Politifact: Republicans lie three times more than Democrats

[ErikJ]

According to Politifact, One Political Party Has Their Pants On Fire. Guess Which?
Nate SmithinPolitics 15 hours ago


A recent study (click here for the press release) by the Center for Media and Public Affairs (CMPA) has found that Republicans have lied far more than Democrats in the first 4 months of Obama's second term (January 20th through May 22nd, 2013). The study looks at ratings by the fact-checking organization Politifact of 100 statements (46 by Democrats and 54 by Republicans), finding that

32% of Republican statements were rated "false" or "pants on fire," while only 11% of Democratic claims earned the same ratings.

54% of Democratic statements were rated as mostly true or true, but only 18% of Republican claims rated the same.
.......
But it's hard to ignore the seemingly obvious: maybe Republicans are lying more. Do they have more reason to? Well, for one, they have a habit of disagreeing with the vast majority of scientists regarding climate change. Denial of evolution is another point of disagreement with the scientific community that is far more pervasive on the right than on the left. Maybe this habit of denial has extended to their statements regarding policy, as well — surely not all of the statements in the CMPA study were about climate change or creationism.
...............

http://www.policymic.com/articles/45109/according-to-politifact-one-political-party-has-their-pants-on-fire-guess-which

[moondust]

1. They have to lie.

Ideologically bankrupt and not enough billionaires to vote them into office.

[defacto7]

2. You've got that right! n/t

[ErikJ]

3. Grand Old Professional liars. They can convince them that apples are oranges.

Last edited Thu May 30, 2013, 04:05 PM - Edit history (1)

[merrily]

5. The OP is pretty clear that officials in both parties lie.

[merrily]

4. IOW, all the people whose salaries and expenses we pay lie to us a lot. Is there any good news?

P.S. Lie if they don't manage to keep the bad stuff secret.

Yeah, yeah, I am supposed to be thrilled that Democrats lie less. Because that is what my life is about, Democrat vs. Republican, not whether my government serves me.

[B Calm]

6. Republican voters lie too!

[Enrique]

7. they do depend completely on lying, but...

but basing a study on Politifact rankings seems very flawed to me. For one thing, how representative are the items that Politifact chooses to cover? And then there are problems with how Politifact does their ratings. A lot of times they're not even doing fact-checking, they're doing opinion pieces. Rachel Maddow has covered this very well.

[piratefish08]

10. I agree - I thought we all just spent the whole winter hating on Politifact......

[Just Saying]

8. With or without the study we all know they lie a lot.

And there is a difference between lying and getting it wrong. Not to give the GOP a break but I think some of their lies are just ignorance.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

9. The comments on that article are funny....

One guy claims the figures are wrong because the "Liberal Media" is reporting more comments from Republicans.

Mind you, he doesn't deny that Republicans lie, he's just assuming Democrats lie as much or more but their lies are ignored.

[Just Saying]

11. Ugh!

Now I read some of them and I'm more stupid for doing it. At least I stopped myself before engaging in what passes for debate over there. One guy claims most scientists don't agree with the UN Climate Change Panel and GMOs are perfectly safe.

[alp227]

12. Center for Media and Public Affairs is funded by right wing organizations

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Media_and_Public_Affairs
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Center_for_Media_and_Public_Affairs

And it's affiliated with George Mason University, which also underwrites libertarian economic think tanks like the Mercatus Institute and Institute for Humane Studies. Conservative organizations like the Media Research Center like to cite CMPA stats whenever such stats show liberal bias (search the CMPA name in MRC.org and see). But this study isn't going to go well with right wingers.