Why facts matter.

[MethuenProgressive]

Congressional Quarterly and the St Pete Times have teamed up on a Political Campaign fact checking site:
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2007/nov/30/why-facts-matter/

We don’t expect politicians to tell the truth all the time, but we believe that you, the voters, have a right to know when they don’t. It’s our job to check the facts and tell you what you can believe, and what you shouldn’t."
Likewise, I’m sure the speechwriters at the Mitt Romney campaign knew they were cherry-picking the statistics by blaming the defense cuts of the 1990s on President Clinton. I’m sure about this because, when I asked them for materials to support their claim, they provided me with stats that clearly showed the defense cuts began not under Clinton, but under the first President Bush after the end of the Cold War.
The cuts continued under Clinton, with the support of a Republican Congress. Yet Romney has made it sound like Clinton single-handedly crippled our nation’s defense.
Equally wrong was Edwards’ claim that if members of Congress did not pass universal health care in the first six months of his term, he would strip them of their own health benefits. As a former senator, Edwards undoubtedly knows full well that the president can’t unilaterally take away the benefits of the legislative branch. We gave him our lowest rating, Pants on Fire.
Those are facts that matter. The candidates got them wrong — and should have known better. For too long, we’ve tolerated lies and exaggerations as standard fare in American politics. That’s why we created PolitiFact.
Yes, some of the facts we check can be small and, sometimes, even silly. Mistakes made on the fly, during debates and news conferences, may not be as egregious as premeditated falsehoods. But collectively they paint a portrait about a candidate.
And so, it’s important that we nitpick. If we let our candidates take liberties with the small things, can we expect them to be truthful about the big ones?

[Lucinda]

1. Well...its usually facts vs truthiness around here

and we know how that usually ends up. :)

Thankie for the link. Looking forward to roaming around there.

[MethuenProgressive]

2. Facts seldom matter to ultra-partisans

They're already inside the cult - they can't hear what's being said about it anymore.

[Lucinda]

4. Yep. It's a shame too. Any candidate we nominate has

weak spots. Ignorance isn't going to do us any good in what is certain to be a vicious general election.

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[blm]

3. Facts and TRUTH do matter - that's why I want more Dems to start acting like it.

Hillary is NOT so good with the truth that mattered in Oct 2006:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk1k0nUWEQg

And Bill decided secrecy and privilege were more important to protect than the truth of the historic record throughout the 90s:
http://consortiumnews.com/2006/111106.html

Either truth matters ALL the time or it doesn't. I say ALL the time.

[MethuenProgressive]

6. Feel free to inform us of the candidate that meets your standards, blm.

"Either truth matters ALL the time or it doesn't. I say ALL the time."
That's gonna be a wicked short list.

[blm]

7. I know your point, but why go with a guaranteed truth burier who now has a

vested interest in keeping the truth about the last 30 plus years closed from public view?

How did Jackson Stephens and Poppy Bush fare in the 90s, M_P? How did the truth do? Could Bush2 have been prevented by the simple act of trusting the American people with the truth about IranContra and BCCI? 9-11? This Iraq war?

These were not SMALL MATTERS of truth, M_P. They were enormous and still are and had consequences that imperiled millions of lives as well as our nation's democracy.

[MethuenProgressive]

8. I'm not in a position to comment on conspiracy theories, blm.

I'm one of those "sheep" who doesn't buy into the "every thing bad that happens is part a a huge plot by the Man" twitch.

[blm]

9. There are theories and there are facts. That you don't distinguish between the two may

be convenient protection, but is not particularly comforting to those fellow Dems who HAVE acted as responsible citizens and studied the facts over the years.

You want to pretend that BCCI had no outstanding matters that needed public exposure and debate that would have been useful to this country and world, that's YOUR decision.