Monday, August 29, 2011

It's The Truth: Senior Wisconsin Republicans Overly Familiar With "False" In PolitiFact Ratings

Another day, another "False" rating from PolitiFact for a top Republican leader from Wisconsin.

This time, it's Reince Priebus, the Wisconsinite running the national GOP apparatus these days.

In a statement, Priebus was found to have doubled the amount of money public-employee union spent in the recall elections - - turning about $15 million into $30 million.

That's a pretty big goof, both in total dollars and in as a percentage of the true facts.

Accident or spin or willfully misleading? Hard to say, but it continues a pattern for Preibus where the word "false" shows up far more often than "true:

PolitiFact has rated seven of his statements this way: two half-true, four false, one Pants on Fire.

It seems that Wisconsin's senior GOP elected officials have far more negative than positive PolitiFact ratings. Here's a summary as of Sunday, August 28th:

PolitiFact has rated 11 of 31 statements by Gov. Scott Walker true, mostly true or half-true, while 20 were rated mostly false, false or Pants on Fire.

The scorecard for Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch: Three statements rated - - two false, one Pants on Fire.

For Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald: Four statements - - one half-true, one mostly false, two false.

For Assembly Speaker, and probable US Senate candidate Jeff Fitzgerald: Four statements - - one true, two mostly false, one Pants on Fire.
For US Senator Ron Johnson: Eleven statements - - one true, one mostly true, one half-true, four mostly false, four false.
US Rep. Paul Ryan, by comparison, squeaks through with one more "true" than "false" in his ratings, but it's still a weak record for an incumbent and chair of the House Budget Committee: Nine statements rated: one true, one mostly true, three half-true, three mostly false and one Pants on Fire. 

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