Current Release: April 28th, 2009 | Vol. XXX Iss. 10

illustration by andrew foster

Pants on Fire behind the podium

By Lauren Perry

laperry@vwc.edu

Just give me the truth!

Skip all the rest of the party platform stuff and just give me the truth!

This is what most Americans, after the grueling debates laced with lies, are screaming in their heads. Where is the candidate who tells the truth anymore?

Well, why should they if journalists don t catch them? A candidate might as well lie as much as he can if he thinks no one will notice at a small rally in a certain demographic area.

But with the emergence of the internet, ways of tracking the truthiness of candidates have become easier. Websites such as PolitiFact.com have emerged that follow the candidates and analyze their speeches, web comments, advertisements and more.

PolitiFact is a free project of the St. Petersburg Times, Florida s largest newspaper. Their mission is  to help voters separate fact from falsehood in the 2008 presidential campaign. PolitiFact won their first award this year, the Knight-Batten Award for Innovations in Journalism.

I didn t know there was any truth in the campaign, but apparently there s some.

The different attacks and claims that are made come from many different places, so PolitiFact takes the time to check all voices and all sources.

As their website says,  We recognize that in a world of political bloggers and  independent political action committees, attacks don t just come from the candidates themselves. So we will also check out many claims that enter the public discourse via a talk show host, a blogger or even a fictional character in a YouTube video.

PolitiFact keeps a file on each candidate, their VPs, and even past presidents like Bush and Clinton. They use what they call a  Truth-o-Meter, ranging from True, Mostly True, Half True, Barely True, False and Pants-on-Fire, which is reserved for the blatantly wrong and more ridiculous statements, some of which are highlighted on this page.

One of the big issues in the campaign is negative ads. In the most recent debate, Senator Barack Obama said to Senator John McCain,  And 100 percent, John, of your ads& 100 percent of them have been negative. This is one of Obama s two Pants-on-Fire rulings. McCain on average has had about 73 percent of his ads negative, which is a sharp rise from the 2004 high of 64 percent negative ads from Bush, which he was heavily criticized for.

Obama s file had a total of 49 true statements, 24 false ones and two Pants-on-Fire rulings. McCain had 29 truths, and 30 false statements, with seven Pants-on-Fire rulings. It s clear that McCain has a more negative campaign strategy.

PolitiFact also has a Flip-o-Meter, following how often the candidates change their minds on issues, and whether it is a Half Flip or Full Flop. Governor Sarah Palin has a Full Flop on her stance on whether global warming is man-made. Senator Joe Biden flopped on whether he wanted to be Vice President. Obama did a full flop on whether or not to use the Petroleum Reserve, and McCain fully flopped on the Bush tax cuts, opposing them until 2006 when he supported them.

Another feature of the website is the Fact Sheets, where analysts go over the full experience of all candidates, compare past legislative acts and list who has endorsements from whom (McCain has Sylvester Stalone, Mike Huckabee had Chuck Norris).

But what s really worth reading are some of the things that are true. Knowing they ve been verified, it s nice to read something the candidates say and be able to readily accept it.

For instance, in the most recent debate on Oct. 16, Obama was right when he said  98 percent of small businesses made less than $250,000 a year and would not see a tax increase under Obama s plan. McCain contested this, but it is true.

McCain had his moment of truth in the previous debate on Oct. 7 when he said  Senator Obama has never taken on his party leaders on a single major issue. Obama s no maverick, this is true. Look for more truths, half-truths and pants on fire at PolitiFact.com.