Yesterday, we had the amusing situation where Greg Kessler, the Washington Post "Fact Checker" have Obama 4 "Pinocchios" for "overblown" claims in a campaign ad that Romney was a job outsourcer on the same day that Tom Hamburger published a major investigative story on Romney as a corporate job outsourcer.
You have already seen highlighted the major investigative story by Tom Hamburger in the Washington post. In the story he points out:
While economists debate whether the massive outsourcing of American jobs over the last generation was inevitable, Romney in recent months has lamented the toll it’s taken on the U.S. economy. He has repeatedly pledged he would protect American employment by getting tough on China.
“They’ve been able to put American businesses out of business and kill American jobs,” he told workers at a Toledo fence factory in February. “If I’m president of the United States, that’s going to end.”
. . .
But a Washington Post examination of securities filings shows the extent of Bain’s investment in firms that specialized in helping other companies move or expand operations overseas. While Bain was not the largest player in the outsourcing field, the private equity firm was involved early on, at a time when the departure of jobs from the United States was beginning to accelerate and new companies were emerging as handmaidens to this outflow of employment.
Bain played several roles in helping these outsourcing companies, such as investing venture capital so they could grow and providing management and strategic business advice as they navigated this rapidly developing field.
Ironically in that same issue, Greg Kessler, the "Fact Checker" for the Washington Post, gives Obama 4 Pinocchios, their worst rating, for claims in his ad that Romney outsourced jobs. Apparently this occurred, in part, because Kessler had previously awarded 2 and 3 Pinocchios on outsourcing claims and Obama had neglected to heed his chastisement.
So who should get the Pinocchios here? Obama? The Washington Post for writing about overblown outsourcing claims? Or Kessler (bylined as "The Truth behind the Rhetoric") for pompous pontification and unjustified ire at Obama for refusing to bow to his assessment of the significance of Romney's proven outsourcing.
If you would like to encourage the Washington Post ombudswoman to address this embarrassing coincidence, her (I think) email is ombudsman@washpost.com
Or perhaps Rachel Maddow should branch out from Politifact to the Fact Checker.