How Media Lies: FactCheck And NPR Get The Debate All Wrong!

The following is drawn out of an NPR article, "Biden, Ryan Bent The Truth At Times, Fact Checkers Say: 

FactCheck Lie No 1:  Title, "Biden, Ryan Bent The Truth. False Impression: Both men lied, when only Ryan lied.

FactCheck Lie No 2: In the first paragraph they say "both candidates stretching the truth."  False Impression: both men lied, when only Ryan lied.

FactCheck Lie No 3:  "Neither candidate decisively won the debate . . ."  False Impression:  The performance of both men was equal, when the polls, except one that was disproportionately Republican, acknowledged Biden's victory.

FactCheck Lie No 4:  $716 billion in reduced Medicare spending, that's part of Obama's plan, that will not affect benefits, is identified; but the $716 billion reduced Medicare spending in Romney's plan, that will affect benefits, is not mentioned.  False Impression: Uninformed people will believe that seniors will loose $716 billion in benefits if Obama's plan is implemented, when Romney's plan is the one that will cause seniors to loose $716 billion in benefits, but because that program is not mentioned, the cautions that should be considered are out of sight, out of mind.

FactCheck Lie No 5:  The consulate attack in Libya is characterized as the administration did not know the security needs of the consulate, "Biden said the administration didn't know more security was needed," when it was an issue of not knowing that there had been a request for additional security, and Biden's actual words reflect that, "We weren't told they wanted more security."  False Impression:  The Administration was remiss because they didn't know the operational requirements of their embassies, when what they did not know is that there had been a request for additional security, which no one would expect them to know.

FactCheck Lie No 6: Biden lied when he said the Administration did not know about the request for additional security, evidenced by testimony from Eric Nordstrom's, the regional security officer for Libya, and a State Department Employee, that he made a couple of request for additional security, of State Department bureaucrats.  They describe Nordstrom's testimony as contradicting the Vice President.  False Impression:  FactCheck creates the impression that if Eric Nordstrom requested additional security that the President, and/or the Vice-president should know.  When the likelihood is that they wouldn't know if someone requested additional security for the White House!  As a matter of fact, they did not know when there was a breach of security at a dinner, where the President was shaking hands with someone who was not supposed to be there.  Also, the President did not know that there was a breach of security in Columbia, when his secret service made him vulnerable to Colombian nationals.  How could either the President or Vice-President know who is asking for what, among it's 294 Embassies and Consulates . . .  However, if Eric Nordstrom had testified he spoke to the President or the Vice President, then there would be a contradiction.

FactCheck Lie No 7:  FactCheck scrutinizes "Biden's statement that GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney said, "let Detroit go bankrupt."  They infer that Biden's statement may not be the truth since "this statement is drawn from a headline — 'Let Detroit Go Bankrupt' — on an opinion article written by Romney for the New York Times. But he did not say that in the article. (He repeated the line, however, on television.)" False Impression:  That the words "Let Detroit go bankrupt" don't have the same meaning if they are the title of an article, and not repeated verbatim in the body of the article. As for why it might be dishonest to say Romney said "let Detroit go bankrupt," when he said it on television, is beyond my comprehension.

Does anyone know how crazy this sounds . . .  Romney headlines an article, "Detroit should go bankrupt," and he details how Detroit should go bankrupt in the article, and he says it again on television, yet Joe Biden's voracity is challenged because he attributed to Romney what Romney said, both in a published article and on television . . .  It's no wonder Romney keeps on lying, media makes it so easy for him.  

This is an example of media obscuring the truth about a person by ascribing their characteristic to someone who does not share those characteristic.  The result here is that Paul Ryan's lies are obscured, and Joe Biden, who did not lie, is characterized as a liar.  In effect, the media has jumped into the fray to prevent the Obama-Biden team from highlighting their achievements, and distinguishing themselves from their competition.

ADDENDUM:  Since writing this report, Lori Robertson, a FactCheck representative, appeared on MSNBC's Lean Forward where she piled on more lies to protect Republicans and discredit Democrats.

FactCheck Lie No 8:  Biden's report that $300 million was cut from embassy security was an "exaggeration," since some of the spending would have gone to construction.  Am I loosing my mind, or have they not heard of walls and moates . . .  Are those constructions not defensive?  But what is incredulous is that when they saw Biden told the truth about the amount, they poked into the details of the budget in an attempt to find some compromising language that they could use to define his words as less than honest.  False Impression:  That spending on construction disqualifies the spending as defense spending.

FactCheck Lie No 9:  Biden's description of Romney's tax plan cost is "misleading," claiming he "tweaked" it and it is no longer operative.  That's no different than calling it misleading if someone tells you that their store is open until 5, should your honesty be questioned because they no longer intend to honor the hours that they published . . .  So long as Biden's words reflect what they said, he speaks the truth! their public representation of their plan, it is the truth! False Impression:  That you are "misleading" when you repeat what someone has publicly said, if they have privately changed their mind.  How interesting that FactCheck would accept a private representation, contradicting a public fact, that wasn't even mentioned during the debate. She said, and I'm sure it's the truth, there is "no analysis" of this new plan . . .

These media lies are not just dishonest, they are designed to confuse and discourage people from trying to identify the truth.  Stupid people cannot run a democracy, and that's the point.  Media's trying to dumb us down to the point that they can tell us what we like, how to think, and what to believe.  Notice they no longer come to the public for impressions of events, first they tell us their impression, and they tell us often, and they try to make us believe that it is so obvious that everyone would agree, and only when the public starts "agreeing," do they begin to "ask" for public opinion.

There have been no lies told by Joe Biden, but many lies have been told by FactCheck!  How perverse, liars enlisted to identify lies . . .  The proverbial fox guarding the chicken coop.

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