I will declare them a Truthspeaker (a Super-Truthspeaker if they are 4:1 or higher); if the opposite (0.5:1 or less), they are a Falsehoodmonger. If you want to see for yourself what they spoke the truth on, and what they didn't, just go to www.politifact.com, and search for whoever it is.
No falsehoods:
Washington Post columnist George Will - 16:0.
Senior Presidential Adviser David Axelrod (D) - 9:0.
Super-Truthspeakers:
Senator Dennis Kucinich (D-Oh.) - 7.5:1.
Secretary of State Hilary Clinton (D) - 6:1.
Former Senator Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) - 4.33:1.
Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney (R) - 4.1:1.
Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.) - 4:1.
Truthspeakers:
President Barack Obama (D) - 3.88:1.
Former Senator John Edwards (D-N.C.) - 3:1.
Former Florida Governor Charlie Crist (R) - 2.9:1.
Former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) - 2.67:1.
Filmmaker Michael Moore - 2.67:1.
Vice President Joe Biden (D) - 2.56:1.
Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Oh.) - 2.21:1.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) - 2:1.
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee (R) - 2:1.
Middleroaders:
Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) - 1.83:1.
Florida Governor Rick Scott (R) - 1.69:1.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) - 1.67:1.
Former President Bill Clinton (D) - 1.33:1.
Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (R) - 1.3:1.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) - 1:1.
Talk show host Rachel Maddow - 1:1.
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (R) - 0.91:1.
Falsehoodmongers:
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) - 0.28:1.
Talk show host Glenn Beck - 0.19:1.
Talk show host Rush Limbaugh - 0.11:1.
No truths:
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) - 0:22.
I was disappointed that there weren't enough claims against Sharron Angle, Julian Assange, Haley Barbour, George W. Bush, James Carville, Dick Cheney, Stephen Colbert, Anderson Cooper, Ann Coulter, Rahm Emanuel, Barney Frank, Newt Gingrich, Sean Hannity, Steny Hoyer, Ariana Huffington, Joe Lieberman, Bill Maher, Ralph Nader, Janet Napolitano, Lawrence O'Donnell, Christine O'Donnell, Bill O'Reilly, Michelle Obama, Keith Olbermann, Rand Paul, Tim Pawlenty, Reince Priebus, Ed Rendell, Karl Rove, Paul Ryan, Rick Santorum, Ed Schultz, Michael Steele, Jon Stewart, Donald Trump, or Meg Whitman to be statistically reliable. If, as I read this site, any of them climb over the ten-claims mark (as I'm reasonably sure some will), I will update this post.
The conclusions: Politicians and George Will mostly speak the truth, but don't put as much stock in talk show hosts or Michele Bachmann. Also, the people who have a lot of vocal critics more often than not deserve that criticism.
