{"id":296107,"date":"2019-01-09T16:01:00","date_gmt":"2019-01-09T21:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/?p=296107"},"modified":"2019-01-10T15:58:38","modified_gmt":"2019-01-10T20:58:38","slug":"fact-checking-the-ridiculous-fact-checkers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2019\/01\/09\/fact-checking-the-ridiculous-fact-checkers\/","title":{"rendered":"Fact-Checking the Ridiculous Fact-Checkers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>RUSH: I mentioned I was gonna go through some of the silly and ridiculous fact checks.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright wp-image-268019\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Mollie-Hemmingway.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Mollie-Hemmingway.jpg 1920w, https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Mollie-Hemmingway-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Mollie-Hemmingway-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Mollie-Hemmingway-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Mollie-Hemmingway-1080x608.jpg 1080w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/>I think to do this, I\u2019m going to enlist the assistance of <a href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2019\/01\/09\/medias-angry-response-to-president-trumps-oval-office-speech-comes-up-short\/\">Mollie Hemingway at The Federalist<\/a>. She has highlighted some of the (chuckles) most ridiculous examples of fact-checking. She writes here, &#8220;The Democrats\u2019 theme for&#8221; last night, all during the day yesterday, and in days leading up to Trump\u2019s national address &#8212; the Democrat theme, the media theme &#8212; &#8220;was &#8216;facts, not fear,'&#8221; meaning Trump was gonna lie. He was just gonna scare people and he was gonna frighten people. He was gonna lie to people, and he was gonna get people thinking things that aren\u2019t true, and so the media was demanding that Trump stick to &#8220;facts, not fear.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>They were demanding of Trump all day that he not lie. <a href=\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/daily\/2019\/01\/09\/kellyanne-conway-swats-away-a-gnat\/\">Even that little gnat, Jim Acosta from CNN, went up to Kellyanne Conway<\/a> and said (paraphrased exchange), &#8220;Kellyanne! Kellyanne! Can you assure us, can you promise that the president will not lie tonight? Can you do that, Kellyanne?&#8221; And she replied, &#8220;Jim, as soon as you stop lying in some of your reports&#8230; You know, Jim, you\u2019re an ass, and everybody in the press corps thinks you\u2019re an ass. They don\u2019t even like you. I\u2019m the one guy that\u2019s actually showing up on your network trying to help you, you ass.&#8221; I\u2019m paraphrasing that. That\u2019s pretty much it.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PkayWiJafhs\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>So&#8230; &#8220;The Democrats\u2019 theme for the evening was &#8216;facts, not fear.\u2019 Many major media also adopted the same theme. The coordinated talking point began hours if not days before the speech even aired, with CNN\u2019s Alisyn Camerota saying yesterday morning, &#8216;Fact-checkers are eating their Wheaties and getting extra rest since they will be working overtime tonight to separate fact from fiction on this border situation.'&#8221; So Trump was gonna lie, and it was gonna be so bad and so intense that the facts-checkers are gonna have to have a pregame meal, get a lot of sleep, \u2019cause they\u2019re gonna be busier than they\u2019ve ever been \u2019cause all Trump\u2019s gonna do is lie!<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs soon as the speech ended, White House press corps mascot Jim Acosta recited his rather groan-inducing rehearsed line that Trump\u2019s address \u2018should have come with a Surgeon General\u2019s warning that it was hazardous to the truth.\u2019 But when it came time to back up this talking point about factual inaccuracies, the media whiffed. Most of the alleged \u2018fact\u2019 \u2018checks\u2019 were instead critiques of opinions. Many critiqued things not included in Trump\u2019s speech. And sometimes the \u2018fact\u2019 \u2018checks\u2019 dinged Trump for saying completely true things. Take the Washington Post, for instance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This is true. <a href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2019\/01\/09\/medias-angry-response-to-president-trumps-oval-office-speech-comes-up-short\/\">They actually criticized Trump for saying things that are true<\/a>. Washington Post: \u201cFact-checking Trump\u2019s address: \u2018266,000 aliens arrested in the past two years.\u2019 The number is right but misleading.\u201d That\u2019s the fact check. \u201cThe number is right but misleading. It\u2019s important to keep in mind that this figure includes all types of crimes, including nonviolent offenses such as illegal entry or reentry.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So they characterize Trump\u2019s claim as factual, as misleading because the figure includes all types of crimes. Who in the world could make this up? That\u2019s a fact check? They fact check and they found out his right but it\u2019s misleading because it\u2019s all crime. It further makes Trump\u2019s point, in other words. They\u2019re claiming Trump undersold his point! And it wasn\u2019t the only fact check of that nature.