Fact-checking in the Echo Chamber Nation
By Bill Adair
December 22, 2011
We respond to criticism about our 2011 Lie of the Year.
We respond to criticism about our 2011 Lie of the Year.
Invasive species, like zebra mussels, round gobies and bloody red shrimp, have hitchhiked into the Great Lakes from foreign ports in the ballast water that ships take on for stability.
So we were surprised when Rep. Steve LaTourette commented that the problem of invasive species in the Great Lakes today was due to ballast. We checked out the claim then. And now we've picked it as one of our favorites for the year.
Newt Gingrich says it's against the law. We check the rules and end up throwing some britches on the yule log.
A pro-Romney group is going hard after the former House speaker and sudden front-runner.
No issue dominated Ohio headlines in 2011 more than the efforts to rein in collective bargaining rights for public employees.
A claim by Gov. John Kasich put focus on a key point in the debate. We picked it as one of our favorites of the year.
In a newspaper column he penned earlier this, year Sen. Rob Portman made the claim that the U.S. government is the largest energy user in the country.
We checked out his statement then and liked the item so much we tapped it as one of our favorites of the year.
The Truth-O-Meter rates False weekend claims by a Democrat and Republican.
In campaign ads, web videos and TV interviews, Democrats repeatedly said House Republicans had "voted to end Medicare." Our 2011 winner is the latest in a long history of scare tactics aimed at senior citizens.
The claim that economic stimulus created "zero jobs" was the No. 1 choice of PolitiFact readers.
For the first time, PolitiFact editors and readers chose different claims as the Lie of the Year.
None of the Founding Fathers is more quotable than Benjamin Franklin.
Arguably the greatest mind of the founding generation his range of interests and prolific writing over his 84 years produced a shelf of memorable maxims, thoughts and observations.
So when a state legislator said he doubted Franklin could have envisioned Ohio's estate tax, it got our attention (we had our doubts that there was anything Franklin couldn't have envisioned).
We like this item so much we tapped it as one of our favorites of the year.
Rick Perry said a Texas agricultural loan fund he once oversaw did not get bailed out.
As governor, actually, he approved spending $14.7 million in taxpayer money to cover program losses.