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Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Lies, damned lies and Republicans


In case you missed it, a study not released by MSNBC (so save your breath conservatives), by the nonpartisan Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University have found that Republicans are significantly more likely to lie than Democrats. 

And here is the kicker that the liberals have been saying all along: the lying gap between Republicans and Democrats  is widening as President Barack Obama spends more time in office.

Oh this is just too good. Ever since Obamacare was passed and signed into law in 2010, the Republicans have been no strangers to lying about everything, from the healthcare law itself to the number of vacations the President has taken. The study came as the political atmosphere heated up during the “scandals” of the IRS, Benghazi, and the AP.

In their study, 100 statements involving factual claims by Democrats (46 claims) and Republicans (54 claims) were examined, which were fact-checked by PolitiFact.com during the four month period from the start of President Obama’s second term on January 20 through May 22, 2013. In just four months worth of fact checking the GOP was found to be lying the most. Here is what they found: 
PolitiFact rated 32% of Republican claims as “false” or “pants on fire,” compared to 11% of Democratic claims – a 3 to 1 margin.
Conversely, Politifact rated 22% of Democratic claims as “entirely true” compared to 11% of Republican claims – a 2 to 1 margin.
A majority of Democratic statements (54%) were rated as mostly or entirely true, compared to only 18% of Republican statements. Conversely, a majority of Republican statements (52%) were rated as mostly or entirely false, compared to only 24% of Democratic statements.
And here is where the liberals have been right all along regarding the GOP’s witch-hunts against President Obama:
Regarding Benghazi, the IRS and the Associated Press, Republicans have continued to fare worse than Democrats, with 60% of their claims rated as false so far this month (May 1 – May 22), compared to 29% of Democratic statements – a 2 to 1 margin.
Republicans lied about IRS, Benghazi, and the AP 60% of the time? I’m shocked. Of course Republicans are going to denounce this as being a liberal-sponsored entity. However, it should be known that Politifact has won the Pulitzer Prize for its non-partisan journalism. And they gave President Obama the lie of the year with his “You can keep your health insurance” claim.

Conservative (not necessarily Republican) thought is wrought with fear and anxiety. Their policy is to attempt to mitigate that without concern for actual accomplishments. They don’t seem to realize that the root fear they harbor is counterproductive. However, we can thank organizations like Politifact and FactCheck.org for keeping them on their feet, and grilling them when it’s necessary.

If you look back on the 271 ‘Pants on Fire’ claims that Politifact has measured since 2007 (the first one was from Joe Biden when he called Bush “brain dead”), 217 of them have been perpetrated by conservatives whether they be from chain emails, Facebook posts, pundits or politicians. They range from chain emails claiming the ACA will question your sex life, to President Obama being a Marxist Muslim.


Now we’ll all know every politician lies. But why do Republicans do it more often? And do they really still think they can get away with it?