Fact-Checking "Fact Check"

Since it vaulted into the stratosphere during the Veep debates, Factcheck.org has been invoked by any number of websites, bloggers and media figures as the end-all for discussions about political topics.

An initial read through Factcheck looks like they lean slightly left, manifested by the scope they choose for some of their articles (they seem, in some cases, to stop just short of facts that would re-spin the story to the right), but they seem to be relatively balanced for an academic publication.

But there are still some holes in the product.

I looked at this piece, "The "Willie Horton" Ad Of 2004?" - about Bush's ad condemning Kerry's record on defense, intelligence and counterterrorism.

Factcheck (a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania) writes about Kerry's record:

When the San Francisco Chronicle combed through 200 of Kerry's speeches and statements on Iraq, it found instances of "clumsy phrases and tortuously long explanations" that made Kerry's position difficult to follow. But it also found that "taken as a whole, Kerry has offered the same message ever since talk of attacking Iraq became a national conversation more than two years ago.

The message is:

Kerry (Oct. 9, 2002) Let there be no doubt or confusion about where we stand on this. I will support a multilateral effort to disarm him (Saddam) by force, if we ever exhaust those other options, as the President has promised, but I will not support a unilateral U.S. war against Iraq unless that threat is imminent and the multilateral effort has not proven possible under any circumstances.

The message would seem to be consistent.

Consistently bad.

No. Consistently stupid.

Kerry would not support pre-emptive war unless attack was "imminent", and unilateral effort is impossible?

By the time the attack is "imminent", it's too late! If the terrorists are doing their job properly - and in a free society, it's easier than in more authoritarian cultures - we won't know an attack is "imminent" at all.

Posted by Mitch at October 11, 2004 12:54 AM | TrackBack