<\/p>\n<p>Politico. Ted Hesson or Hesson, I don\u2019t know how to pronounce it. \u201cTed Hesson did such a bad \u2018fact\u2019 \u2018check\u2019 that it\u2019s almost impressive. Among the things he checked as \u2018not true\u2019 was Trump\u2019s contention that there\u2019s a crisis on the border.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Trump says there\u2019s a crisis on the border and Politico fact checks it and says not true. That\u2019s not a fact check. That\u2019s simply a difference of opinion. There is no fact check about it.<\/p>\n<p>Michael Tracey: \u201cStop fact-checking normative claims and subjective, value-based assertions! It degrades the entire enterprise of fact-checking!\u201d \u2018Cause real fact-checkers are getting fed up at what\u2019s happening because fact-checking was being perverted last night and corrupted last night by these clowns who were simply disagreeing with Trump and fact-checking opinions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEven worse for Hesson, however, was his reasoning. He said it\u2019s \u2018not true\u2019 that there\u2019s a crisis because the number of people caught crossing is below what it was during Obama. It\u2019s as if he hasn\u2019t heard a single administration official in recent weeks explaining that the reason why the Department of Homeland Security is burdened is not because illegal crossings are up in general, but because of the type of crossings, such as unaccompanied minors and family units from Central America that, due to our laws, cannot be returned to their homes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s why it\u2019s a crisis because of how and why they\u2019re coming, not the numbers. But this guy, \u201cIt\u2019s not a crisis because the numbers are not as high as Trump says.\u201d \u201cHesson is apparently unaware that resources needed for dealing with the illegal crossings by single adult males from Mexico that may have dominated earlier years are completely different than those needed for family units who claim asylum status after being caught in the country illegally.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe also said it was wrong to say that \u2018Our southern border is a pipeline for vast quantities of illegal drugs\u2019 because most of the drugs come through legal points of entry. Well, Ted, that\u2019s probably why President Trump said that part of his request from Democrats was for drug-detection technology.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I mean, these people were fact-checking things that were not incorrect! They were making it up or saying that they simply disagreed with Trump, but because their opinion differed from Trump\u2019s, that Trump\u2019s facts were wrong. Finally, this guy from Politico, Ted Hesson, \u201csaid it was wrong to say that Schumer \u2018has repeatedly supported a physical barrier in the past\u2019 even though that\u2019s absolutely true.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/daily\/2019\/01\/09\/flashback-schumer-obama-and-hillary-rail-against-illegal-immigration\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-296088 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/APP-Master-APP-010918-EIB-Flashback.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/APP-Master-APP-010918-EIB-Flashback.jpg 640w, https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/APP-Master-APP-010918-EIB-Flashback-300x169.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a>And we\u2019ve played the sound bites for you of Schumer supporting a barrier, of Schumer supporting a wall! But this guy said it was wrong. Trump was wrong to say that Schumer has supported that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe admits Schumer voted, for example, for the construction of nearly 700 miles of a physical barrier in 2006 but says Trump said that wasn\u2019t enough. Therefore, Trump\u2019s accurate claim that is not misleading is judged to be \u2018misleading.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA New York Times article originally headlined \u2018Trump Cites Misleading Statistics of Crisis And Crime Along Border\u2019 failed to explain what the misleading statistics were. Perhaps that explains why they changed the headline to \u2018Trump Escalates Border Wall Fight in National Address.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn a rather shrill opinion piece billed as straight news, Peter Baker claimed, without evidence, that describing the situation as a crisis \u2018raised credibility questions.\u2019 Then he went on to slay strawmen and other items the president didn\u2019t even mention.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>And there are other examples. They claim Trump was wrong when he said that one &#8212; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/41986\/fact-fail-cbs-deletes-fact-check-post-twitter-joseph-curl\">this is CBS, and they had to pull this<\/a> &#8212; CBS claimed that Trump was wrong when he said one-third of women in these caravans face rape. It\u2019s actually 60 to 80%. Then they realized, wait, that doesn\u2019t help us, and they pulled the fact check. But it was revived by the Wayback Machine, and it lives to be seen by other people.<\/p>\n<p>Let me take a break. That\u2019s just a sample, folks, and those are some of the highlights, but the whole fact-checking premise blew up in their faces all night long.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>RUSH: I think to do this, I&#039;m going to enlist the assistance of Mollie Hemingway at The Federalist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":269106,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[12,1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v17.