Washington Post Fact-Checker Gets Dragged for Attacking Bernie Sanders Over Extremely True Fact

[Uncle Joe]

Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler was roundly criticized for attacking Independent Vermont Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders over a statement that was 100 percent true, but according to Kessler was “not especially meaningful” because of how very true it was.

At last Thursday’s Democratic Presidential Debate Part Two: Electoral Boogaloo, Sanders told moderators, “We have a new vision for America. And at a time when we have three people in this country owning more wealth than the bottom half of America, while 500,000 people are sleeping out on the streets today, we think it is time for change, real change.”

Kessler included that statement in his post-debate fact-check, and found that while the statement was “based on numbers that add up,” the comparison was “not especially meaningful” because “people in the bottom half have essentially no wealth, as debts cancel out whatever assets they might have.”

Some people disagreed with that assessment and seemed to think the fact that the bottom half of Americans have “essentially no wealth” made Sanders’ statement more meaningful, not less. Those people included senior Bernie Sanders campaign adviser David Sirota, who filed Kessler’s assertion under “THINGS YOU CAN’T MAKE UP”:

(snip)


https://www.mediaite.com/news/washington-post-fact-checker-gets-dragged-for-attacking-bernie-sanders-over-extremely-true-fact/

There are some nice tweet responses on the link.

[aidbo]

1. I bet it is "especially meaningful" to the people in that cohort.

[Uncle Joe]

2. Apparently those Americans don't count according to Kessler

because they don't have wealth and thus while true it's “not especially meaningful.”

This is no surprise to me as it's coming from a Bezos paper underling.

[corbettkroehler]

3. Indeed - That's The Bottom Line - The Status Quo Works Just Fine For Them

but no millions of Americans who are uninsured or underinsured (such as this author).