Politifact says Bernie's claim about the defense budget is mostly false

[Cali_Democrat]

By Joshua Gillin

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders criticized defense spending during the Democratic presidential debate in South Carolina, saying that the out-of-control budget isn’t focused enough on fighting modern threats.

"Unfortunately, much of that budget continues to fight the old Cold War with the Soviet Union," Sanders said. "Very little of that budget — less than 10 percent — actually goes into fighting ISIS and international terrorism."

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Our ruling

Sanders said, "Very little of (the defense) budget — less than 10 percent — actually goes into fighting ISIS and international terrorism."

He’s getting that number by using a very limited view of the overall defense budget, pointing only to specific allotments in the budget for addressing ISIS and other terrorist threats. Experts told us that no matter what amounts are designated for that purpose, those operations draw from resources paid for in the base budget. There’s no clear way to separate the two.

Sanders’ figure does refer to some specific funding but paints a misleading picture of overall defense spending. We rate it Mostly False.

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/jan/18/bernie-s/less-10-percent-defense-budget-fighting-terrorism-/

[litlbilly]

1. Oh yeah, this nonsense thread will go far...in the trash just like the rest of your op's

[valerief]

2. I think I'll believe the ranking member of the Senate budget committee over

politifact.

[NurseJackie]

3. Mostly False, AGAIN??

Seriously?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

4. Well, we know that the Pentagon and MIC never, ever, (perish the thought) lies.

[Admiral Loinpresser]

5. I rate Politifact's rating "mainly false."

Bernie's claim pertained to defense spending and yet Politifact relied on non-defense spending in making their argument: they cited, e.g. FBI resources in their analysis. The FBI budget is not part of the military budget, so Politifact is off base in using that data. Fighting international terrorism is largely a law enforcement and intelligence effort, not a military effort, although that basic premise is less true now due to the US policy of regime change and perpetual war in the Middle East and central Asia. So Politifact is not a reliable source here. Often their approach is less credible than the statement they are analyzing. I believe that is the case here.

[fwiff]

6. Well, we already know that polifact is "mostly false"

They're terrible.

Just ask Rachel Maddow. She talks about it often.

[cyberswede]

7. Isn't Politifact full of shit?

I'm pretty sure Rachel Maddow demonstrated same.

EtA: Yep

It attempts to document and verify claims made by prominent public figures, but has frequently been accused of muddled thinking[2] and the balance fallacy

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/PolitiFact