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Fact-Checking the Ridiculous Fact-Checkers - The Rush Limbaugh Show<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2019\/01\/09\/fact-checking-the-ridiculous-fact-checkers\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Fact-Checking the Ridiculous Fact-Checkers - The Rush Limbaugh Show\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"RUSH: I think to do this, I&#039;m going to enlist the assistance of Mollie Hemingway at The Federalist.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/APP-032818-Truth-RUSH-Dark.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"George Prayias\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/\",\"name\":\"The Rush Limbaugh Show\",\"description\":\"Excellence In Broadcasting\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2019\/01\/09\/fact-checking-the-ridiculous-fact-checkers\/#primaryimage\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/APP-032818-Truth-RUSH-Dark.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/APP-032818-Truth-RUSH-Dark.jpg\",\"width\":640,\"height\":360},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2019\/01\/09\/fact-checking-the-ridiculous-fact-checkers\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2019\/01\/09\/fact-checking-the-ridiculous-fact-checkers\/\",\"name\":\"Fact-Checking the Ridiculous Fact-Checkers - The Rush Limbaugh Show\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2019\/01\/09\/fact-checking-the-ridiculous-fact-checkers\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-01-09T21:01:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-01-10T20:58:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a2bc43fbe4b4e1ff4d1f092c6086a349\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2019\/01\/09\/fact-checking-the-ridiculous-fact-checkers\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2019\/01\/09\/fact-checking-the-ridiculous-fact-checkers\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2019\/01\/09\/fact-checking-the-ridiculous-fact-checkers\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Fact-Checking the Ridiculous Fact-Checkers\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a2bc43fbe4b4e1ff4d1f092c6086a349\",\"name\":\"George Prayias\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a43c262983f0228d5f474ce08e691cf9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a43c262983f0228d5f474ce08e691cf9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"George Prayias\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/author\/georgeeibnet-com\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Fact-Checking the Ridiculous Fact-Checkers - The Rush Limbaugh Show","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2019\/01\/09\/fact-checking-the-ridiculous-fact-checkers\/","twitter_card":"summary","twitter_title":"Fact-Checking the Ridiculous Fact-Checkers - The Rush Limbaugh Show","twitter_description":"RUSH: I think to do this, I&#039;m going to enlist the assistance of Mollie Hemingway at The Federalist.","twitter_image":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/APP-032818-Truth-RUSH-Dark.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"George Prayias","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/","name":"The Rush Limbaugh Show","description":"Excellence In Broadcasting","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2019\/01\/09\/fact-checking-the-ridiculous-fact-checkers\/#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/APP-032818-Truth-RUSH-Dark.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/APP-032818-Truth-RUSH-Dark.jpg","width":640,"height":360},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2019\/01\/09\/fact-checking-the-ridiculous-fact-checkers\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2019\/01\/09\/fact-checking-the-ridiculous-fact-checkers\/","name":"Fact-Checking the Ridiculous Fact-Checkers - The Rush Limbaugh Show","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2019\/01\/09\/fact-checking-the-ridiculous-fact-checkers\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2019-01-09T21:01:00+00:00","dateModified":"2019-01-10T20:58:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a2bc43fbe4b4e1ff4d1f092c6086a349"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2019\/01\/09\/fact-checking-the-ridiculous-fact-checkers\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2019\/01\/09\/fact-checking-the-ridiculous-fact-checkers\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2019\/01\/09\/fact-checking-the-ridiculous-fact-checkers\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Fact-Checking the Ridiculous Fact-Checkers"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a2bc43fbe4b4e1ff4d1f092c6086a349","name":"George Prayias","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a43c262983f0228d5f474ce08e691cf9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a43c262983f0228d5f474ce08e691cf9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"George Prayias"},"url":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/author\/georgeeibnet-com\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296107"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296107"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":296174,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296107\/revisions\/296174"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/269106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}