I am a pretty low key person but I think that people should admit when they are wrong. I think its especially true when that person or entity is seen as an authority on the subject they are wrong about. Yesterday many fact checking websites initially listed as false Joe Biden's statement that John McCain voted against funding our troops. Their contention was that John McCain never voted for or against the measure with timetables inserted because he missed that vote. Thankfully MediaMatters.com did a little digging and found that on another war funding bill John McCain did in fact vote against funding our troops because of it having a timetable for withdrawal. MediaMatters also called out those fact checking websites which had already posted this information among them factcheck.org. Well me being the laid back casual internet activist that I am, I, like I would assume many many people, promptly sent an email to factcheck.org demanding a correction. Wouldn't you know it they responded and took down the false information and posted a correction noting their error. Which brings me to politifact.com. Jump over the fold to follow the rest of the story.
Maybe the best thing about this campaign, in my eyes, is the fact that we have available to us several fact checking supposedly non partisan websites that are holding each candidate accountable. No offense but going to a liberal website or a right wing website you see information through the spin cycle of each candidate. It is because these fact checking websites promote themselves as non partisan and only truth seeking that so many people rely on them to help them make up their decisions about who to vote for. About who is running an honorable campaign. And about who will lead this country in the right direction. And probably not in that order lol.
Now the story starts because of MediaMatters.com so let me put the correct information out to begin with.
Following the October 2 vice presidential debate, several media outlets have falsely claimed that Sen. Joe Biden was wrong when he said during the debate that Sen. John McCain "voted against funding the troops" in a 2007 appropriations bill. Biden said: "John McCain voted against funding the troops because an amendment he voted for -- voted against had a timeline in it to drawdown American troops. And John said, 'I'm not going to fund the troops if in fact there is a timeline.' " In an October 2 article, CBSNews.com wrote of Biden's comments: "This is wrong. The 2007 troop appropriation amendment first had a withdrawal timetable. McCain urged the President to veto that amendment -- and Bush did, and most Republicans voted against the amendment -- but McCain missed the actual vote." Similarly, in an October 2 post on MSNBC.com's First Read, NBC News' Carrie Dann and Mark Murray reported: "McCain OPPOSED -- but did not vote on -- a Senate measure with troop funding because it contained a timetable for withdrawal. Biden said McCain 'voted' against it" [emphasis in original]. And in an October 3 article, FactCheck.org also claimed: "Biden is simply wrong to say that McCain voted against that bill; he was absent and didn't vote at all. McCain did oppose the bill, and he urged President Bush to veto it." In fact, Biden's statement was correct: While McCain did not vote on a later version of the appropriations bill, he voted against the measure on March 29, 2007, and said at the time that he was opposing it, in part, because it "would establish a timeline" for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq.
As Media Matters for America has documented, on March 29, 2007, McCain voted against H.R. 1591, an emergency spending bill that would have funded the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and would have provided more than $1 billion in additional funds to the Department of Veterans Affairs. The Senate passed H.R. 1591 by a margin of 51-47. Once the bill's conference report was agreed to by the House, the Senate again passed the measure on April 26, 2007, by a vote of 51-46, but McCain did not vote on that version of the bill. By contrast, Sen. Barack Obama and Biden voted for the bill on both occasions. President Bush vetoed the bill, citing its provision for a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
Now if you go to factcheck.org's website you will find this correction.
Correction Oct 3: This article originally faulted Biden for saying that McCain had voted "the exact same way" as Obama on a controversial troop funding bill. We said that McCain was absent for the vote and so didn't vote at all. Biden was, however, correct.
McCain did vote against the troop-funding bill in question, H.R. 1591, on March 29, 2007, when it originally cleared the Senate. The vote to which we referred, and which McCain missed, was a later vote on the House-Senate compromise version of the same bill, on April 26, 2007. McCain opposed the bill, which Obama supported, because it contained language calling for withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Biden was responding to Palin's accusation that "Obama voted against funding troops." Obama voted for the bill March 29 and April 26, and then on May 24, 2007, following a veto by President Bush, Obama voted against a similar troop-funding bill, H.R. 2206, that lacked any withdrawal language.
Now the reason Politifact.com isn't listed along with the others about this erroneous story is because they put their analysis of the VP debate entitled Hooey in St. Louie out a little later than the rest. But sure enough they had the same charge that Joe Biden had it wrong about John McCain's vote.
So I, again like I presume many others, sent off an email to them too asking them for a correction. Now Politifact.com has been one of my go to sites in the past because they are a part of the St. Petersburg Times staff and I live in Tampa Florida. But lately it seems they have been slanted a little more to the right trying to keep up the appearance that the lies are evenly distributed between the two campaigns. Now this morning I wake up to check the website ASSuming I would find the correction. Instead the site had been scrubbed of the article with no ancedotal mention of it at all.
Now of course I didnt think to save the information that was included in the article but the link is still up, it just goes to a faq page instead of the article. Here is what you will find if you look it up on the web
PolitiFact | Missed the vote, but urged a vetoOct 2, 2008 ... Palin began the exchange by saying that "Barack Obama voted against funding troops there after promising that he would not do so. ...
www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/773/ - 19 hours ago - Similar pages
Now why does this matter? Well for one it matters because some people probably checked that website and found that information and will never go back to see if it changed. The fact that there is NO reference to it now will probably be overlooked and they will continue to spread the lie that Joe Biden was wrong. It is also a question of credibility. Can we really trust a fact checking website that is unwilling to admit when it is wrong? Thirdly I have noticed that Bill Adair of Politifact.com appears on Morning Joe with Joe Scarbarough quite a bit now and he has seemed to adopt a some what partisan demeanor during these appearances. If you look at the analysis they have on the site now you see that they try that equivocation bullshit by focusing in equal amounts on statements made by both Biden and Palin seemingly oblivious to the fact that Palin made a SUBSTANTIALLY higher number of false statement during the debate which the other fact checking sites have readily pointed out.
Now I think that we the people need to let our voices be heard. I have already fired off my email to the politifact people and I encourage you to do the same. If wee can't trust the fact checking websites then it should be known so people dont start to get swayed by propaganda!
Here is a copy of my email and here is the email address for the Politifact.com website. I would appreciate some help in pressuring these people to post a correction. Thanks for any support!
truthometer@politifact.com
To Whom it May Concern,
I wrote to you last night asking if you would post a correction about the erroneous information you posted on your website about John McCain not voting against funding our troops. Media Matters did the work to find the bill that he in fact DID vote against funding our troops because of a timeline. This morning I notice that you have scrubbed your site of that information but there is no correction which is unlike factcheck.org which acknowledges they got it wrong. Now this is important because people visit your site trying to filter through the propaganda and spin and get down to the real facts. You must know that there are many people who would have already read your statement and won't assume just because the story is now gone that it was wrong. I am asking you to post an actual correction so that people know you were mistaken. I am a resident of tampa and I am a fan of the St. Pete Times newspaper of which you are affiliated but I believe that this is a serious situation that might bear attention from your rivals at the Tampa Tribune should a correction not be forthcoming. As a fact checking website it would be very hard for you to regain credibility if there are signs of of trying to sweep something under the rug. It is also a bit disconcerting that as a non partisan fact checking group you have been sending Bill Adair to appear on MSNBC and offer analysis which borders on partisan at times. I happened to google the article in question and the article's link still shows up but leads to a faq page on your site. I only ask that you do what is right and honest in this situation nothing more and nothing less. Everyone makes honest mistakes, but covering them up is never justified.