Noticed something on factcheck.org

[Scheavo]

Stumbled upon this page:

https://factcheck.org/hot-topics/

After reading through it for a little bit, I noticed a trend... they're almost all about Obama or liberals. Really, can't find one that deals with Republicans and Conservatives.

Is this simply becuase they're the ones in power, or is there something else at work? Or am I just supposed to believe factcheck.org is liberally biased (in which case I got some examples to show).

[ariich]

I would definitely say that it's because they're the ones in power. Certainly in the UK any group or party in power or prominence is constantly being attacked with rumour (occasionally with valid criticism) and speculation, and I imagine it's the same over the pond. Which just means there is more to defend from a fact checker point of view.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

When the majority of posts are debunking BS about Obama or liberals, my mind says it's because of fringe conservative nutjobs that will do anything to discredit the President at every turn.  If you have to defend something, it's because someone on the other side questioned something that gave reason to defend.

[El Barto]

While they are all about Obama, they're all debunking negative rumors and chain mails.  If anything, I'd say that reeks of a serious pro-Obama bias.  However, I've generally found them to be pretty reasonable.  I think it's just that the conservatives have been busy spreading falsehoods around. 

Another possibility is that their are just a lot more conservative pundits than liberal ones, and bogus statements such as those tend to be the flawed interpretations of people who get paid to talk about politics.  It'd be nice if they explained how these rumors got started.  I suspect you'd hear plenty of the same names popping up quite a bit.

[Sigz]

During the election there was a lot more targeted against liberals/Obama, so I'd definitely say it's because he's just in power right now. Once the election gets going I suspect that will change.

[kirksnosehair]

Factcheck.org is non-partisan.  It just happens this way when you have a Democrat in the white house.  When Bush was in the white house, the site spent more time debunking myths about him than anything else.  This just comes with the territory.  If you look deeper into their site, there are plenty of writings there that are critical of Obama, Democrats, and liberals.

[kirksnosehair]

Sort of on the same topic, just saw this Op-Ed which kind of supports the idea that the right is causing the vast majority of partisan polarization in today's US politics, which explains why sites like FactCheck.org are spending more time debunking claims from the right than from the left.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

A much more succinct way of saying what I was attempting to say. 

[Scheavo]

Sort of on the same topic, just saw this Op-Ed which kind of supports the idea that the right is causing the vast majority of partisan polarization in today's US politics, which explains why sites like FactCheck.org are spending more time debunking claims from the right than from the left.

Well see, this is my "something else." The page I linked to was specifically about hot-topics, and questions they get asked the most; if you go on their main page, they have numerous articles about everyone from all sides of the spectrum.

It would just be interesting to compare this same page now, with what it was, in say, 2006.

[kirksnosehair]

Here ya go, enjoy:
https://web.archive.org/web/20060226231423/https://www.factcheck.org/archive.html

[Scheavo]

sometimes I forget just how much is fucking archived.

[kirksnosehair]

Amazing, ain't it? 

[Scheavo]

Ya. I pretty quickly noticed something... they're not all lies about Bush or Republicans. It's more so than now, but there's also a fair bit of lies still regarding Democrats or statements made by Republicans. Though, it doesn't seem like there's as many articles then as there are now, so that could easily skew it.

*edit*

Yet another article relating this this (it's actually starting to give me hope...)

https://www.thenation.com/article/167930/reality-bites-republicans?page=full

A potentially simpler explanation for these results, then, is that the fact-checkers are simply doing their job—and Republicans today just happen to be more egregiously wrong. Democrats, meanwhile, are certainly not innocent when it comes to making misleading statements, but their pants are not on fire.

[kirksnosehair]

Yeah, wow, I'm really surprised by that

[ReaPsTA]

The Republican Party is becoming crazier because rationally speaking their arguments are holding less and less weight.

Except for white people 50 years or older, who thinks abortion, marijuana use, and gay marriage should be illegal anymore?  Why is any public figure seriously floating the idea of birth control being morally wrong?

When you're forced into those positions by the people who donate money to you, what are you going to do?  Argue your points reasonably?  You'll loose every time.