Btw, James, you and Walker have inspired me to coin (I think) a new word: PolitiFib.
Candidly, though, I am not really sure sometimes if Walker knows any better. Not that this is an excuse, of course. But Walker seems to share a trait with his hero, George Walker Bush: that same dangerous combination of ignorance and arrogance/confidence/self-righteousness. On occasion, he may be more or less innocent and well-meaning; but other times, he is certainly being cynical, calculating and deceitful, not to mention juvenile.
I wish people would make up their minds re: Politifact
People treat it as the pinnacle of Heinous Heinousness when it goes against what they like to think is true, and then turn around and quote the Bejeezus out of it when it agrees with them. Personally I find it too smarmy and spiteful in attitude to be using thee word "fact" in its title. It does not put forth an air of principle-based scholarship and objectivity, but instead exudes an attitude of "look how clever we are with words, we can use them like a magic wand to make Reality be whatever we want. Cuz we're so cool".
In my opinion, Politifact is just a very high-level blog or opinion tool. People who quote it intermittently will not look any more credible that IT does. I don't actually look at it. I think it's crap, so I act accordingly. I suppose a political strategist would need to keep a professional eye on the damn thing, but you couldn't pay me to "re-Tweet" its tripe, thereby validating it, driving traffic to that site, making it the center of political discussion that it so obviously wants to be. blaargh.
Reiterating James' post and the original Politifact article:
Walker lied. Politifact did the research to reveal it.
Politifact: "We asked Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie about the governor’s statement. He referred us to the Walker’s executive budget, submitted earlier this year and had no further comment. ... Under the largest structural deficit is the name McCallum. That would be Gov. Scott McCallum, a Republican."
Well said Enough- yet Bush seems different from Walker.Walker is far superior in verbal abilities to Bush. Walker has it down with respect to deflecting questions and retreating to his talking points. Nothing fazes Walker during fairly intensive interviews expect when he was under oath and pressured to answer the question. The truth then came out. Union busting emanated from his inability to negotiate with the unions in Milwaukee County. He took that hate for unions right to the state level and dropped the bomb. That wink we saw election night was so telling. I still classify him as a political sociopath.
Annie - I view PolitiFact in the highest regards,not because it won a Pulitzer Prize but because it is to me very objective. It is the best we currently have in deciphering the crapola spewing from politician's mouths ( sorry James ) in a research based method. I suspect now, that politicians are a wee bit more careful in there pontificating. It is indeed holding them more accountable. Well unless you"re a political sociopath. Then, it doesn't matter. Polls don't matter either. Maybe family matters when they see signs asking for Walker's recall right down the block in Wauwatosa. It makes me feel really good Annie to post the falsehoods of Walker. Really good.
Walker is dangerous.
ReplyDeleteBtw, James, you and Walker have inspired me to coin (I think) a new word: PolitiFib.
ReplyDeleteCandidly, though, I am not really sure sometimes if Walker knows any better. Not that this is an excuse, of course. But Walker seems to share a trait with his hero, George Walker Bush: that same dangerous combination of ignorance and arrogance/confidence/self-righteousness. On occasion, he may be more or less innocent and well-meaning; but other times, he is certainly being cynical, calculating and deceitful, not to mention juvenile.
I wish people would make up their minds re: Politifact
ReplyDeletePeople treat it as the pinnacle of Heinous Heinousness when it goes against what they like to think is true, and then turn around and quote the Bejeezus out of it when it agrees with them.
Personally I find it too smarmy and spiteful in attitude to be using thee word "fact" in its title. It does not put forth an air of principle-based scholarship and objectivity, but instead exudes an attitude of "look how clever we are with words, we can use them like a magic wand to make Reality be whatever we want. Cuz we're so cool".
In my opinion, Politifact is just a very high-level blog or opinion tool. People who quote it intermittently will not look any more credible that IT does.
I don't actually look at it. I think it's crap, so I act accordingly. I suppose a political strategist would need to keep a professional eye on the damn thing, but you couldn't pay me to "re-Tweet" its tripe, thereby validating it, driving traffic to that site, making it the center of political discussion that it so obviously wants to be.
blaargh.
Reiterating James' post and the original Politifact article:
ReplyDeleteWalker lied. Politifact did the research to reveal it.
Politifact: "We asked Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie about the governor’s statement. He referred us to the Walker’s executive budget, submitted earlier this year and had no further comment.
...
Under the largest structural deficit is the name McCallum. That would be Gov. Scott McCallum, a Republican."
Well said Enough- yet Bush seems different from Walker.Walker is far superior in verbal abilities to Bush. Walker has it down with respect to deflecting questions and retreating to his talking points. Nothing fazes Walker during fairly intensive interviews expect when he was under oath and pressured to answer the question. The truth then came out. Union busting emanated from his inability to negotiate with the unions in Milwaukee County. He took that hate for unions right to the state level and dropped the bomb. That wink we saw election night was so telling. I still classify him as a political sociopath.
ReplyDeleteAnnie - I view PolitiFact in the highest regards,not because it won a Pulitzer Prize but because it is to me very objective. It is the best we currently have in deciphering the crapola spewing from politician's mouths ( sorry James ) in a research based method. I suspect now, that politicians are a wee bit more careful in there pontificating. It is indeed holding them more accountable. Well unless you"re a political sociopath. Then, it doesn't matter. Polls don't matter either. Maybe family matters when they see signs asking for Walker's recall right down the block in Wauwatosa. It makes me feel really good Annie to post the falsehoods of Walker. Really good.
ReplyDelete